Celebration, song and a competition!

Life News:

I'm celebrating my 46th birthday early this weekend (it's tomorrow, 21 June in actual fact) so it's been one outing after another really, hurrah! Lord H and I attended our first Glyndebourne event of the season yesterday and I even bought a new frock for it. Well, gosh. Or, rather, Lord H bought it. What a hero. We saw Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd which, I suppose wasn't a huge barrel of laughs but the staging was great and it's fascinating stuff. Being me, I loved the whole gay homoerotic subtext (or possibly "text" as to my mind there's nothing very "sub" about a whole load of sailors stuck in the middle of the ocean who all start calling Our Hero "baby" or "beauty" and telling him how handsome he is). Lord H harrumphed when I mentioned this and said what nonsense, it was all very manly and Billy was simply popular with the crew. Though, after my reasoned argument (no women at all, it's by Britten, there's a lot of passionate arias etc etc) he did admit that it was possibly even too gay for the marvellous Matthew Bourne to remake it as a gay ballet. Perhaps we need the lesbian version? Heck, we'd both pay to see that ...

Today, and carrying on the gay theme, we've had lunch out at Wisley and a bit of a wander round the rose gardens. As you do. Thus meeting wonderful troupes of metrosexual fathers out with their offspring and loved ones, celebrating Fathers' Day in civilised fashion. I suppose if you are a gay/metrosexual father and want a day out, then Wisley is likely to be higher up your list than the Bovington Tank Museum, or perhaps I am generalising way, way too much? Hey, it's possible. But I'm allowed - I'm nearly 46, you know. And a lot of champagne has been drunk - a hell of a lot - so it's astonishing I can form any kind of coherent thought at all.

Book News:

I'm thrilled to say that Martin and The Wolf has gained its first five-star review at Goodreads, and thank you so much to the lovely Serena for her comments. I'm particularly thrilled with her final paragraph:

I loved the message of this story: what counts in a relationship between any two "beings" isn't how they look, nor necessarily what DNA they carry, or what they behave like. The focus in examining whether we can have a relationship with someone, and accept who and what they are, should be on how they relate to us, what they mean to us, and how they treat us. A very powerful message indeed!


Which is basically what I was trying to convey - so thank you for that. As an added treat, there's a special FREE Giveaway competition for the book that is currently running at The Dancing Dove Journal - so leave a comment as instructed there to be in with a chance of winning a copy. The competition ends on 25 June, so good luck to all!


I'm also pleased to say that I've sent the final proofs for Creative Accountancy for Beginners back to Untreed Reads so I'll wait to see what the publication date will be for that one.


This week's haiku:


The motorway's edge:
the green and level grasses
float softly away.


Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal