Life News:
Tomorrow we're on the move again into a lovely and permanent home in Elstead, so we absolutely can't wait. We know the previous owners have now moved out and the mortgage money reached our solicitors today so there's nothing - God willing! - barring a smooth completion and move-in tomorrow. Wish us luck.
In the meantime, my literary legal situation has been satisfactorily resolved so that's good news for all parties. Many thanks to all of you out there for the support you've given me with this one - it's been very much appreciated. But I can't discuss the actual outcome - as part of the agreement is that I don't mention anything in public, apart from in the most general of terms, as above. Thank you!
For Bank Holiday Monday earlier in the week, K and I spent the day wandering around Loseley Park Gardens, where the gardens were surprisingly colourful compared to others at the moment, and where the cream tea was excellent, and much needed. And, speaking of nature, we harvested our raspberry crop on Monday - all three of them were very good. Hey, it's quality, not quantity that counts, you know ...
One sad thing this week however is that the very lovely Ruth left us today to take up her promotion in the Registry, so I'll really miss her in the office. She's been great to me - a great mentor and fantastic to work with, and there's going to be a real gap. Still it's good news for Ruth whose bid for world domination continues successfully, and for me there's always a catch-up lunch to be had. I'm planning one very soon (run, Ruth, run for the hills ...).
Book News:
I was hugely pleased to see that fantasy novel The Gifting gained a 4-star review at Goodreads - thank you, Danalia. And here's the next line from the book:
He has been searching for an answer to the wars for some week-cycles now that their mind-skills have failed.
And gay crime thriller A Dangerous Man received a lovely review at Queer Magazine Online (thank you, Cas) and was also mentioned in Fred Bubbers' Reading & Writing Daily News site. Many thanks, Fred.
Turning to the short stories, literary romance Dido's Tale became a bestseller at All Romance Ebooks, surreal short story The Secret Thoughts of Leaves was briefly in the Amazon UK Metaphysical and Visionary charts (which astonished me, and at less than 90p really it's a snip ...), and literary lesbian romance A Woman like the Sea received a very pleasing review at Queer Magazine Online (thank you, Victor). Well gosh.
Finally, before the long-for move comes upon me, here's a meditation poem:
Meditation 565
Joshbekashah
is a musical man.
He plays on the cymbal
and harp.
He makes a loud noise
when the worship is due
so always stays eager
and sharp.
His sisters are nameless
and he wonders if he
might give a few letters
as spares
but he has thirteen brothers
and he’s proud of his name
which is oh so much longer
than theirs.
See you after the move!
Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Showing posts with label house move. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house move. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Four days to go ...
Life News:
Only 4 days to go now until we finally move to a permanent home, hurrah! I really can't wait. The drip in the ceiling in the rented flat had a bit of a surge yesterday with the torrential rain, but it's calmed down now. Sunshine is indeed our friend, or at the very least dry weather. Still, it does give our collection of buckets a purpose, which has to be a good thing.
Thursday night found us at the local theatre watching an adaptation of Wilkie Collin's The Woman in White. Hmmm, not convinced it's persuaded me to read the book. I appreciate it was originally a serial, but having no fewer than thirty-five scenes in a play doesn't really help the audience connect to anything. Also, the actors were startlingly melodramatic and a couple of times I got an attack of the giggles and felt like I might be heading into the twilight zone. Again. Still, K and I had fun trying to guess the evil baronet's (the most fully rounded person on stage) guilty secret. We thought he might be a Morris Dancer (ah the shame ...!), but in the end it turned out to be nothing more interesting than a marriage certificate problem. Sigh. Also, it did annoy us that the mad Woman in White kept rushing onto stage, telling everyone how much she hated the baronet and would do anything to destroy him, but never got round to telling everyone his secret (which she knew). Ridiculous! If she'd said something at the start, we could easily have cut thirty-two scenes, at least. However, the ice cream in the first interval (of two ...) was very nice - salted caramel. Mmm. Am definitely having that one again.
Have also had a lovely lunch and catch-up with G, my ex-neighbour's daughter, so that was great. And a nice break from houses and moving, etc. Hello, G! Yesterday, K and I visited Waddesdon Manor for the day - fantastic house and well worth a visit (you'll need to book before you go ...), but the gardens are seriously dull. They look like they've been done by someone trained in designing municipal parks - not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just doesn't enhance such a gorgeous house on any level, sadly. Indeed, when we drove through the town nearby, the colour schemes and plantings were almost exactly the same - perhaps the Council does the Manor gardens on the cheap? It wouldn't surprise me.
This afternoon, K and I are off to see The Turn of The Screw at Glyndebourne - which is their last opera of the year, sob. It's a great production and we've seen it before, but honestly it's utterly worth seeing again, multiple times, I think. Haunting and compelling stuff.
Book News:
Gay short story Tommy's Blind Date gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Dlee!), which was very pleasing indeed. And the comments thread there also discussed my gay crime novels The Bones of Summer and A Dangerous Man, so that was nice too. Thank you, all.
Here's the next small section from fantasy novel, The Gifting:
It is Johan himself who has proposed this solution to Gathandria's troubles. Even now, he can't quite believe it.
The latest meditation poem is:
Meditation 564
The last thing I want
is a long list of Levites
but that’s exactly
what I get
which just proves the point
that following God
is always
a challenging bet.
The Sunday haiku is:
After this dark rain
the day begins with silence
under brighter skies.
Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner
Only 4 days to go now until we finally move to a permanent home, hurrah! I really can't wait. The drip in the ceiling in the rented flat had a bit of a surge yesterday with the torrential rain, but it's calmed down now. Sunshine is indeed our friend, or at the very least dry weather. Still, it does give our collection of buckets a purpose, which has to be a good thing.
Thursday night found us at the local theatre watching an adaptation of Wilkie Collin's The Woman in White. Hmmm, not convinced it's persuaded me to read the book. I appreciate it was originally a serial, but having no fewer than thirty-five scenes in a play doesn't really help the audience connect to anything. Also, the actors were startlingly melodramatic and a couple of times I got an attack of the giggles and felt like I might be heading into the twilight zone. Again. Still, K and I had fun trying to guess the evil baronet's (the most fully rounded person on stage) guilty secret. We thought he might be a Morris Dancer (ah the shame ...!), but in the end it turned out to be nothing more interesting than a marriage certificate problem. Sigh. Also, it did annoy us that the mad Woman in White kept rushing onto stage, telling everyone how much she hated the baronet and would do anything to destroy him, but never got round to telling everyone his secret (which she knew). Ridiculous! If she'd said something at the start, we could easily have cut thirty-two scenes, at least. However, the ice cream in the first interval (of two ...) was very nice - salted caramel. Mmm. Am definitely having that one again.
