Updates
Your first port
of call for, erm...updates! Log on right here to find new features, news,
gossip and piffly stuff.
If, by the way, you'm a-wonderin'
where all my 2004 updates have disappeared to, just click on the '2004 archive'
link below, and they will appear! Good, eh? I've given the page a little ol'
spring clean!
Friday
9 December 2005
Yet again, apologies for
the delay in updating this thing - can't believe it has nearly been a month.
Though, is anybody actually reading it? I'd love to know.
Oh, 'tis the season to gripe! Those close to me will know that I am not the
world's greatest fan of Christmas. I truly believe that this heavily commercialised
time of year brings out the very worst in people - it seems to turn the most
mild-mannered of folks into grasping, spoilt little ****s who demand that you
lavish money on them.
Oh, I could go on, I could go on, but I really can't be bothered. I'd
just sound like I'm whining (which I would be) - so, to cheer myself up, I've
had a go at my now traditional end of year chart, looking at what represented,
IMHO, the best and worst of 2005:
Best band: The Darkness - again
Best male artiste: Still Will Young
Best female artiste: Katie Melua or Kylie
Best gig: It would have to be Kylie at the NEC
Best CD: Katie Melua - Piece By Piece
Best single: That Amarillo one, or - bit of a cliche
this one as every girl will probably say it - You're Beautiful by James Blunt
Best film: Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of
the Were Rabbit
Best TV progs: Strictly Come Dancing (yeah, I know,
I know), Little Britain, Extras, Kath & Kim
Best read: I'm a big fan of autobiographies and
really enjoyed Julian Clary's earlier in the year
Best show: We Will Rock You - Dominion Theatre,
London
Best comedians: Peter Kay, Rob Brydon, Matt Lucas,
David Walliams, Ricky Gervais, Catherine Tate
My proudest achievements: Getting engaged, booking
my wedding, completing my second novel and beginning work on my third
Number of weddings attended: 3
Things to look forward to in 2006: Completing my
third novel, attending tonnes more weddings - and planning my own - aarrgghgh.....
Sunday
13 November 2005
Yeah, I'm going to see The Darkness again!! ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! Yes, I shall be
spending the night of my 29th birthday with Justin and the boys at the NEC.
Perhaps a second review will follow here...
Sunday
6 November 2005
Well did you all miss me??
My elongated absence from these pages is due to:
a) A 10-day holiday in fabbo Lanzarote (and by the way, if I have any readers
in the gorgeous Canary Islands - mega long shot, I know - I'd love to hear from
you!), and
b) The computer's recent
stay at the doctor's - otherwise known as Dave the Computer Man's house - for
one or two upgrades.
But now I'm back! And I'm well into the planning stages of Novel Number 3, Gap
Year - which I can't wait to start writing.
In the meantime, I dearly wish that either Classmates
or All the Rage could be published soon - and that
the consequences of this phenomenon be that:
a) The book sells millions,
b) I become a celebrity, and
c) I, in this capacity, get invited to appear on Strictly Come Dancing!!
I'm an unashamed addict of this show.
Subliminal message alert: VOTE PATSY & ANTON!!
Whilst here, I'd like to thank all those of you who've left guestbook messages
during my absence. I was stunned when I logged on after the hols and discovered
I'd had so many visitors!
Thursday
6 October 2005
NEW STORY ALERT!!
TV Spa-Dom (oh, that title is a pun on so
many levels...) is the latest addition to my short fiction collection. Its central
character - indeed its narrator - is to feature, I have just decided, in a more
minor role, in my forthcoming, as yet unwritten novel Gap
Year.
Do take a look and let me know what you think.
Wednesday
21 September 2005
Thank you to all those kind people who have left guestbook messages as a result
of reading my little 'please read my website' plugs, which I've been placing
in the forums of various writing-related sites of late. It clearly pays to advertise!
