Black Boxes & Yellow Ball in the Sky

I've just started reading this book and am thoroughly enjoying it.

I was wanting to post Caroline Smailes' Black Boxes link here as it's great fun, but couldn't manage to, so please click on the widget to the right of this post. You'll be asked various questions and given a link to another site. Loving it. Wish I had the self-control to stop playing on it and get on with some writing, but I'm just having too much fun.

I think I'll give myself five more minutes then I'd better get outside and make the most of the heat radiating from that big yellow ball in the sky. I'm sure I know what it's called, hang on, oh yes, it's the sun.

Have a great day.

The Air Display, 9/11 and Seagull

The air display was incredible, as usual, and as much as I would like to show you photos but my useless camera (not me, of course) didn't manage to get close enough to the planes to be worth posting.

We also walked Grumpy on the beach and took a photo of this unusual art deco house called, Seagull. It is right on the seafront at St Ouen's Bay and can be rented by anyone that wishes to stay there.

Here's a picture of the view from Seagull today, as you can see the weather was overcast and we were lucky not to get wet.


I can't believe it's already seven years since that dreadful day that we were all so horrified by the scenes of devastation in New York. I'm sure everyone remembers where they were on that day and I can't imagine that any one of us will ever forget the abject horror and disbelief we all felt.

I have tomorrow off work, so for me it's the weekend, such a relief. I have so much writing that I need to get on with, but will be meeting a good friend and her husband for lunch and then helping pack our Parish magazine later on. I help with this every quarter and really enjoy being involved.

Christmas & Battle of Britain Air Display

Today has been one of those blurgh days where I don't really know what I'm doing or even the actual day of the week (never mind the flippin' date, that would be asking far too much of me).

I was working my way through an endless form this morning, having sent a sneaky email to a friend, when at lunch time as I checked my personal emails, I realized that I'd sent it to my home email, rather than to her. Duh. No wonder she hadn't replied.

To make matters worse, no one celebrated a birthday/leaving/getting married/engaged/babies etc and so there was a complete lack of sustenance in the chocolate/cake/goodie department.

Just to make sure all of us were completely fed up, our manager sent an email checking which ones of us wanted time off over Christmas. CHRISTMAS. We haven't had a damn summer yet. Well, if we did, then I certainly missed it.

I shouldn't moan, I've got half day on Thursday as it's Battle of Britain day and we have an excellent air display along the south coast. Mind you, it's so small here that wherever you are you'll certainly see something of the Red Arrows, B52, B17 or various others. I love watching it and you can't help feeling at least a little nostalgic.

Competitions, Gerry Butler & RocknRolla

I recently entered a competition to write for children aged 7 to 11 years and had an email today letting me know that my entry hasn't been chosen as a winner. Quelle surprise. I think that some rejections/failures aren't as upsetting as others and wasn't too fazed by this one as it was my first attempt to write anything for this age group.

I cheered myself up with a pic of the breath-taking Gerard Butler, who I've used as my muse for the hero, Fin, in my present WIP. I'm loving him and despite having a rather lax week, word count wise due to family visiting, I've had a constructive few hours in the shed and am now passed the 30k mark. I think that I'll have to make time to go and see GB do his thing in RocknRolla as soon as it comes over here.

So tell me, who have you based your heros on? Hope you all have a great weekend, despite the revolting weather.

Little Darlings & Best Intentions

My neice, G (2 yrs) and nephew J (4 yrs old) came to the house to play for a bit whilst their mum finished moving into their new home (uninterrupted views of sunsets across the bay every night - I may move in with them too). J & G were being very good and having taken three small lights (in the shape of balls, that keep changing colour) into my downstairs loo in order to watch the colours change in the dark, eaten their weight in chocolate buttons and collected windfalls from underneath the apple tree, they then decided that it would be fun to climb the tree to shake down more fruit.