Have also had a lovely lunch and catch-up with G, my ex-neighbour's daughter, so that was great. And a nice break from houses and moving, etc. Hello, G! Yesterday, K and I visited Waddesdon Manor for the day - fantastic house and well worth a visit (you'll need to book before you go ...), but the gardens are seriously dull. They look like they've been done by someone trained in designing municipal parks - not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just doesn't enhance such a gorgeous house on any level, sadly. Indeed, when we drove through the town nearby, the colour schemes and plantings were almost exactly the same - perhaps the Council does the Manor gardens on the cheap? It wouldn't surprise me.
This afternoon, K and I are off to see The Turn of The Screw at Glyndebourne - which is their last opera of the year, sob. It's a great production and we've seen it before, but honestly it's utterly worth seeing again, multiple times, I think. Haunting and compelling stuff.
Book News:
Gay short story Tommy's Blind Date gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Dlee!), which was very pleasing indeed. And the comments thread there also discussed my gay crime novels The Bones of Summer and A Dangerous Man, so that was nice too. Thank you, all.
Here's the next small section from fantasy novel, The Gifting:
It is Johan himself who has proposed this solution to Gathandria's troubles. Even now, he can't quite believe it.
The latest meditation poem is:
Meditation 564
The last thing I want
is a long list of Levites
but that’s exactly
what I get
which just proves the point
that following God
is always
a challenging bet.
The Sunday haiku is:
After this dark rain
the day begins with silence
under brighter skies.
Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Riots, reviews and Brokeback Mountain revisited
Book News:
Some lovely reviews of my books from a new Italian reader, Anncleire, this week, who's been kind enough to give me a veritable riot of reviews for the following:
A 4-star review for Martin and The Wolf
A 4-star review for Tommy's Blind Date
A 5-star review for The Delaneys and Me
A 5-star review for Entertaining The Delaneys
A 5-star review for The Art of The Delaneys
A 5-star review for A Stranger's Touch.
All reviews are in Italian but Google Translate is a marvellous tool, Many thanks, Anncleire - it's much appreciated.
I also gained a 5-star review for Two Christmases, so many thanks, Arthur, for that one.
To put all this joy into the universal balance once more (and avoid my head getting way too large ...), The Gifting received a very mixed review from TWLIBReviews, so I'm rather less confident about my magnum opus than I was. Probably a good thing then! Though actually that makes one good official review for it and one mixed one, so there's an internal balance there too. Perhaps Simon (bless him!) and those Gathandrians are an acquired taste, like olives? Who can tell ...
Anyway, here's the next line or two of this evidently tricky fantasy novel:
There is no peace in the mind's battles. Only one chance to stop it now ...
Meanwhile, my full interview at Reasons to be Beautiful Magazine (click and scroll through to read) is now published (so many thanks, all, for that!), and Vulpes Libris have revisited my article on Brokeback Mountain. Many thanks for that one, Hilary!
And, for the first time, my pic is now up at DWB Publishing's author page for upcoming Christian novella, The Prayer Seeker, so that's exciting, well gosh. Other very exciting news this week (and hey it's not about me, so miracles can happen ...) is that best-selling crime novelist Vicki Tyley has a new book out called Fatal Liaison, so rush along now and get a copy. She's a dang fine writer.
This week's meditation poems are:
Meditation 556
Success doesn’t come
through winning the war,
the moment the victor relaxes;
he’ll know he’s on top
when the clear-up is done
and the losers are paying him taxes.
Meditation 557
It’s too early
in the morning
for the politics
of war.
I need coffee
and a shower
before sorrow
strikes me at the core
but the images
still haunt me:
something darkened,
something raw.
And I understand
how far we’re changed
by what we see
and what we store.
Life News:
We've exchanged on our Elstead house!!!! Hurrah, at long last we have managed to successfully navigate an exchange date. Third time lucky indeed, and we're both so very happy and relieved about it. Completion date is 1 September and we'll be moving in then. Which is why I've spent almost every spare house over the last few evenings and most of today trying to change our address details with the millions of businesses and utilities etc etc that we appear to be connected to. Who knew our lives were so entangled up with commerce and admin? I think I've all but worked through the ones I can do beforehand now - though I did get hugely cross this morning with the M&G who insisted I wasn't a real person in spite of the fact that we've been with them for about 20 years. My, I did get snippety. However, the fault was in the end entirely mine as I realised about an hour later that I'd been getting my various postcodes utterly muddled and what I'd insisted was correct to the unfortunate chappie at the other end of the line was nothing but bunkum and puff. Well, I simply have too many postcodes to deal with, my dears ... In the end they are melded into one vast generic code, much like Shakespeare plays seem to be as I get older. Mea culpa indeed. And to the young M&G man: heartfelt apologies and it actually wasn't your fault ...
Also this week, we woke up to a flood on Monday as the torrential rain had come through the upstairs neighbour's terrace and found its way across our living room floor. Deep sigh. The lovely Lara (thank you a thousand times ...) from Flat 4 womanfully sorted it out as the upstairs neighbours were away, and Lara knows who all the tradesmen are (in a decent and upstanding way, I have to say at this point ...). However we're not sure there's much that can be done about it as it's the way the house is built, and we shall either just have to pray for less heavy rainfall, or put up a plethora of umbrellas in the remaining three weeks we have here. Ah well.
And indeed we must move quickly for other reasons - this morning K and I were making silly faces at each other (as ... um ... usual) as he went off to work, and another neighbour unexpectedly popped round the corner. Leaving our faces frozen into positions the good Lord probably did not intend. Ah, the embarrassment. I bet they all want us to leave now ...
Finally, there have been a heck of a lot of riots in the UK. And I suspect that everything that needs to be said on the generally horrific nature of them has already been said, at least twice. However, there is something pleasingly odd in being surely the only country in the world who riots and then cleans up after ourselves. It must be the empire spirit, hey ho.
Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner
Some lovely reviews of my books from a new Italian reader, Anncleire, this week, who's been kind enough to give me a veritable riot of reviews for the following:
A 4-star review for Martin and The Wolf
A 4-star review for Tommy's Blind Date
A 5-star review for The Delaneys and Me
A 5-star review for Entertaining The Delaneys
A 5-star review for The Art of The Delaneys
A 5-star review for A Stranger's Touch.
All reviews are in Italian but Google Translate is a marvellous tool, Many thanks, Anncleire - it's much appreciated.
I also gained a 5-star review for Two Christmases, so many thanks, Arthur, for that one.
To put all this joy into the universal balance once more (and avoid my head getting way too large ...), The Gifting received a very mixed review from TWLIBReviews, so I'm rather less confident about my magnum opus than I was. Probably a good thing then! Though actually that makes one good official review for it and one mixed one, so there's an internal balance there too. Perhaps Simon (bless him!) and those Gathandrians are an acquired taste, like olives? Who can tell ...