All the Rage has now been posted off, and is hopefully
as we speak being pored over by some Daily Mail editor for the competition
(who hopefully isn't laughing). Will keep you posted on its progress...
Monday
12 September 2005
I'VE FINISHED MY NOVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Put out the flags, hang up the bunting...All the Rage
is complete, proofread and is in the process of being parcelled up to those
nice folks at the Daily Mail who are going to bind 10 lovely copies with
which I can treat my oh so 'lucky' friends this Christmas!! And so, after all
these months, I've got my life back.
I will forever associate that novel with the endless rounds of sardines ("sards")
on toast and mugs of coffee which I consumed at the kitchen table during the
at times slow and fraught writing process - often while listening to Radio 2
(yes, I have officially attained old fart-hood). In a funny kind of way, I will
miss it.
You'll notice that my updates on here have of late been very sporadic,
but now that I'm not spending every waking moment (and a few sleeping moments
too...) working on the novel, I'm at least free to contribute more frequent
entries to this online diary. I know I've neglected the site recently, but fear
not, I'm back now!!! You'll see I've treated my CV page to a much needed revamp,
with a new layout and some updated piccies.
Wednesday
17 August 2005
Helllooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Only a quickie (ooh-err) Yes, I am still alive - it's just that All
the Rage has rather taken over of late, hence the dire lack of updates
here. Ooh, I've been spreading myself out on the kitchen table (double ooh-err)
with a plethora of pens and my thesaurus these last few weeks. I am currently
on Chapter 13 (of 15) of the novel, and loving every backbreaking, squint-inducing
moment of it. At the same time, I can't wait to finish it and reclaim my weekends
and evenings back!!
I also feel very much like a character in Four Weddings and a Funeral (I'd
probably be Duckface - or that wacky girl with the orange hair who was Hugh
Grant's flatmate) at present. We've had the funeral (Dad's - and don't want
any more, thank you very much!) and now have 4 weddings to attend in
the next 2 years (including, of course, ours)!!! It's a very exciting time.
Nathan's 2 brothers, Jez and Nick, are also getting married - Nick this Christmas,
so that will give me a reason to look forward to the festive season for once!
Ooh, I feel a hat-buying session coming on...
Wednesday
20 July 2005
Thought I'd better add a quick update, if only to let you know I am still alive
- albeit slowly drowning in the sea that is my novel. I am currently working
on the rewrites (ooh, that sounded posh - like a proper, grown-up author) of
All the Rage, racing to finish it by my September
deadline to get it in for this Daily Mail offer thing (can't be bothered
to explain all about that again - see the entry below for 11
April).
When it's complete, I intend treating myself to a massive shopping spree (yet
another incentive to get the thing written). I've decided that when I write
my next novel, I will not let it take over my life to the extent this
one has done. I feel - my fault, I know - like I've currently got no life outside
the book because it's eating up every nanosecond of free time I have. I feel
guilty - like I'm wasting time - every minute I spend away from it.
Once this manuscript is complete, I think I also need to give this website a
brush-up, and also try and market it a bit better; get it more known. At the
moment I feel like I'm its only reader. My guestbook doesn't exactly get filled
up on a daily basis.
In other news...Nath and I have at last booked a holiday - another thing that
will be extremely welcome. Ten days in Lanzarote - can't wait!! After the year
I've just had, I desperately need a break.
Wednesday
29 June 2005
Woo-hoo - at last a new 'bostin' yarn' has been added to my site! Called Puppet
Love, it's a daft, harmless tale of a chav affair that blossoms in the
unlikely setting of an indoor market in Brierley Hill!! Do please read and enjoy...
Monday
20 June 2005
Greetings, fellow sun-worshippers! Now this is what I call weather! 'H2B'
(as they say on confetti.co.uk)
and I spent a glorious Saturday in Stratford, by the river, catching a few rays
and gorging on ice cream.
