Danny DeVito and Dairy Milk

What a great week it's been for me. It started last Saturday with a trip to the theatre to see 'Sunshine Boys' with Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths. They were in the play, not watching it with me. I was in the company of my husband and friend who had booked the tickets.
While waiting for my friend outside the Savoy theatre, Danny DeVito came out into the street just a few feet from us and was signing autographs and  having his picture taken with fans. I like that. He's been here in the UK for weeks, performing in the same theatre for a long time and still took time to say hello to some fans minutes before he went on stage. I didn't get an autograph. I'm British. I didn't like to bother him. I did get his photograph though. Id' post it to prove it but apart from being inept at anything technical, why would I lie to you?
The 'Sunshine Boys' was fantastic and if you can, I'd recommend that you go to see it. It was hilarious.
Following that, it was a busy week at work with a short trip to Scotland in the middle of it. A one night stay forced me to take advantage of the local bars. I regretted it the next day. Too little sleep, too much red wine and an early start are not the best combination. I took comfort in my 9.20pm flight back to Gatwick.
Shame it was three hours late. I did at least get a £3 voucher. Of course, as you'd expect, I spent it wisely on Dairy Milk and TicTacs. I didn't squander it. It was the box with two flavours. I know that a fool and their money are soon parted.
Getting home at 3.30am on Thursday, I didn't really feel much like waking up and going to London for the Society of Authors New Members Lunch as I'd planned. I eventually rolled out of bed, an hour later than I'd planned, ate a bar of Dairy Milk on the train and for lunch had a glass of white wine. I would have talked to more people when I got there but it had already been a long week. I got to talk to a handful of people and really would have liked to talk to more but I ran out of time. I did meet some great people.
The only low point came on the tube on my way back from lunch. A completely incoherent announcement was made five or six times. After sitting passively for twenty minutes, from the endless talking, I think that there was a problem with the tubes. I'll never know what it was.
The things that went through my mind, apart from my lateness to an afternoon appointment was that it's really lucky that the UK is not hosting some sort of major international event in the near future, such as a world famous sporting event. It may cause embarrassment. I rest assured, as should you, that if such a thing were to happen, there would be bountiful security. If those in power were to be mad enough to sack, let's say troops and make police officers redundant, they would surely make sure that a private security firm were fully fit to handle the situation.
Luckily for me, the only sport I like is rugby, I don't live or work in London and I love to read fiction. Good luck our beautiful capital city.

Saving the planet one overpriced carrier bag at a time

Anyone else get fed up with supermarkets and food departments within larger stores charging for their plastic carrier bags?
Shopping used to be something I really enjoyed but I tend to put it in the 'too much hassle' category these days. I get fed up stopping to look at something on a shelf or clothing rack only to find someone coming from seemingly out of nowhere to push in front of me to examine the article I had paused to peruse.  Perhaps I'm being too kind when I say that these people probably aren't consciously thinking about tearing the item from my hand but they can't help themselves when they see something someone else has. It's how advertising works after all.
The best thing about people's predictability is that causing a distraction further along the aisle is just too easy by announcing, "Wow, this stuff's all 80 per cent off." Bound to cause a stampede so you can return to looking at the items you wanted to look at in the first place. It's a given that you feel a bit of a fool if you're shopping alone but it works a treat.
Oh yeah - the carrier bags - there was a point. How is it that in the same shop, I can buy a £2 pair of socks and get a free bag but if I spent £20 on wine and lasagne, I have to pay 5 pence?
I'm all for saving the planet and minimising waste but two things come to mind here: watching Springwatch, I saw that landfill sites were now a haven for wildlife and they can't be built upon because they're landfill sites. Result all round I say.
Secondly, if these stores were so bothered, wouldn't they turn the lights off and give you a pair of night vision goggles as you went through the door?

So many clever people

The last few days have seen some of the cleverest and brightest at London’s Southbank, demonstrating their design talents. Students from Brunel University have spent four days proudly displaying part of their coursework.

How do I know about this? My youngest step son, Alec, was one such student. As part of his degree in Product Design, he had to design and produce something inexpensive, durable, sustainable and useful. There was no doubt much more to it than that but the last time we spoke he used ‘paradigm’ in a sentence and we weren’t even talking about Dr. Who. His dad and I tried to look as though we knew what he was talking about but I don’t think we fooled him for a minute.