Anyway, here's the next line or two of this evidently tricky fantasy novel:
There is no peace in the mind's battles. Only one chance to stop it now ...
Meanwhile, my full interview at Reasons to be Beautiful Magazine (click and scroll through to read) is now published (so many thanks, all, for that!), and Vulpes Libris have revisited my article on Brokeback Mountain. Many thanks for that one, Hilary!
And, for the first time, my pic is now up at DWB Publishing's author page for upcoming Christian novella, The Prayer Seeker, so that's exciting, well gosh. Other very exciting news this week (and hey it's not about me, so miracles can happen ...) is that best-selling crime novelist Vicki Tyley has a new book out called Fatal Liaison, so rush along now and get a copy. She's a dang fine writer.
This week's meditation poems are:
Meditation 556
Success doesn’t come
through winning the war,
the moment the victor relaxes;
he’ll know he’s on top
when the clear-up is done
and the losers are paying him taxes.
Meditation 557
It’s too early
in the morning
for the politics
of war.
I need coffee
and a shower
before sorrow
strikes me at the core
but the images
still haunt me:
something darkened,
something raw.
And I understand
how far we’re changed
by what we see
and what we store.
Life News:
We've exchanged on our Elstead house!!!! Hurrah, at long last we have managed to successfully navigate an exchange date. Third time lucky indeed, and we're both so very happy and relieved about it. Completion date is 1 September and we'll be moving in then. Which is why I've spent almost every spare house over the last few evenings and most of today trying to change our address details with the millions of businesses and utilities etc etc that we appear to be connected to. Who knew our lives were so entangled up with commerce and admin? I think I've all but worked through the ones I can do beforehand now - though I did get hugely cross this morning with the M&G who insisted I wasn't a real person in spite of the fact that we've been with them for about 20 years. My, I did get snippety. However, the fault was in the end entirely mine as I realised about an hour later that I'd been getting my various postcodes utterly muddled and what I'd insisted was correct to the unfortunate chappie at the other end of the line was nothing but bunkum and puff. Well, I simply have too many postcodes to deal with, my dears ... In the end they are melded into one vast generic code, much like Shakespeare plays seem to be as I get older. Mea culpa indeed. And to the young M&G man: heartfelt apologies and it actually wasn't your fault ...
Also this week, we woke up to a flood on Monday as the torrential rain had come through the upstairs neighbour's terrace and found its way across our living room floor. Deep sigh. The lovely Lara (thank you a thousand times ...) from Flat 4 womanfully sorted it out as the upstairs neighbours were away, and Lara knows who all the tradesmen are (in a decent and upstanding way, I have to say at this point ...). However we're not sure there's much that can be done about it as it's the way the house is built, and we shall either just have to pray for less heavy rainfall, or put up a plethora of umbrellas in the remaining three weeks we have here. Ah well.
And indeed we must move quickly for other reasons - this morning K and I were making silly faces at each other (as ... um ... usual) as he went off to work, and another neighbour unexpectedly popped round the corner. Leaving our faces frozen into positions the good Lord probably did not intend. Ah, the embarrassment. I bet they all want us to leave now ...
Finally, there have been a heck of a lot of riots in the UK. And I suspect that everything that needs to be said on the generally horrific nature of them has already been said, at least twice. However, there is something pleasingly odd in being surely the only country in the world who riots and then cleans up after ourselves. It must be the empire spirit, hey ho.
Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner
Thursday, June 02, 2011
We're here!!!
Life News:
OMG, we're here!! In Woking, a surprisingly nice part of it too, ye gods and little fishes. Yes, we have moved, begorrah and pass the smelling salts. I cannot believe it. Honestly, it feels soooo good to get out of the Godalming flat, though we will miss the neighbours, that's for sure. We got up at 4am on Tuesday and didn't get to bed till 10pm but it was worth every last strange second of it. Our four packers (who were surely all below working age, or am I just getting older?...) arrived at 6.45am and were absolutely wonderful in every way. So a big thank you to Cook's of Cranleigh who, although they have no idea what a website is for, don't have email or mobiles (goodness, so modern, madam ...) and live in a hugely rural setting with a lot of horses, are experts in smiling efficiency, friendliness, speed and glass wrapping. Not to mention coping with the sixteen outside steps and sixteen inside ones in our old flat with absolutely no complaints - what stars. I loved the way they arrived, cased the joint and then promptly took a twenty minute smoke break with coffee, teas and biccies supplied by me - so wonderfully British, my dears. However, after we'd realised that once they got going they packed at the speed of light and could strip a room in less time (almost) than it took for me to say golly, you're fast, I has absolutely no qualms with them taking whatever time they needed to refuel. More tea, anyone?...
They promised we'd arrive in Woking at round about 2pm and they made it at 2.10pm, which for removals is pretty much bang on the dot, good for them. And I love it here. It's even quieter than Godalming though it's odd to be on the ground floor (but what bliss ...) and have people above us. There's a novelty - we've lived in the roof for eighteen years, so it's good to ditch the oxygen masks and be able to admire the flowers. Which we can actually see from here, goodness me. It's a shame in some ways that it's only rented and a temporary move - the rooms are great, especially the living/dining room, which is simply a vast expanse of space with some fantastic sofas and wooden flooring. Wooden flooring! My dears, living on the top floor means we've never dared imagine such luxury ... And we have a garden too - and today I have sat outside on the patio (yes, one of those as well!) furniture supplied very kindly by the rental agents, Martin & Co, and eaten my lunch. Bliss. This is the life, eh ...
Mind you, I've not been entirely lazy - we did most of the unpacking on Tuesday evening, but K sorted the books out yesterday, and today I have tackled the spare room - except for the boxes that are too heavy to lift, which we can sort tonight. Not many of them now, thank goodness. And, as you can see, K has sorted out our Internet connection with Virgin Media via a dongle (yip, I'm still laughing at that one, sadly ...), and it does seem a lot faster than BT, so far. Though of course the connection in Woking is by default better than the one in Godalming (valley, TV/phone blackspot, the Surrey outback, etc etc) so I shouldn't be too surprised that things are faster here. Still, there are a couple of niggles I hope we sort soon - TV is a bit of an issue as we think the best option would be Virgin cable and of course they want an initial 12-month contract for set up so that's impossible at the moment. However, we've gone back to basics and K is looking for an aerial and a booster so we can get some kind of transmission in a terrestrial fashion. Not, at the moment, that there's very much on, by the look of it, but it would certainly be nice to have. Ooh, and we're having trouble with the bath taps - they're soooo stiff, I have either to call for K to come and help me turn them on and off, or wrap a towel round my hands and go to it, as it were. What fun. Still, it's great and I'm settling in much faster than I imagined, hurrah.
