Most of this post disappeared into the blogosphere yesterday: I’d spent ages writing it and then I hit ‘return’ or something and it took me literally and returned whence it came. Wherever that was… then I started a new post today and it asked me if I wanted to restore yesterday’s post. If only I’d known it would do that! I tried everything to get it back… so now you have yesterday today:
Ouf! That was a very tiring day, from which I am only just now beginning to surface. For reasons about which I shall, for the time being, remain mysterious, I have been to Nottingham and back. This involved a trip around the castle (not into it) and a tour of the back streets before getting thoroughly exasperated with Thing for not a) bringing directions to our venue or b) thinking to bring their phone number. In the end we found a friendly local bobby (gosh, they really are getting younger, aren’t they?) and he set us on the right road. I arrived hot, sweaty, tired and thoroughly irritated. Not the best start.
It got better: after our appointment we found a small friendly cafe which had a nice line in paninis and baked spud as well as a vast range of herbal teas, and we had lunch. We explored a little more and then got the train back again. I was exhausted by then as I hadn’t slept well.
I’d also had a busy weekend: the Riverside Festival was heaving with folk from all over the place and as always with these events you bump into people you haven’t seen for years. Every few yards it seemed there was a long-lost friend to catch up with; not only that, we signed up for a veg box with Riverford and bought coffee from a barge. After that we were due at Andy’s in Birstall for dinner and wine and possibly a walk through Watermead Park (his hen-filled garden backs onto this wildlife haven). I arrived too late for the walk but got stuck into the wine and food.
Interestingly they seem to have the same sort of bees as we do nesting in their roof:
These are white-tailed bumblebees. It’s quite amazing how many different types of bees there are. We were worried in case ours were masonry bees which, as the name implies, make rather drastic inroads into your brickwork. But they are in fact harmless.
Sunday at Riverside always features Sing for Water, which this year climaxed with a Bollywood song – terrific fun. One of my all-time favourite Bollywood songs is Jai Ho, the theme tune for Slumdog Millionaire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNk2pG7agYE
I love this dance sequence at the end of the film: I’d really like to learn Bollywood dance.
Aaand back to today: and it’s the usual scenario, another rejection and sending something off straight away. That’s my tactic now – every time I get a rejection, I send something else off. The problem with the previous story, apparently, was that nothing much happens. That’s one good thing about Everyday Fiction, I guess – you always get feedback, even if it’s painful to read (and it is). Still, they’ve published a couple of mine, so they can’t be all bad:
http://www.everydayfiction.com
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 