Back to the clever students: my step son came up with designing eating and drinking products (he had my full attention at this point) for those with hand disabilities such as arthritis. The utensils are made from cork optimising its natural qualities, but the mixture of cork and other materials he designed himself. He broke four blenders in the process.

What was great about the array of projects by students on display was seeing ideas from prevention of HIV from mother to child in breastfeeding to a stress reducing asthma device for children.

The photograph here of Alec’s work doesn’t do it justice, due to my photography and in no way to his project. 

Thirty years on, still laughing at the same things.

Thirty years ago this September, I started secondary school. Last night I had the great pleasure of meeting up with five of my best friends for a meal. We began our days at our girls' school in total ignorance of each other but left good friends. This friendship has grown and grown over the years.
There are usually seven of us but one of our number moved to Devon and sadly wasn't able to make it this time. There's a lot of miles between Devon and North Kent and while she usually makes the journey, it is a long way to go for steak and chips.
Over the last 30 years we've been through the usual together - difficult teenage times of first boyfriends (now we often laugh about them), breaking up with those boyfriends (we cried together at the time but now it's hilarious - I shook one's hand. Who does that?), holding each other's hair back when we were violently ill through drinking too much Thunderbird on the bus on the way to the school disco. The usual.
Last night we covered a number of topics and as good friends do, they were fully supportive of my writing, interested in my novel, all wanting to know if they were in it and are eager to read it when it comes out. I had previously told them that Myriad Editions have given me a two book contract and have my mates' full support.
Are my friends in any way concerned that all this will go to my head? Not in the least. They're all prepared to   bring me back to earth. Never any fear of getting too carried away with myself. Will we all still be friends in thirty years' time? You can count on that. They know too much...

Webbed feet and coincidences

Really what are the chances that four years ago, I would start work in an office and the person sitting at the next desk would become a great and trusted friend? In fairness, the bookies wouldn't probably give the best of odds on that one. What would the odds be however, on that person becoming a friend and months later sharing with you that they like you, have webbed feet? I feel that the likelihood of such an event happening is rarer than Halley's Comet.
I'm open to being wrong about this but it's not something you bring up upon introduction to someone new in your life. "Hello, I'm Lisa. Mind if I sit here? By the way, I have webbed toes."
"Really, me too. Which toes? You're kidding me. The same as mine!"
It's not likely is it?
What's prompted me to share this with you is the rain we've been having. I didn't know whether to walk home from work or hop.
Got home and watched the X-Men. I'm not quite in their league but a girl can dream.

Now it's time to sober up and get on with it.

On Wednesday I won the Myriad Editions Writer's Retreat competition. I can't begin to describe how pleased I am. Just to be shortlisted was fantastic but to win when up against some fantastic entries, couldn't have been more overwhelming.
My entry was the first 5000 words of my novel I've been working on. The celebrating started with a couple of glasses of wine on Wednesday evening, curtailed by the massive headache the excitement of the day had brought with it.
Thursday saw a few more drinks, Friday a couple more and Saturday, well I think you get the picture.
This morning, I felt enough was enough. My internal organs must be hoping that nothing else worth celebrating  happens in the next couple of weeks. I don't think they could cope with a lottery win.

Close to perfect Saturday

The day started with a chocolate muffin for breakfast. Yes, I know, it's hardly nutritious but it was very good. The sun was shining. We took the dog for a walk. He ran about like a great big red fool. We even saw a white albino squirrel in the trees. I swear that we both saw it so I wasn't still asleep or suffering from the night before.
Leaving home a bit later, the dog with a look of disgust on his face, we went out shopping together for some very harmonious his 'n' hers shopping. Husband and I got the purchases we required, we had a coffee and came home. Aah. Good stuff.
I did some gardening just in time before the flexible rose tree touched the lawn and then the ice cream van stopped just outside the house. This was too much. I would have shoved a '99' in my face but the dirt under my fingernails was quite impressive at this stage. I settled for a lolly on a stick. Anything I didn't have to touch with my filthy hands. It was either that or lay under the ice cream tap. OK, I thought about it. My husband had the '99' complete with flake. I had ice cream envy.
This was followed by an hour of reading "You're next" by Greg Hurwitz (only half way through but loving it), fingernail dirt removal, wine and a curry.
How I love a weekend free from work and having to be anywhere at all.
Hope your Saturday was as good.