Have updated the Maloney section of my website today with the latest information on purchasing and prices, and am also trying to catch up with my eBook reading. And Lord H has nipped out super-early today to get to Kingston to buy an i-phone. Apparently, he was Number 4 in the queue at ... um ... 8.15 this morning. And he has one, hurrah! So, I am no longer the person in the flat with the newest - or coolest - phone. Ah well, my glory only lasts for a moment, you know ...
Ooh, and I've been watching the Golf Open rather more avidly than usual due to the presence of this on the course. Slobber. Ah, my loyalty to Seve Ballesteros is rapidly fading, I fear. And the gorgeous Camilo taking his place. Honestly, when Lord H called me in to look at that picture (hell let's have it again just because we can) last night, I was nearly licking the screen. Lordy, I'm nothing if not fickle. Though Seve does still have the sexiest accent in the known universe. And glowers so beautifully. You can't go wrong with a Spaniard really. Mmmm, or a Colombian ... So, sod the tennis - honestly golf is where all the hot men are at these days.
This afternoon, Lord H and I are off to Glyndebourne to see the glorious Albert Herring, which I love. A great comic opera. And we've decided to take tea at the Mildmay restaurant instead of having the full monty meal (as it were). Goodness, how very English we are - anyone for a crumpet, Carruthers?...
Anyway, this explains the horribly early blog, as I now have to spend several hours choosing what on earth to wear before we can set out, plus we'll need to do a bigger lunch, due to the tea option. Ah, if only the servants worked weekends eh ... Noblesse oblige.
Today's nice things:
1. Lord H's new i-phone
2. Golf totty
3. Opera.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Showing posts with label mobile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile. Show all posts
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Golf, Bones and righteous indignation
Today, I am utterly in love - with my new mobile. Lordy, but it's damn slick - or slicker than I'm used to. I've even worked out how to take pictures with it and have (yes!) done the sad one of Lord H and myself grinning like apes. I just have to work out how to upload the snaps to the computer now. I suspect that's a challenge for another day ...
Mind you, it's been confusing me too - this morning some of my previous messages I thought I'd wiped from my old phone came up again as new messages in the new one. So I was puzzled to hear Marian say she had to cancel golf. Dammit. However, a quick phone call back just to check told me she was even more confused about my call, so we did manage to hit the fairways (well, some of the time ...) in the usual way, hurrah! And I managed to play a steadier game this week as well, which was great. The highlight was getting a par on the last hole, result! Being the golf professional that I of course am, I waved my club in the air, danced around the green and screamed. I am indeed an arbiter of Golf Cool.
I then dashed round the shops and remembered to buy flowers and birdseed, not to mention the local paper. Um, there's nothing in it. As ever. And for the rest of the day, I've been continuing the second-round edit of The Bones of Summer. And, by George, I've actually ruddy finished it, double hurrahs! And I'm even fairly happy with it - which is in itself a minor miracle. Usually at this stage, I am convinced it's rubbish and is the worst book in the history of time. Perhaps I'll feel that later? Ah, no doubt, sigh ... So, I've now contacted another editor, Sarah Abel, who's been recommended to me, to see if she'll now do a thorough edit for me before I send it to John. Never say that this Essex Girl doesn't give her agent as thoroughly polished an MS as she can damn well make it.
And I've had quite a shocking telephone conversation with my Kentish friend - who is having the family crisis from hell. And it is not at all her fault and never bloody well has been. Sorry, just thought I'd say that, as I can't say anything else. All I can say is that if the person who made these ridiculous statements was in the room, I'd give said person a strong right hook and tell her to sling it. Bloody cheek indeed! My Kentish friend is the nicest woman I know, and anyone who says otherwise is a total idjit. I feel the phone will be hot tonight, Carruthers. Best get some cleaning done now then ...
Today's nice things:
1. My new mobile
2. Golf
3. Finishing Round 2 of Bones
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Mind you, it's been confusing me too - this morning some of my previous messages I thought I'd wiped from my old phone came up again as new messages in the new one. So I was puzzled to hear Marian say she had to cancel golf. Dammit. However, a quick phone call back just to check told me she was even more confused about my call, so we did manage to hit the fairways (well, some of the time ...) in the usual way, hurrah! And I managed to play a steadier game this week as well, which was great. The highlight was getting a par on the last hole, result! Being the golf professional that I of course am, I waved my club in the air, danced around the green and screamed. I am indeed an arbiter of Golf Cool.