Unfortunately, two things happened. One, they climbed the lilac tree instead of the apple and didn't managed to knock down any apples that way, secondly, G got stuck and I had to rescue her. Mind you, as R pointed out, I still took a photo of the poor mite before going to lift her down from the tree.

This is what I had planned on doing today:
- Dropping J & S at bus stop, returning home and going to shed to: work on current WIP/work on edits on HH&S/work on next assignment.

This is what I ended up doing:
- Taking S to the orthodontist. She had a brace fitted yesterday and one of the bits of metal had come away from the tooth. I phoned and told them that it needed regluing and the receptionist said, "Sorry, Mr P isn't working today." I replied, "And?". To which she said, "Well the dentists like to keep to their own patients." I told her that I didn't care who did the work, but that surely they couldn't expect a youngster to spend from Friday until Monday with a piece of metal moving about in her mouth.

Needless to say, I ended up waiting for the appointment, going in with her (the dentist was actually very nice), taking her to school (despite her assurances that she needn't go), sorting out a new washing machine to be delivered on monday as ours has decided to die.

Amount of words typed (apart from this post) - None.

Elliot Cowan, Awards & Windfalls

I can't wait to watch 'Lost in Austen' tonight as I'm sure it'll be fun. I'm also looking forward to seeing the divine Elliot Cowan as Mr Darcy. I recently noticed him in an old Poirot where he played an evil Irish murderer. Now I don't know how perfect his accent was, but it sounded heavenly to me. Hercule said, "Ah, so this is the face of evil." (or some such thing) and I thought, I couldn't care what he's the face of just keep that damn camera pointed at him for as long as possible.

First day of term today and having lectured J & S about being prepared for school, focusing on their work and doing their best. Last night J got up from watching tv in the lounge and said, "Right, I'm off to my room." Bless, thought I, what a dedicated chap, he's listened to everything I've told him. "Going to bed already?" asked R, who obviously doesn't have rose-tinted glasses. "Nah," J replied. "Got eight pages of History notes to write up before tomorrow." I shall be calm. I shall be calm. I shall be calm.

Tonight they are at their father's and by 4.30 I'd received two phone calls. S has PE tomorrow and needs her kit dropping off tonight, J has dress-down day (what, on the second damn day of school?) and needs jeans, trainers, etc. R kindly dropped them off for me. J then phoned back (I shall be honest here and admit that I wasn't as friendly as perhaps I could have been to my firstborn) to tell me that I have a Parents Evening tomorrow night. Tomorrow night? Why, I ask you, why so soon. They haven't done anything yet?



Thank you to the lovely Annie Bright for my beautiful 'A Perfect Blend of Friendship Award'. Isn't it fab? I would like to award it to the following bloggers please. The very talented and fun Ray-Anne, who got 'the call' from HMB who want both this book and her next one (way to go!), the lovely motherx,, chrish because she's going on her hols soon and I covet the paintings on her blog, CC Devine because she made me giggle and realize that I'm not the only one who can be dizzy sometimes and Karen because her posts always make me laugh.

Right, I'd better get out and pick some of those windfalls before R comes back and moans - that was the deal, he would drop off the children's clothes and I would pick up a few apples. Can't really not keep to my side of the bargain, can I?

Congratulations, Relaxation & My Weekly

Congratulations to the clever and talented, Calistro on her wonderful news, which you can read about here as she now has an agent.

Having seen that the forecast promised a glorious day on Saturday, I decided that nothing would stop me from making the most of the sun. I spent several hours chatting with my mother, who had brought my niece and nephew to see me, whilst my sister moved house.

However, what I hadn't foreseen was that on Friday afternoon, after posting on my blog, my phone rang and a lovely lady from My Weekly advised me that the editor had loved a piece I'd sent in and could they have an extra 150 words and a photo. Naturally, I said, of course they could and spent Saturday afternoon reworking what I'd sent them and making sure that they had the desired word count.

So, though I had already posted about having such a great day on friday, I still had this surprise to come. Even going to work this morning couldn't put the dampers on my mood. Long may it last.