Yesterday, I was back at work for one day only - the commute from here was roughly the same as the one from Godalming and appears to be only one mile longer - but of course it's half-term so it will be interesting to see what it's like next week when I'm in on Monday. Being me, I took a map in the car but I managed to find my way rather well, I must say. However, I was very grateful indeed that I'd booked a reflexology treatment for lunchtime - as I certainly needed it by then as I was absolutely shattered from the move.
Today, as well as unpacking and sorting out admin stuff, I've popped in to see my lovely former neighbour in Woking - he's now only a two-minute drive in the home so that's fantastic. Yes K did suggest I walked it, but really I was just too idle for that ...
In terms of flat selling news - yes, you've guessed it: our solicitors in Knaphill have found yet another document for my poor lovely ex-neighbour to sign and are going to be sending it to her. Thankfully she's agreed to sign it (thank you, G!) - this time it's a document for the current/future flat dwellers to agree the new lease that's already been updated, agreed and signed by the old flat dwellers. This apparently is standard practice so you'd have thought our solicitors would have known this and not told me last week that there was absolutely nothing else that G needed to sign. My confidence in the legal profession, particularly when it comes to conveyancing, has always been appallingly low, but it has reached new depths of negativity in recent times, I can tell you. Deep sigh ...
Book News:
I have a launch date for The Gifting! - which will take place on Wednesday 6 July at Godalming Museum, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Ruth at work's husband, D, has agreed to do the catering (thank you, D!) and I already have eight people attending, well gosh, even though I only sent out the invitations today. Okay, I admit that includes Ruth & D, K and me, and the Godalming Museum rep, but three yes responses aren't to be sniffed at in the small-time author trade, believe me.
NB THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO LEGAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PUBLISHER CONCERNED, AT THEIR REQUEST.
Anne Brooke
OMG, we're here!! In Woking, a surprisingly nice part of it too, ye gods and little fishes. Yes, we have moved, begorrah and pass the smelling salts. I cannot believe it. Honestly, it feels soooo good to get out of the Godalming flat, though we will miss the neighbours, that's for sure. We got up at 4am on Tuesday and didn't get to bed till 10pm but it was worth every last strange second of it. Our four packers (who were surely all below working age, or am I just getting older?...) arrived at 6.45am and were absolutely wonderful in every way. So a big thank you to Cook's of Cranleigh who, although they have no idea what a website is for, don't have email or mobiles (goodness, so modern, madam ...) and live in a hugely rural setting with a lot of horses, are experts in smiling efficiency, friendliness, speed and glass wrapping. Not to mention coping with the sixteen outside steps and sixteen inside ones in our old flat with absolutely no complaints - what stars. I loved the way they arrived, cased the joint and then promptly took a twenty minute smoke break with coffee, teas and biccies supplied by me - so wonderfully British, my dears. However, after we'd realised that once they got going they packed at the speed of light and could strip a room in less time (almost) than it took for me to say golly, you're fast, I has absolutely no qualms with them taking whatever time they needed to refuel. More tea, anyone?...
They promised we'd arrive in Woking at round about 2pm and they made it at 2.10pm, which for removals is pretty much bang on the dot, good for them. And I love it here. It's even quieter than Godalming though it's odd to be on the ground floor (but what bliss ...) and have people above us. There's a novelty - we've lived in the roof for eighteen years, so it's good to ditch the oxygen masks and be able to admire the flowers. Which we can actually see from here, goodness me. It's a shame in some ways that it's only rented and a temporary move - the rooms are great, especially the living/dining room, which is simply a vast expanse of space with some fantastic sofas and wooden flooring. Wooden flooring! My dears, living on the top floor means we've never dared imagine such luxury ... And we have a garden too - and today I have sat outside on the patio (yes, one of those as well!) furniture supplied very kindly by the rental agents, Martin & Co, and eaten my lunch. Bliss. This is the life, eh ...
Mind you, I've not been entirely lazy - we did most of the unpacking on Tuesday evening, but K sorted the books out yesterday, and today I have tackled the spare room - except for the boxes that are too heavy to lift, which we can sort tonight. Not many of them now, thank goodness. And, as you can see, K has sorted out our Internet connection with Virgin Media via a dongle (yip, I'm still laughing at that one, sadly ...), and it does seem a lot faster than BT, so far. Though of course the connection in Woking is by default better than the one in Godalming (valley, TV/phone blackspot, the Surrey outback, etc etc) so I shouldn't be too surprised that things are faster here. Still, there are a couple of niggles I hope we sort soon - TV is a bit of an issue as we think the best option would be Virgin cable and of course they want an initial 12-month contract for set up so that's impossible at the moment. However, we've gone back to basics and K is looking for an aerial and a booster so we can get some kind of transmission in a terrestrial fashion. Not, at the moment, that there's very much on, by the look of it, but it would certainly be nice to have. Ooh, and we're having trouble with the bath taps - they're soooo stiff, I have either to call for K to come and help me turn them on and off, or wrap a towel round my hands and go to it, as it were. What fun. Still, it's great and I'm settling in much faster than I imagined, hurrah.
Yesterday, I was back at work for one day only - the commute from here was roughly the same as the one from Godalming and appears to be only one mile longer - but of course it's half-term so it will be interesting to see what it's like next week when I'm in on Monday. Being me, I took a map in the car but I managed to find my way rather well, I must say. However, I was very grateful indeed that I'd booked a reflexology treatment for lunchtime - as I certainly needed it by then as I was absolutely shattered from the move.
Today, as well as unpacking and sorting out admin stuff, I've popped in to see my lovely former neighbour in Woking - he's now only a two-minute drive in the home so that's fantastic. Yes K did suggest I walked it, but really I was just too idle for that ...
In terms of flat selling news - yes, you've guessed it: our solicitors in Knaphill have found yet another document for my poor lovely ex-neighbour to sign and are going to be sending it to her. Thankfully she's agreed to sign it (thank you, G!) - this time it's a document for the current/future flat dwellers to agree the new lease that's already been updated, agreed and signed by the old flat dwellers. This apparently is standard practice so you'd have thought our solicitors would have known this and not told me last week that there was absolutely nothing else that G needed to sign. My confidence in the legal profession, particularly when it comes to conveyancing, has always been appallingly low, but it has reached new depths of negativity in recent times, I can tell you. Deep sigh ...
Book News:
I have a launch date for The Gifting! - which will take place on Wednesday 6 July at Godalming Museum, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Ruth at work's husband, D, has agreed to do the catering (thank you, D!) and I already have eight people attending, well gosh, even though I only sent out the invitations today. Okay, I admit that includes Ruth & D, K and me, and the Godalming Museum rep, but three yes responses aren't to be sniffed at in the small-time author trade, believe me.
NB THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO LEGAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PUBLISHER CONCERNED, AT THEIR REQUEST.