Have also spent the week working on my new short story. Provisionally titled
Puppet Love (or All You Need is Glove - are you starting to get
the picture here?), it's a quirky little Black Country tale of chav and cuddly
romance! It will be appearing here very shortly, so watch this space...
I'm finding it rather weird actually, to be focusing on a short tale after spending
the last year immersed in my novel. I've been dreaming up plots for Chantal,
Faith and Justine, the main protagonists of All the Rage,
for over 12 months, and it now seems most odd to be even thinking about new
characters. I've used this analogy before, but I feel that novels are like marriages
- or long-term relationships at least - whereas short stories are like one night
stands!! I feel peculiar planning this new story - as though, insane as this
may sound, I am being unfaithful to my All the Rage
characters!!!
I do get genuinely attached to my heroes and heroines; I almost become
them, so absorbed am I in their actions, dialogue and motivations. This is good,
I suppose - it shows me they must be strong and beguiling characters.
I also have a new favourite programme at the moment - the fabulous Kath &
Kim! This quirky, camp-as-Christmas Australian sitcom took a while to grow
on me - I switched off halfway through the first ep as I couldn't 'get' it -
but now I've got into the deadpan humour of it all, I think it's hilarious.
In a similar vein to Phoenix Nights and The Office - the two funniest,
IMO, sitcoms of recent years - it's subtle and observational rather than laugh-out-loud
raucous.
Monday
13 June 2005
Oops - sorry I haven't written for a while! Saying that makes me feel like a
lazy pen-pal who has fallen behind on letter-writing, but I've been busy - as
always - yer know how it is!
I have now - drumroll, trumpet fanfare - finished All
the Rage!!!! Or at least my first, extremely rough, draft of it. I now
have the onerous proofreading task ahead of me - making thousands of amendments
to the as yet scrappy manuscript.
However - I am firstly taking a short break from All the
Rage, as this week, I will be mostly...writing a new short story!! So
yes, dear readers, at long last you will shortly be seeing a new tale here!!
(Not that I am too sure what it's going to be about yet!) I am mainly composing
it for the latest Bold Writers anthology, which the group plans to publish in
the autumn.
I have also just posted some new pieces to the online forum www.abctales.com
- so take a look and see if you can find them!
My next project is to begin work on my third novel, the very basic storyline
of which I have got more or less mapped out in this chaotic head of mine. It
is provisionally entitled Gap Year - though I may not ultimately go with
this title as my synopsis has rather moved away from where I originally intended
to go with the story. I am setting it amongst the diverse and gossipy inhabitants
of the (fictitious, but based on a place I know extremely well...) Black Country
village of Lower Bratchley, and their interweaving lives. I can't wait to begin
it...
BTW, avid listeners to Carl Chinn's Sunday afternoon show on BBC
Radio WM (if any of my readers are) will have heard my good friend
Michael Taylor being interviewed yesterday. Mike's a brilliant author who has
had 7 novels published - all set in the Black Country, in periods ranging from
Victorian to the 1930s - and it was a very interesting interview. You can read
more about Mike on his website.
His next book, Close Relations - which he has very kindly dedicated to
the memory of my late dad - is due out in September.
Thursday
19 May 2005
Am saddened to hear the news of Kylie. The consequences of The Big C can be
devastating, as I know only too well after my year of hell with Dad. Cancer
is a bastard, and there's a lot of it about - tragically. Kylie is said to be
in 'the early stages' of breast cancer - I sincerely hope her condition has
been detected early enough to be zapped and that she will make a full recovery.
Having had the pleasure of seeing Kylie in concert so recently, I know what
a wonderful performer she is. So all of us here at Leigh's Bostin' Yarns - which
is basically me, but it's the thought that counts - wish Kylie a speedy recovery
and return to the stage.
Get Well Soon!!!
Monday
9 May 2005
Had the pleasure of attending another wonderful concert on Friday night - this
time the fabulous Queen + Paul Rodgers - as they billed themselves - at the
NEC in Brum. I have seen the legends that are Brian May and Roger Taylor, separately,
on many occasions, and they take some beating when it comes to showmanship.
