James - Happy Trekking

Hi there, just a quick post to wish you well with your trip to Chang Mai & Chang Rai and the trek. Glad to hear the cooking is going well and that Cartwright is helping you too.

Your sister has been messing about with the computer and I now have some sort of virus that's messing things up a bit, so will need to spend a bit of time sorting it out. (I'm having a nightmare with this and will do my best to post but may not be able to for a few days, thankfully b-i-l is helping me suppress the virus so that I can add this).

V wasn't there yesterday when we went to Greve, only a miserable girl who didnt want to serve food but V's son appeared and then she was more helpful. The breezeblock had his usual order of a sausage and wolfed it down in no time.

I'm now off on holiday from work for the next ten days and can't wait to be able to sit in the shed for a decent amount of time. Nothing new to report, I just want you to thoroughly enjoy yourself. x

Word Count, Malteser Icecreams & Beach

Thanks to Helen's brilliant 100 Words A Day blog, I've now done 10,209 words on my next book. I have hardly noticed I was doing it as I've been sitting down each afternoon to try for the 100 words needed and have usually gone over that amount. Such a simple but effective idea and now that I've sent of the m/s I can focus on it a bit more.

I've discovered Malteser Icecreams now (such a glutton) and so have the freezer duly stocked and each night S and I sit down quietly (only for a short while though) whilst we eat them.

R, S, Grumpy and I went for supper down at Greve de Lecq after work and whilst R ordered our food, S and I walked the strutting fluffy breezeblock as he surveyed the beach, growled at a few passing dogs and demolished various sandcastles. Anti-social little devil.

Alarms, Cinema Tickets & Treks

I was just sitting here waiting for the picture to load and S's phone alarm went off giving me such a fright. The reason she put it on is simple, she doesn't want her supper burnt. I'd already put in the chips and said, "Call me in 20 minutes to put in your pizza." (Okay, so I'm not Delia Smith when it comes to cooking). And instead of doing as I'd asked, she put her alarm on instead and went off to play on her Nintento Wii. Needless to say, I've now put in the pizza and veg.

Here's a picture of the garden for J to see. This was taken the other way when we had sun, but as I look out of the window now all I can see is rolling fog going by, so it's pretty much a typical July day.

J will be pleased to know that I've bought a batch of cheap cinema tickets as every so often we get an offer through work to do this and I usually make the most of it. This time, however, I must remember to actually use one or two myself as most of the time it's S and J who uses them to go out with their friends.

As you probably know, if you've read any of his comments, J is half way through his trip and has endured a 12 hour coach drive up to Thailand and is now getting ready for a week's trek. Message to J: I remembered to tape the last episode of Heroes. Make the most of your trip and enjoy every second of it because it will soon be over and you'll be back to studying once again. Damn this alarm has just gone off again. Pizza is probably burnt. X

Blue Remembered Heels, NWS & Pimms

I wasn't much help in the garden yesterday and only managed a half-hearted attempt at a little weeding and dead-heading in between printing off my m/s. This took far longer than I'd hoped as the damn ink ran out (of course) but much to everyone's relief, mine especially, I did have a spare cartridge, so the hissy fit was short-lived.

I've now queued, bought £16 worth of stamps both Jersey (very pretty one of the Queen) and English and sent the brown envelope that has been taunting me from the sideboard for the past couple of weeks off on it's merry way.

I was then far too exhausted after all that printing to return to the gardening and settled with a cool glass of Pimms and Julie Cohen's novel Honey-Trap and refused to move until I'd finished it. Great read, loved her hero too. After that I spent a little time with R & S and we watched George Gently (this time without Richard Armitage, sigh) and went to soak in the bath and started to read Nell Dixon's Blue Remembered Heels. I'm loving this too and as soon as I've done my 100 words for the day, I'm off to treat myself (once again) to more of this excellent story.