Anne Brooke
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Gardens and goodbyes
Life News:
We've spent most of the weekend preparing for the move on Tuesday and saying goodbye to the neighbours (when they're in). We've now sorted most of the books into piles for taking to the rented flat and piles for storage, so that's a relief. Still to be done is: emptying the loft, draining the washing machine, defrosting the fridge and turning off the freezer (which is all but empty now anyway). We're getting there, though I must say K is doing most of the hard graft with me providing essential domestic support wherever I can.
Still, I managed to squeeze in a game of golf with Marian on Friday, and it was such a relief to get out and knock some balls into ridiculously small holes (as it were). Made a great change from the trials and traumas of Thursday, hey ho. Also during the week, we have breathed the proverbial sigh of relief to note the massive improvement in Wednesday's episode of Midsomer Murders - which also included a naked Sgt Jones which was fabulous, I must say. More please ... Set against that, however, was the totally appallingly written, long-winded, dull and overly emotional episode of Dr Who we bravely sat through (whilst yawning and glancing repeatedly at our watches) on Saturday. What are they thinking?!? Every time someone had a tearful moment we'd just laugh and shout at them to get a grip, and the sickly-sweet moments with the boy at the end definitely needed cutting. Or someone should have drowned the wretched boy in acid. One of the two ... I would have done it myself if I'd been there.
Today, we decided we'd had enough of flat sorting so popped out this afternoon to see Moleshill House garden and The Coach House garden, both in Cobham and next door to each other which made it easy. Lovely to see both - the first one was more dramatic and overgrown, but the second one was incredibly peaceful. If we do ever actually manage to get into a house of our own (dream on, eh!...) then we would both aim for a peaceful garden for sure. Don't hold your breath ...
Book News:
NB THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO LEGAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PUBLISHER CONCERNED, AT THEIR REQUEST.
However, I am much cheered by this 5 star review of A Dangerous Man - thanks, Erik. And for this bank holiday weekend only, you can get a 50% rebate at the till for ALL my All Romance Ebooks if paid for by Paypal or credit card - so for a good weekend read, now's the time to buy!
In terms of work in progress, I've started the fourth in my Delaneys' series, Dating the Delaneys, and I'm also carrying on with my fantasy novella, The Taming of The Hawk. This latter seems to be moving rapidly towards the steampunk genre, I think - if I only knew what that really was, ho ho. But there are machines (of a sort), darkness, dirt and fantasy, so I might be right in my analysis. On the other hand, there's not much Victoriana, so I may equally be wrong. I'll have to wait and see.
Meditations this week are:
Meditation 532
Zimri takes pride
in being counted last
alphabetically
as God is his guide
and his family’s outclassed
hypothetically.
Meditation 533
That slow returning home:
the priests, the people
and the temple slaves
drifting like shadows
through the fields and paths
to houses shaped like graves
and a life they thought
they knew. The forgotten dead
crowd in on waves
of sorrow. No-one remembers
the laughter. They are silent
in the ruins God saves.
The Sunday haiku (because we saw it whilst golfing) is:
Treecreeper dances
across this divided tree
so rhythmically.
So, in conclusion, my last official day on the web is tomorrow and I'm not quite sure when I'll be back online - BT (if we continue at all with them) have promised us some kind of connection on 16 or 17 June in the rented flat, but we might on the other hand be doing something technical with a dongle (well, gosh!) so it may be sooner, if slower. Till then, have fun and I'll catch you on the other side!
Anne Brooke
We've spent most of the weekend preparing for the move on Tuesday and saying goodbye to the neighbours (when they're in). We've now sorted most of the books into piles for taking to the rented flat and piles for storage, so that's a relief. Still to be done is: emptying the loft, draining the washing machine, defrosting the fridge and turning off the freezer (which is all but empty now anyway). We're getting there, though I must say K is doing most of the hard graft with me providing essential domestic support wherever I can.
Still, I managed to squeeze in a game of golf with Marian on Friday, and it was such a relief to get out and knock some balls into ridiculously small holes (as it were). Made a great change from the trials and traumas of Thursday, hey ho. Also during the week, we have breathed the proverbial sigh of relief to note the massive improvement in Wednesday's episode of Midsomer Murders - which also included a naked Sgt Jones which was fabulous, I must say. More please ... Set against that, however, was the totally appallingly written, long-winded, dull and overly emotional episode of Dr Who we bravely sat through (whilst yawning and glancing repeatedly at our watches) on Saturday. What are they thinking?!? Every time someone had a tearful moment we'd just laugh and shout at them to get a grip, and the sickly-sweet moments with the boy at the end definitely needed cutting. Or someone should have drowned the wretched boy in acid. One of the two ... I would have done it myself if I'd been there.
Today, we decided we'd had enough of flat sorting so popped out this afternoon to see Moleshill House garden and The Coach House garden, both in Cobham and next door to each other which made it easy. Lovely to see both - the first one was more dramatic and overgrown, but the second one was incredibly peaceful. If we do ever actually manage to get into a house of our own (dream on, eh!...) then we would both aim for a peaceful garden for sure. Don't hold your breath ...
Book News:
NB THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO LEGAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PUBLISHER CONCERNED, AT THEIR REQUEST.
However, I am much cheered by this 5 star review of A Dangerous Man - thanks, Erik. And for this bank holiday weekend only, you can get a 50% rebate at the till for ALL my All Romance Ebooks if paid for by Paypal or credit card - so for a good weekend read, now's the time to buy!
In terms of work in progress, I've started the fourth in my Delaneys' series, Dating the Delaneys, and I'm also carrying on with my fantasy novella, The Taming of The Hawk. This latter seems to be moving rapidly towards the steampunk genre, I think - if I only knew what that really was, ho ho. But there are machines (of a sort), darkness, dirt and fantasy, so I might be right in my analysis. On the other hand, there's not much Victoriana, so I may equally be wrong. I'll have to wait and see.
Meditations this week are:
Meditation 532
Zimri takes pride
in being counted last
alphabetically
as God is his guide
and his family’s outclassed
hypothetically.
Meditation 533
That slow returning home:
the priests, the people
and the temple slaves
drifting like shadows
through the fields and paths
to houses shaped like graves
and a life they thought
they knew. The forgotten dead
crowd in on waves
of sorrow. No-one remembers
the laughter. They are silent
in the ruins God saves.
The Sunday haiku (because we saw it whilst golfing) is:
Treecreeper dances
across this divided tree
so rhythmically.
So, in conclusion, my last official day on the web is tomorrow and I'm not quite sure when I'll be back online - BT (if we continue at all with them) have promised us some kind of connection on 16 or 17 June in the rented flat, but we might on the other hand be doing something technical with a dongle (well, gosh!) so it may be sooner, if slower. Till then, have fun and I'll catch you on the other side!