Friday was an awesome night. I must admit I didn't previously know too much
about Paul Rodgers - formerly of Free and Bad Company fame - but he made a terrific
addition to this revamped supergroup.
My fiance Nath ('My Nayff') is in Sheffield tonight - he managed to get a standing
ticket for the Queen + Paul Rodgers Sheffield Arena gig. He texted me at 4.00
this afternoon to say he was already bored and freezing in the queue outside
- rather him than me!! I've done the old queuing-all-day-to-bag-a-space-at-the-front
thing in my time, and I suppose it is worth it if you like to get within touching
distance of your idols - but I feel like I'm getting a bit old for that lark
now!! I like a seat!
Talking about Nathan - and concerts - I was deeply gutted that he managed to
video Match of the Day on Saturday night, instead of the Kylie Showgirl
concert which was televised on Channel 4!! He swears this was an accidental
balls-up - I believe him, thousands wouldn't!!!
I am also going to see my favourite musical Jesus Christ Superstar -
again - in Wolverhampton this Saturday. I can't believe it is coming up to a
year since I had the exhilarating experience of seeing it in Birmingham when
it starred Fame Academy's James Fox. I wonder what I will make of the
new cast?
Wednesday
4 May 2005
Am enjoying a lovely week off work (though not, alas, enjoying the grimy, rainy
weather). Am making an
effort to knuckle down and get stuck into some serious writing.
Nath & I and 8 of our mates also had a fab weekend in York over the bank
holiday - a pretty and historic city to which I'd never been before but hope
to go again as I loved it. Whilst there, we discovered
this wonderful shop, where I have decided I
would like to register our wedding list!!! Or at least purchase some wonderful
Christmas gifts for folks. It's an absolute haven for all lovers of moggies.
I still can't decide whether to vote in tomorrow's General Election.
Feel I ought to, for 2 reasons:
1) To do my - no doubt fruitless - bit to oust Blair, and
2) For the historical, feminist, women-chained-themselves-to-railings-so-I-could-have-the-vote
factor.
On the other hand, I'm not very political. I detest Blair, yet have no real
strong views in either of the opposite directions. I have only ever voted once
in my life - that was back in the 1997 election (and no, I was not one of the
many who put a cross in old Tone's box, so you can't blame me for voting him
in), when I was 20, it was my first opportunity to do so (being the first election
following my 18th birthday) and I did it for the 'I'm an adult now - aren't
I important' factor. But even then I went for the 'eeny meeny miney mo' approach.
Monday
25 April 2005
The guestbook has undergone a bit of a makeover:
new colours and graphics, and an Easter picture of the adorable Bobby. He's
my rather dim rabbit, who's a good friend (in my little world at least) of Sweep,
the equally gullible dog from The Sooty Show.
One or two folks have asked me about the furry creatures who appear here - they're
all my cuddly toys, some have been with me since babyhood, others I've accumulated
over the years. I wouldn't be without any of them. Here then, for all you other
kids-who've-never-grown-up out there, is my mini Cuddly Guide:
Edward &
Teddy (the pair of bears on my front page and CV) = Woody has been with
me since I was born, while the imaginatively named Teddy (the smaller one) is
Nathan's babyhood bear; by coincidence, they were bought - by our respective
dads - from the same shop. They are best friends, and both very solid and dependable.
(From top to bottom
on home page):
Sooty = Shy, quiet
(doesn't say a lot - funny that) black cat, bought for £1 from Guernsey
toy shop in 1983.
Bobby = 7-year-old lop-eared rabbit with the IQ of a carrot
Arthur = 20-year-old gay cat who conducts a relationship with George
= the camp pink hippo from Rainbow.