I phoned my mother this morning at 7am (her time) to wish her a very happy birthday (I daren't say her age as she will kill me and reads this) anyway, my step-father answered the phone and said, "I'm afraid, she's not back from the gym yet." Gym?

Finishing Corrections, North & South & Giant Schnauzers

I've finished. After six hours of staring at the screen and turning red-marked pages, I've finally finished my corrections. What a relief. So tomorrow my m/s will be flown off to the NWS and I can carry on with novel #4 that I've been slowly working on for the 100 words a day scheme.

Apart from the local one, we don't usually buy a daily newspaper but having seen an advert on the tv for free dvds for various films such as Pride & Prejudice (Colin Firth one), which naturally I have; North & South (well, of course I have this one it has the perfectly divine Richard Armitage in it) and Room With A View, which I don't yet possess with Julian Sands and Helena Bonham Carter. I shall be making sure I have a copy this week. I don't know if it's the acting, scenery or maybe having the lovely Dames, Judy Dench and Maggie Smith in it but I love this film.

After giving myself a headache from sitting in front of the computer for so long, we took Grumpy for a walk on the beach and for the first time I saw a black giant schnauzer that R and my sister have told me so much about. She was beautiful and kept trowing a crushed tennis ball into the air and then chasing it. Unlike G who growled at her and acted as if it was his beach and was most unfriendly (hence keeping him on a lead) she took absolutely no notice of him and was delightful while we chatted to her owner for a couple of minutes. Typical male, he was probably annoyed that she didn't find him fascinating.

Corrections, Sore Feet & Grumpy

My corrections are going along swimmingly and I'm now half way through, so today, after doing the usual shopping, walking the dog, etc I shall press on as I'm determined to send it out on Monday. Unfortunately, because we need English stamps I have to go and queue at the Main Post Office in St Helier. To be honest, it isn't far from my work but the idea of parking outside my small local one and trotting in is far preferrable.

On Thursday I had a client over for the day, which meant that although I'm usually smart, I had to wear a suit and therefore instead of the usual again smart, but not right for the suit, open-toed mules, I wore my toe-crushing court shoes. I was fine for most of the day but by the time I was racing to the car to collect S from the car restorer's (I was late of course) I was in complete agony. So for the weekend I shall be in the spongiest footware possible and thankfully have a veritable range of flipflops to slip my aching feet into. The only problem is that I have to go to London for the day in a few weeks and need to decide if I start traipsing around the shops (only like to do this when I'm in the mood, say, about once a year) to buy replacement shoes or wear my bone-crushers and hope that I spend most of the time sitting down?

Grumpy, who found it all a little strange that S was in the house without J being there too, has now settled down and is back to his usual self of either barking at anything that moves or sleeping. I had just got comfortable in bed at about 9pm last night when a firework display began that looked beautiful from my bedroom window, but caused chaos because it upset and infuriated the dog. Thankfully, he goose-stepped around the room for a bit when it finished and grumbled and barked for a few moments and then must have decided he'd sorted everything out and went to sleep. Such a relief.

Time Flies

I dropped S off for her visit to Elizabeth Castle this morning and came straight home to write. I answered emails and comments on this blog and then typed up my report for the RNA Romance Matters quarterly magazine. I then worked for a bit on novel #4 (dreadful working title, Spick and Span) for my 100 words (actually did 258) and now it's nearly time to leave and collect S.

Where did the time go? I've only had one cup of tea (okay, I've also had a packet of Maltesers and some Cheese & Onion crisps). I haven't even started working through my corrections and will have to do that as soon as I get back. Well, that is after shopping for a few bits for S as she insists that she has absolutely nothing to wear despite being in possession of a filled wardrobe. I think she's turning into me, or at least a much younger and energetic version. She's even my height now, which is rather strange for me, although thrilling and amusing for her.

We also have to take Grumpy for a walk at St Ouens and then I shall be able to get on with what I thought I'd be doing for most of the day. I'm determined to finish these flippin' corrections and send my m/s to NWS this weekend, though I suppose it won't go until Monday now.