I then dashed round the shops and remembered to buy flowers and birdseed, not to mention the local paper. Um, there's nothing in it. As ever. And for the rest of the day, I've been continuing the second-round edit of The Bones of Summer. And, by George, I've actually ruddy finished it, double hurrahs! And I'm even fairly happy with it - which is in itself a minor miracle. Usually at this stage, I am convinced it's rubbish and is the worst book in the history of time. Perhaps I'll feel that later? Ah, no doubt, sigh ... So, I've now contacted another editor, Sarah Abel, who's been recommended to me, to see if she'll now do a thorough edit for me before I send it to John. Never say that this Essex Girl doesn't give her agent as thoroughly polished an MS as she can damn well make it.
And I've had quite a shocking telephone conversation with my Kentish friend - who is having the family crisis from hell. And it is not at all her fault and never bloody well has been. Sorry, just thought I'd say that, as I can't say anything else. All I can say is that if the person who made these ridiculous statements was in the room, I'd give said person a strong right hook and tell her to sling it. Bloody cheek indeed! My Kentish friend is the nicest woman I know, and anyone who says otherwise is a total idjit. I feel the phone will be hot tonight, Carruthers. Best get some cleaning done now then ...
Today's nice things:
1. My new mobile
2. Golf
3. Finishing Round 2 of Bones
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Meetings, mobiles and the gingerbread sheep
All very quiet at work today – due to holidays, conferences, non-working days and a variety of illnesses, the only one in the office apart from the Dean is … um … me. Goodness but it’s quiet. I do think the Dean should perform some kind of song-and-dance routine to entertain the troops accordingly. Or, rather, troop. Mind you, I don’t feel so good myself actually, if you’re asking, so maybe that’s not such a clever idea. Though I did nip into Tesco on the way in this morning to stock up with the necessary medicine, so am surely already on the up. One hopes.
So, I’m taking the opportunity of arranging the whole academic year’s supply of Steering Group meetings for next year. My, everyone’s in-boxes will be bursting. It’s good to have some kind of power, you know. Even if only of the email kind. It’s such a great feeling to have the gang all sorted out up to July 2009 and, yes, I know I’m sad, but I’m nothing if not an obsessive planner. Isn’t that what the University pays me for?
I also strolled round the campus at lunchtime and admired the new art exhibition. This time it’s portraits. I do think it’s a sign of age that I really like portrait painting now. I never did in my 20s or 30s, but I woke up when I was 40 thinking: Lordy but I’d love to see paintings of people and give me more of them. Perhaps it’s my hormones? And today’s other lunch excitement was the gingerbread sheep, fresh from Lord H’s shopping trip to Waitrose. Gingerbread sheep make Wednesdays suddenly worthwhile, you know. Ooh, and I’ve ordered a new mobile phone as O2 tell me that it’s time for an update (Gawd bless ’em …). As ever and being a hard-nosed meanie, I asked for whatever was free, so I appear to be getting a Nokia 6300 in black, which comes with a camera. Well, goodness me, I haven’t had a camera-phone before! I’m usually barely able to press the keys to make a call, and finding where numbers might be stored is a mystery of the deepest kind. I foresee much confusion ahead, Carruthers …
Meanwhile, this week’s heroes are (a) the Dean – for sparing me the need to listen to any entertainment after all; and (b) Lord H – for knowing the difference between the Klu Klux Klan and the penitents of Andalusia, without even having to look it up.
Tonight, I’m starting the second tranche of editing The Bones of Summer as – yes! – I finished the first run through last night. Hurrah! No, double hurrahs and somebody put the bunting out. Mind you, I’ve already thought of two or three tweaks (at least) for the second run-through, so it’s not all champagne and canapés here in the outback. Sadly.
