My local library

When I was at primary school, we’d sometimes walk round the back of the carpark, up the back road and to my local library.  It was a treat – a special day.  We’d sing “the wheels on the bus go round and round” (endlessly) and get to choose a couple of books each to read, and maybe a book to borrow, and some kids would huddle in groups comparing pictures, and others would sit on squishy bags in corners and read until it was time to go. Then I started violin lessons (I was crap) and would get to visit,…

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Swimathon – March 2019

I’ve signed up to swim 5k in March 2019 to raise money for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie!  Yaaaaayyyy!  Because 200 lengths is fine, right?  Totally fine…. This is not my first swimathon.  In 2015 and 2016 I was part of a swimming team (the Red Herrings) which divided up the task of doing 5k first between four of us in 2015, then three of us the year after.  On my last swimathon I went into the pool having spent a week in tech, followed by a really spicy pizza, and basically farted and burped my way through my…

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Crazy weeks and sleep

It’s been a few crazy weeks.  To summarize roughly, they went something like this… At the end of October, I was lucky enough to be a guest at Fantasycon, which this year was held in Chester.  On the Friday of going to Fantasycon, I first went to Ipswich to see rehearsals for a (stunningly good) dance show I’ve been working on for a year.  The 9 a.m. train from Liverpool St arrived with more than enough time to spare to watch a couple of runs, talk to the choreographer, sit down with the production manager and work through the outstanding…

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Silence

As an only child, growing up in the city, I remember the first time my parents left me home alone for a weekend.  The house was far too big for me, and since I lived in Hackney, but went to school on the other side of town, there wasn’t a sense of friends nearby, of a neighbour to run to if all went wrong.  Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, there was an order of lights you turned on and off as you moved through the house; first the landing, then the stairs, then the corridor,…

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Fantasycon 2018

A (apologetically late) shout-out to anyone who’s going to be at Fantasycon 2018 in Chester this year!  There’s loads of wonderful people going, and I have a feeling large quantities of alcohol will be consumed as a side-effect of this; it’s also just a really friendly, fun place to meet fellow lovers of words and geekery.  I’m there this year from first thing Saturday along with a contingent of Orbit scribblers, and as well as doing a few events will just be hanging around and chatting.  Please do come and say hello. It also looks like the weekend after I’m…

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Never Quite Enough Time

Not least, never quite enough time to do a proper blog post.  Apologies for that.  It’s all been very patchy, and more and more I begin to have sympathy for my Mum, who despite being retired is constantly juggling time to try and find a moment to get things done. Where does it all go? Since getting back from holiday (GOD I WANT TO BE ON HOLIDAY FOREVER) things seem to have hit the ground running.  Lots of good things too – seeing friends, visiting family, catching up with people I love.  I went walking for a day along the…

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