Anne Brooke
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Entertaining the Delaneys and other delights
Book News:
Entertaining the Delaneys is published today at Amber Allure Press at a first week discount. This is the sequel to erotic bestseller, The Delaneys and Me, so now's your chance to catch up on the various naughty but nice goings-on of Liam, and those tricky twins. Enjoy!
Speaking of which, The Delaneys and Me has gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Nene). So I like to think that in some way I'm keeping the British tradition of Carry On type humour alive ... Also this week, The Girl in the Painting received a 4-star review at Amazon US, so thank you to Darlene for that one.
And I'm happy to say that Brady's Choice is now available for the first time at Amazon UK Kindle, and, in terms of ratings, The Hit List reached No 35 in the Amazon UK charts, while Sunday Haiku came in at No 10 in the Amazon UK poetry charts, well gosh.
Meanwhile, the haiku for today is:
My garden of dreams
is sunlight-soft and scented:
lavender and hope.
Life News:
I'm gradually getting rid of my pesky cold and catarrh thing, but slowly slowly. Dammit. Alongside, or perhaps as a result (I'm not really sure), I'm having a bit of a depression moment or two, again. Double dammit, eh. What I really want to do is scream a lot and hit someone very hard, but sadly being a middle-aged woman in UK society doesn't really allow for that kind of behaviour outlet - which is a shame as it's exactly the kind of outlet we middle-aged UK women need. At our time of lives, you know. Sigh. K thinks I should get a punch-bag, and it's certainly a tempting option. Maybe in the new house?...
However, the good news is that our mortgage application has been approved in reality (hurrah!), and the survey for the house was pretty damn good really, and certainly a hell of a lot better than the survey for the flat when we bought it in 1993. I'm really hoping things move along pretty damn swiftly from now on, though I know there are land searches and all sorts of legal stuff to go through first. And the pesky middle neighbours need to sign the lease for the man who's bought our flat etc etc as it's a shared freehold. As they're so damn horrible and really rather selfish, then I doubt they'll be hurrying to do that then, eh. More sighing. Though, on the plus side, we also have to sign to agree the buyer for their flat in turn, and really, my dears, I'm not hurrying on that one either. Maybe we'll even "go on holiday and be unable to do it for a while", as they said to us when we got to exchange date with them last year, the losers. Ha! K and I can foresee a time when all four of us will be eyeball-to-eyeball in an independent solicitor's office handing over the documentation in one concerted and closely-watched move. Because you absolutely can't trust them an inch.
So, as you can see, I am indeed as full of the milk of human kindness and Christian charity as I ever am. Ho ho, as if. And, sadly, today's sermon about loving our enemies and being nice to the neighbours got rather short shrift from me, as well as a knowing snort. Well, I've never pretended to be a good person, at any level, so what can one expect? I might well start to be nice when I'm in the next house but, as St Augustine is reputed to have said: not yet, Lord, not yet. Being a dried up, bitchy, embittered old prune is the new nice, after all.
Finally, I'm sorry to say that my invitation to the Royal Wedding appears, unaccountably, to have gone missing in the post. As a result, I may well delay buying my hat, just in case they've forgotten me (how can that be?!) ...
Anne Brooke
Entertaining the Delaneys is published today at Amber Allure Press at a first week discount. This is the sequel to erotic bestseller, The Delaneys and Me, so now's your chance to catch up on the various naughty but nice goings-on of Liam, and those tricky twins. Enjoy!
Speaking of which, The Delaneys and Me has gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Nene). So I like to think that in some way I'm keeping the British tradition of Carry On type humour alive ... Also this week, The Girl in the Painting received a 4-star review at Amazon US, so thank you to Darlene for that one.
And I'm happy to say that Brady's Choice is now available for the first time at Amazon UK Kindle, and, in terms of ratings, The Hit List reached No 35 in the Amazon UK charts, while Sunday Haiku came in at No 10 in the Amazon UK poetry charts, well gosh.
Meanwhile, the haiku for today is:
My garden of dreams
is sunlight-soft and scented:
lavender and hope.
Life News:
I'm gradually getting rid of my pesky cold and catarrh thing, but slowly slowly. Dammit. Alongside, or perhaps as a result (I'm not really sure), I'm having a bit of a depression moment or two, again. Double dammit, eh. What I really want to do is scream a lot and hit someone very hard, but sadly being a middle-aged woman in UK society doesn't really allow for that kind of behaviour outlet - which is a shame as it's exactly the kind of outlet we middle-aged UK women need. At our time of lives, you know. Sigh. K thinks I should get a punch-bag, and it's certainly a tempting option. Maybe in the new house?...
However, the good news is that our mortgage application has been approved in reality (hurrah!), and the survey for the house was pretty damn good really, and certainly a hell of a lot better than the survey for the flat when we bought it in 1993. I'm really hoping things move along pretty damn swiftly from now on, though I know there are land searches and all sorts of legal stuff to go through first. And the pesky middle neighbours need to sign the lease for the man who's bought our flat etc etc as it's a shared freehold. As they're so damn horrible and really rather selfish, then I doubt they'll be hurrying to do that then, eh. More sighing. Though, on the plus side, we also have to sign to agree the buyer for their flat in turn, and really, my dears, I'm not hurrying on that one either. Maybe we'll even "go on holiday and be unable to do it for a while", as they said to us when we got to exchange date with them last year, the losers. Ha! K and I can foresee a time when all four of us will be eyeball-to-eyeball in an independent solicitor's office handing over the documentation in one concerted and closely-watched move. Because you absolutely can't trust them an inch.
So, as you can see, I am indeed as full of the milk of human kindness and Christian charity as I ever am. Ho ho, as if. And, sadly, today's sermon about loving our enemies and being nice to the neighbours got rather short shrift from me, as well as a knowing snort. Well, I've never pretended to be a good person, at any level, so what can one expect? I might well start to be nice when I'm in the next house but, as St Augustine is reputed to have said: not yet, Lord, not yet. Being a dried up, bitchy, embittered old prune is the new nice, after all.
Finally, I'm sorry to say that my invitation to the Royal Wedding appears, unaccountably, to have gone missing in the post. As a result, I may well delay buying my hat, just in case they've forgotten me (how can that be?!) ...
Anne Brooke
Sunday, October 24, 2010
On the market ...
Life news:
Our flat is finally on the market (hurrah!) and can be found in all its Victorian glory at RightMove. All reasonable offers considered, naturally. Everyone does seem to love (or hate!) our zebra rug, but hey that zebra was one class act. Even had its own seat on the train when K brought it all the way back from north London some years ago ...
