Confessions of an Author

Lexus LC 500 We went to look at sports cars. You can do this sort of thing when you get to a certain age and are bored. When you’re younger, the sales person asks lots of awkward questions about why you want to change your car, and what your job is, so they can check you aren’t just messing about. But at our age, they simply ask what you currently drive (to check, I assume, a certain income level) and then they are happy to let you play, accepting that one of you must be having a mid-life crisis. We had been out for brunch at Marcos in Sevenoaks (best place locally for brunch) and drove down to the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, where there is a whole road of car dealerships, so you can walk along comparing cars. We started in the Lexus garage, looking at the LC 500. It’s a very pretty car. It has nice rounded corners, and lights which are shaped like slitty eyes, assessing the road. It’s very low profile, and hugs the ground (so would probably make it to the end of our dr...

Life has been busy… Life has been busy since we arrived home from India. We had barely unpacked before Husband set off again, for Germany. I’m sure this was an essential work trip, and not because I am very irritable when I’m jet-lagged. It took me a few days to readjust my clock, which was fine because waking before the rest of the country is not unpleasant, though I did have a tendency to collapse at about 7pm. I was cooking at lunch club on Friday, so the first couple of days were busy with shopping and making ginger sponges for pudding. I cooked my default meal: roast gammon, roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflower cheese, and sweetcorn. It went okay, and we served 36 dinners. The following day, we were organising a church social. Well, to be precise, Husband was organising a church social, as when it was planned way back in October, I told him that after Christmas and new year and a trip to India, I would  NOT  be helping to then arrange an evening of entertai...

Happy New Year! (Survived 2017 okay?) Well, I did it, I made it to the end of the year. Christmas was lovely, but busy, then straight into visiting family, family parties, and preparing for New Year Eve’s party. I can now collapse in a heap somewhere. The family parties especially are good to survive. They are fun, but somewhat different to the parties we had when I was little. In those days, we all went to my granny’s house, where she had a huge room that stretched across the shop below, and we played games. The games were things like musical statues, and postman’s knock – where no one ever wanted to have to kiss Uncle George because he didn’t have many teeth. He’s dead now. Today, it would probably be classed as child abuse. These days, I go to my in-laws houses for family games. These range from the impossible (Eg, trying to match words my mother might think of – I opted out this year and let my brother partner her) to the not so impossible (trying to stay awake du...

Christmas Meal with the Family For the last few years, we’ve tried to go up to London, to see the Christmas lights and have dinner together. Not anywhere particularly posh, but just to be together, somewhere different, where I don’t have to do the cooking. Last weekend was the 2017 family meal. I wasn’t sure if we’d manage it this year, as only Husband and I were at home, and everyone else would be travelling from different parts of the country, but they all seemed willing, so I booked a table and hoped it wouldn’t snow. It didn’t, but it did rain, which made the event damper than planned, but it was still nice to see everyone. We arranged to meet at 5:30pm at The National Gallery. I chose this time because it was an hour before our restaurant reservation, and my family, whilst wonderful, are somewhat unpredictable when it comes to times and trains and going in the right direction. Well, actually, it would be more accurate to say they are very predictable, and I knew ...

Learning Points 2 Hi, not had a great week. How about you? I have that sliding, not quite on top of everything, overly busy feeling – the one that always seems to descend about this time of year. It will be replaced with a complete flat panic – did anyone buy a Christmas gift for Grandma? – feeling, which will last until well into the new year. So I might as well get used to it. I never manage to fit in everything I want to do, and I will always feel like I’ve managed to achieve less than everyone else. That’s just life. I have, however, learned lots of things this week. For example, I learned that if you have a grumpy old cat who dislikes going outside when it’s cold or damp, and who repeatedly poops in the utility room sink, then when you throw said poop out of the door in disgust,  it is extremely important to first check that no one is walking past in the lane. I also learned that when cooking a roast gammon dinner for 39 elderly people, when a sweet lady with whi...

Palma del Rio, Spain Palma del Rio, Spain Family Holiday 2008. A learning experience…… Saturday 2nd August  (Please note the month. It matters…) Flew to Malaga. Waited over an hour for Hertz hire car to be ready. Drove to Palma del Rio. The instructions, map and actual road numbers all completely different. Felt somewhat stressed. Spent about an hour in Palma del Rio trying to find villa. In the end we phoned the owner and forced Rebecca to use her GCSE Spanish and get us directions. (She actually did rather well.) Met Pepe. Villa very pretty, lots of dark wood and comfortable furniture. Rather smelly (of poo.) Extremely hot. (This villa can still be booked through: holidaylettings.co.uk I notice that it now has air conditioning. If your husband ever tells you that ceiling fans are just as good as air conditioning, do not believe him. Went to Supermarket in Palma del Rio. Hard to find stuff without speaking spanish. Bought food and cleaning materials...