I’ve just read Blake Morrison’s South of the River. Now, I usually really rate Morrison, and his previous novel, The Justification of Johan Gutenberg, is a tour-de-force which everyone should read. But really SOTR is dull, wordy, faintly irritating and way, way too long. I struggled through it womanfully, but purely out of a misplaced sense of loyalty to Morrison. At the end, I was skipping wildly and maybe reading one word in 100. If that. Not only that, but the font size can only be read by eagles having a particularly good day. It just made my eyes ache. What is wrong with publishers??? Perhaps they should sell a magnifying glass with every copy. Now, I know it’s about 600 pages long (groan …), but either they divide it into two and give us a decent font, or they simply edit the thing down to the 200 page novel it actually is. That would have been the more merciful option for sure.
Meanwhile Maloney’s Law on Amazon UK now has a rating on it, as the truly lovely Jilly has actually bought a copy. Thank you, Jilly! My first customer, triple hurrahs! I hope you enjoy the read.
Today’s nice things:
1. Arranging a year’s-worth of meetings
2. Portrait paintings
3. Gingerbread sheep
4. A new mobile
5. Editing Bones
6. Maloney’s Amazon UK rating and Jilly buying a copy!
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
So, I’m taking the opportunity of arranging the whole academic year’s supply of Steering Group meetings for next year. My, everyone’s in-boxes will be bursting. It’s good to have some kind of power, you know. Even if only of the email kind. It’s such a great feeling to have the gang all sorted out up to July 2009 and, yes, I know I’m sad, but I’m nothing if not an obsessive planner. Isn’t that what the University pays me for?
I also strolled round the campus at lunchtime and admired the new art exhibition. This time it’s portraits. I do think it’s a sign of age that I really like portrait painting now. I never did in my 20s or 30s, but I woke up when I was 40 thinking: Lordy but I’d love to see paintings of people and give me more of them. Perhaps it’s my hormones? And today’s other lunch excitement was the gingerbread sheep, fresh from Lord H’s shopping trip to Waitrose. Gingerbread sheep make Wednesdays suddenly worthwhile, you know. Ooh, and I’ve ordered a new mobile phone as O2 tell me that it’s time for an update (Gawd bless ’em …). As ever and being a hard-nosed meanie, I asked for whatever was free, so I appear to be getting a Nokia 6300 in black, which comes with a camera. Well, goodness me, I haven’t had a camera-phone before! I’m usually barely able to press the keys to make a call, and finding where numbers might be stored is a mystery of the deepest kind. I foresee much confusion ahead, Carruthers …
Meanwhile, this week’s heroes are (a) the Dean – for sparing me the need to listen to any entertainment after all; and (b) Lord H – for knowing the difference between the Klu Klux Klan and the penitents of Andalusia, without even having to look it up.
Tonight, I’m starting the second tranche of editing The Bones of Summer as – yes! – I finished the first run through last night. Hurrah! No, double hurrahs and somebody put the bunting out. Mind you, I’ve already thought of two or three tweaks (at least) for the second run-through, so it’s not all champagne and canapés here in the outback. Sadly.
I’ve just read Blake Morrison’s South of the River. Now, I usually really rate Morrison, and his previous novel, The Justification of Johan Gutenberg, is a tour-de-force which everyone should read. But really SOTR is dull, wordy, faintly irritating and way, way too long. I struggled through it womanfully, but purely out of a misplaced sense of loyalty to Morrison. At the end, I was skipping wildly and maybe reading one word in 100. If that. Not only that, but the font size can only be read by eagles having a particularly good day. It just made my eyes ache. What is wrong with publishers??? Perhaps they should sell a magnifying glass with every copy. Now, I know it’s about 600 pages long (groan …), but either they divide it into two and give us a decent font, or they simply edit the thing down to the 200 page novel it actually is. That would have been the more merciful option for sure.
Meanwhile Maloney’s Law on Amazon UK now has a rating on it, as the truly lovely Jilly has actually bought a copy. Thank you, Jilly! My first customer, triple hurrahs! I hope you enjoy the read.
Today’s nice things:
1. Arranging a year’s-worth of meetings
2. Portrait paintings
3. Gingerbread sheep
4. A new mobile
5. Editing Bones
6. Maloney’s Amazon UK rating and Jilly buying a copy!
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
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