We've also been continuing to view properties and have a list of 3 so far that we'd like to view again if they're still available by the time we find our own buyer: one in Godalming in a location to die for, gloriously spacious rooms and with a garden you'd have to bring a telescope to see the end of; one in Normandy which was really lovely (apart from the bitchy owner who did rather put me off, what a cow ...) and had a glorious set of coloured tiles in the pleasingly large kitchen; and one in Elstead (my favoured village) with so much in the not-very-large-but-very-cleverly-arranged garden that you'd definitely have to take tours round it. Next week I'm viewing another house in Elstead during the week, and then I hope to set up two Normandy bungalow viewings for K and me next Saturday. Really it's all go.
We've also been filling in a mound of paperwork for the fast-start conveyancing service, and will send it off to the solicitors after we've seen the mortgage specialist next Saturday morning. I suspect they're going to have fun with our leasing arrangements. Apparently the estate agents have already had a great deal of fun with them as part of our lease forbids anyone in the house to set up a brothel or a pub, and it's the first time the agents have come across that one! I suspect it stems from the time when there was a brothel down our road a few decades ago and eventually they pulled the whole house down. Though one assumes not when there was someone still in it.
Also yesterday, I helped out with the open day at the university at the last minute (in between house viewings) as there was a gap we couldn't fill and I didn't want to leave one person on her own. Loads of questions about finances, naturally, but it's all very fluid at the moment so we're really not quite sure how the new system will all work out, or even if it will. Loads of people there too as they want to start next year before the fees are raised, so it was busy busy busy.
This morning, we graced the doors of church - the poor vicar's not very well at all, so Jenny took the service and has apparently told the Archdeacon (giving him no room for contradiction) that the vicar needs time off, and she and the other priest will handle everything until December. Good for her - it takes a woman to sort things out when the men are faffing around, you know! And double good for her as Archdeacons can be tricky, as we all know from the recent TV series, Rev. K and I were also deeply bamboozled by the fact that someone called him Kevin during the peace and the server gave him the wine with the words: The blood of Christ, Peter ... I reckon Kevin is my No 2 husband and Peter is my No 3 husband - lordy, no wonder we need a larger house. Really, it's an utter mystery why K, Kevin and Peter haven't ever bumped into each other in the 17 years we've lived here. Thank goodness for lofts ...
After that we've had a lovely house-free time at Wisley where the peculiarly named Europom event has been taking place to celebrate autumn this weekend. Yes, I thought it was Europorn too when I first read it but actually it's do to with apples. As an apple farmer's daughter, I had to attend of course. And how lovely it is to see the Laxton apple on sale - the last time I saw a Laxton was thirty years ago, so it certainly brought back old memories. I also appeared to be the only woman in the apple-tasting queue who knew how to pronounce Pearmain - no, no, people! It's not Pear-man, it's per-MAIN ...
Book News:
Much to my delight, A Dangerous Man is now available at All Romance Ebooks, though someone hates it so much they've allocated it a one-star rating which somehow always cheers me. I have to say it's a literary rather than a romance novel, so I suspect it's not what that particular Cross Reader was expecting.
Meanwhile, I have posted about what's coming up this week at Vulpes Libris Reviews, a week which is packed full of endings, orgasms and secrets, so well worth keeping an eye on each day's review in the run-up to All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (as I prefer to call the season ...).
Today's meditation poem is:
Meditation 448
Only a quiet room
and the faint echo
of weeping elsewhere
accompany this wild hope
that from death
something more will appear.
The Sunday haiku is:
The shadowed garden
whispers its secrets to me.
From next door: laughter.
Anne Brooke
Our flat is finally on the market (hurrah!) and can be found in all its Victorian glory at RightMove. All reasonable offers considered, naturally. Everyone does seem to love (or hate!) our zebra rug, but hey that zebra was one class act. Even had its own seat on the train when K brought it all the way back from north London some years ago ...
We've also been continuing to view properties and have a list of 3 so far that we'd like to view again if they're still available by the time we find our own buyer: one in Godalming in a location to die for, gloriously spacious rooms and with a garden you'd have to bring a telescope to see the end of; one in Normandy which was really lovely (apart from the bitchy owner who did rather put me off, what a cow ...) and had a glorious set of coloured tiles in the pleasingly large kitchen; and one in Elstead (my favoured village) with so much in the not-very-large-but-very-cleverly-arranged garden that you'd definitely have to take tours round it. Next week I'm viewing another house in Elstead during the week, and then I hope to set up two Normandy bungalow viewings for K and me next Saturday. Really it's all go.
We've also been filling in a mound of paperwork for the fast-start conveyancing service, and will send it off to the solicitors after we've seen the mortgage specialist next Saturday morning. I suspect they're going to have fun with our leasing arrangements. Apparently the estate agents have already had a great deal of fun with them as part of our lease forbids anyone in the house to set up a brothel or a pub, and it's the first time the agents have come across that one! I suspect it stems from the time when there was a brothel down our road a few decades ago and eventually they pulled the whole house down. Though one assumes not when there was someone still in it.
Also yesterday, I helped out with the open day at the university at the last minute (in between house viewings) as there was a gap we couldn't fill and I didn't want to leave one person on her own. Loads of questions about finances, naturally, but it's all very fluid at the moment so we're really not quite sure how the new system will all work out, or even if it will. Loads of people there too as they want to start next year before the fees are raised, so it was busy busy busy.
This morning, we graced the doors of church - the poor vicar's not very well at all, so Jenny took the service and has apparently told the Archdeacon (giving him no room for contradiction) that the vicar needs time off, and she and the other priest will handle everything until December. Good for her - it takes a woman to sort things out when the men are faffing around, you know! And double good for her as Archdeacons can be tricky, as we all know from the recent TV series, Rev. K and I were also deeply bamboozled by the fact that someone called him Kevin during the peace and the server gave him the wine with the words: The blood of Christ, Peter ... I reckon Kevin is my No 2 husband and Peter is my No 3 husband - lordy, no wonder we need a larger house. Really, it's an utter mystery why K, Kevin and Peter haven't ever bumped into each other in the 17 years we've lived here. Thank goodness for lofts ...
After that we've had a lovely house-free time at Wisley where the peculiarly named Europom event has been taking place to celebrate autumn this weekend. Yes, I thought it was Europorn too when I first read it but actually it's do to with apples. As an apple farmer's daughter, I had to attend of course. And how lovely it is to see the Laxton apple on sale - the last time I saw a Laxton was thirty years ago, so it certainly brought back old memories. I also appeared to be the only woman in the apple-tasting queue who knew how to pronounce Pearmain - no, no, people! It's not Pear-man, it's per-MAIN ...
Book News:
Much to my delight, A Dangerous Man is now available at All Romance Ebooks, though someone hates it so much they've allocated it a one-star rating which somehow always cheers me. I have to say it's a literary rather than a romance novel, so I suspect it's not what that particular Cross Reader was expecting.
Meanwhile, I have posted about what's coming up this week at Vulpes Libris Reviews, a week which is packed full of endings, orgasms and secrets, so well worth keeping an eye on each day's review in the run-up to All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (as I prefer to call the season ...).
Today's meditation poem is:
Meditation 448
Only a quiet room
and the faint echo
of weeping elsewhere
accompany this wild hope
that from death
something more will appear.
The Sunday haiku is:
The shadowed garden
whispers its secrets to me.
From next door: laughter.
Anne Brooke
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Houses, books and nude women
Book News:
A Dangerous Man is now published for the second time (hurrah!) and you can buy the paperback at Amazon US. The blurb is:
Michael Jones, a young gay artist and part-time prostitute will do anything to stage his first exhibition. When he falls in love with rich financier, Jack Hutchinson, he seems set to achieve his goal. But as Mikey becomes caught between the unforgiving territory of smoky-bar Hackney and the green-garden luxury of upper class London, we discover the intense mindscape of a man obsessed with his dreams as he attempts to free himself of his past. When a net of antagonistic relationships and inner battles encroaches upon him, the consequences of Mikey's uncompromising pursuit emerge in thrilling tragedy, leaving him having to fight for all he holds dear, and in the only way he knows how.
Something to get your teeth into for sure. You can find reviews from the original now out-of-print edition here, so if you missed it first time round in 2007, now's your chance to catch up. It's a book I'm particularly proud of too, though I say it myself and probably shouldn't. Heck, even best-selling crime author Andrew Taylor called it: "a dark and chilling parable about art, love and murder". So it can't be too bad, I hope!...
There's one meditation poem this weekend:
Meditation 445
Cast your handful
of salt
into the vast waters
and wait
for purity to begin.
The Sunday haiku is:
Scent of strawberries
blossoms the air with summer
in this autumn chill.
Life News:
Rejoice! We have taken our last and umpteenth trip to the council tip, washed all the carpets and have put everything back into position in the flat ready for selling. I must say the spare room looks totally stunning and the faux-zebra African rug looks magnificent with the pale lilac walls, the black bookcases & blinds. If I wanted a two-bedroom flat with good-sized rooms, a fabulous gold-and-cream living room in a highly desirable part of Godalming, I'd be here like a shot, to be honest. We have three estate agents coming round this Wednesday so I hope it will be on the market by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.
In the meantime, we have created a list of about 23 properties we want to see by means of Right Move, and, from those, starred about 10 that are top of that list. I've made appointments to see four of these on Thursday, and I'm ringing up about another one tomorrow. The plan is for me to act as a vanguard to choose properties that K and I will both want to view during weekends when K is free, but those I don't like or don't think he'll like can be ditched as I go along and then I'll save us both the weekend trip. This morning we've driven round to look at some of them planned for Thursday, and I've already discounted one that's way way too near the station. The current feeling is that Normandy, Elstead and Milford are good, and we may well concentrate our search there unless something comes up in Godalming or there's something that's really great elsewhere.
It's not all been house-orientated this week however - I've played some extraordinarily bad golf (which I blame on having to lug the very heavy carpet cleaner we hired up 32 stairs to the flat on my own - Lordy, that was tough but I did it!...), and K and I also had fun (and some tears - mine) when we went to see Calendar Girls at Woking on Thursday. Lovely to be out at the theatre again, but goodness me what a lot of women came to see it. I had to dash like a crazed thing to get into the loo queue at the interval, and I'm sure there were no more than 10 men in the whole audience. In my innocence, I'd thought it might be the other way round, but the theatre-goers of Surrey are a law unto themselves.
Ooh and isn't Pamela Stephenson magnificent in Strictly Come Dancing? Utterly magical to watch in every way. Good on her!
Anne Brooke
A Dangerous Man is now published for the second time (hurrah!) and you can buy the paperback at Amazon US. The blurb is:
Michael Jones, a young gay artist and part-time prostitute will do anything to stage his first exhibition. When he falls in love with rich financier, Jack Hutchinson, he seems set to achieve his goal. But as Mikey becomes caught between the unforgiving territory of smoky-bar Hackney and the green-garden luxury of upper class London, we discover the intense mindscape of a man obsessed with his dreams as he attempts to free himself of his past. When a net of antagonistic relationships and inner battles encroaches upon him, the consequences of Mikey's uncompromising pursuit emerge in thrilling tragedy, leaving him having to fight for all he holds dear, and in the only way he knows how.
Something to get your teeth into for sure. You can find reviews from the original now out-of-print edition here, so if you missed it first time round in 2007, now's your chance to catch up. It's a book I'm particularly proud of too, though I say it myself and probably shouldn't. Heck, even best-selling crime author Andrew Taylor called it: "a dark and chilling parable about art, love and murder". So it can't be too bad, I hope!...
There's one meditation poem this weekend:
Meditation 445
Cast your handful
of salt
into the vast waters
and wait
for purity to begin.
The Sunday haiku is:
Scent of strawberries
blossoms the air with summer
in this autumn chill.
Life News:
Rejoice! We have taken our last and umpteenth trip to the council tip, washed all the carpets and have put everything back into position in the flat ready for selling. I must say the spare room looks totally stunning and the faux-zebra African rug looks magnificent with the pale lilac walls, the black bookcases & blinds. If I wanted a two-bedroom flat with good-sized rooms, a fabulous gold-and-cream living room in a highly desirable part of Godalming, I'd be here like a shot, to be honest. We have three estate agents coming round this Wednesday so I hope it will be on the market by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.
In the meantime, we have created a list of about 23 properties we want to see by means of Right Move, and, from those, starred about 10 that are top of that list. I've made appointments to see four of these on Thursday, and I'm ringing up about another one tomorrow. The plan is for me to act as a vanguard to choose properties that K and I will both want to view during weekends when K is free, but those I don't like or don't think he'll like can be ditched as I go along and then I'll save us both the weekend trip. This morning we've driven round to look at some of them planned for Thursday, and I've already discounted one that's way way too near the station. The current feeling is that Normandy, Elstead and Milford are good, and we may well concentrate our search there unless something comes up in Godalming or there's something that's really great elsewhere.
It's not all been house-orientated this week however - I've played some extraordinarily bad golf (which I blame on having to lug the very heavy carpet cleaner we hired up 32 stairs to the flat on my own - Lordy, that was tough but I did it!...), and K and I also had fun (and some tears - mine) when we went to see Calendar Girls at Woking on Thursday. Lovely to be out at the theatre again, but goodness me what a lot of women came to see it. I had to dash like a crazed thing to get into the loo queue at the interval, and I'm sure there were no more than 10 men in the whole audience. In my innocence, I'd thought it might be the other way round, but the theatre-goers of Surrey are a law unto themselves.
Ooh and isn't Pamela Stephenson magnificent in Strictly Come Dancing? Utterly magical to watch in every way. Good on her!
Anne Brooke
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