Morris = Naughty,
cheeky panda, a Christmas present from Boots when I was 10. He and girlfriend
Soo - as seen on The Sooty Show - are set to feature on our wedding
invitations (BTW, if anyone knows where one can get bride and groom outfits
for a pair of 15cm pandas, drop me a line...)
Geoffrey = Our most widely travelled (and smartest) bear, a Christmas
present from Singapore in 2000.
Saturday
16 April 2005
Attention Kylie fans! My crit of last night's amazing
NEC show now graces the Reviews
page!!! It was a fab night, and I really hope my review reflects that...
Monday
11 April 2005
I have treated the ol' guestbook to a nice upgrade. This basically results in
there being no nasty little pop-ups and ads, and also the entries more than
120 days old - which it previously auto-archived - have been restored.
So those folk who kindly signed in more than 4 months ago can see their long-lost
comments again!
I've had 50 guestbook entries in the last year (which also reminds me that Leigh's
Bostin' Yarns celebrated its 1st birthday last week!!) - I never realised I
was so popular! Shucks.
Writing-wise, my next project is to submit All The Rage
- the novel I am currently working on - to the Daily Mail's 'Publish
your own bestseller' offer (it's not a competition, as every entry gets printed).
You collect 10 tokens from the paper, send them off along with your manuscript
on CD or disk, and a cheque for £19.99 - and they send you 3 copies of
your novel, in real, proper, grown-up, bound 'book' form. Good, eh?
My original plan was to submit Classmates, my 80s-set
first effort, but I've now decided to put All The Rage in for it because:
a) It will motivate me to get the damn thing finished, and
b) I've rather done Classmates to death. All my
friends and rellies have read it now - if I present them with a further copy
in book form, they aren't as likely to be interested as they would be in a new
yarn.
I always need this motivation and excitement to keep me going, especially in
my writing, which can be a lonely, frustrating hobby. I like to be busy, but
I equally like having a finished product to show for it.
You'll shortly be seeing a Kylie gig review on here - followed (hopefully) not
long thereafter by a new short story, which I shall be penning for inclusion
in the next Bold Writers anthology. Following the success of last year's collection,
the group are already making plans to produce a new, more sophisticated tome,
again in time for Christmas (they make ace presents for aunties).
Each group member aims to contribute 2 or 3 pieces to the anthology - in addition
to the second 'round robin' joint story we have recently produced, in a similar
format to The House.
I'll be putting in at least one new short story (it's ages since I did one)
and possibly Chapter 1 of Gap Year, my novel-to-be
which I intend to commence post-All The Rage.
Oh, I've got plenty of irons in the old fire!!
Monday
4 April 2005
WE'VE BOOKED THE WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!
The Lovely Nathan and I will be - barring split-ups, deadly plagues or freak
ironing accidents - getting married in a civil ceremony on Saturday 30 June
2007!!!!
It is all v. exciting, but seems completely surreal and slightly frightening
having to plan an event so far in advance - even for a girl so Monica-from-Friends-ishly
organised as myself. It doesn't quite seem real yet. The time will probably
whizz by - nonetheless, I can't help thinking that a lot can happen in 2 years!
I can't yet give serious thought over what colour table napkins I may want for
my guests 2-and-a-bit years hence (or, according to confetti.co.uk, 817 days
hence)!
I actually had a wedding-related dream last night: I walked in, the guests stood
to greet me, the 'walking down aisle' music struck up...and then I woke up,
all trembly and sweaty!!! If that's what I'm like after a dream, I just know
I am going to be sh***ing myself on the day!! I'll probably fall down in the
aisle, drop the ring, or squeak my vows in a helium voice, and end up as one
of those brides on You've Been Framed - well, at least I'd win £250!
In other news now...my friend Ros and I have just booked to see the wonderful
KYLIE at the NEC on Friday 15 April!!!
I tried, unsuccessfully, to get tickets in the initial insane flurry back in
October, but I couldn't even get on the booking website and they sold out within
about an hour. But now these new tickets have just been released, and I can
finally see my original pop idol after 17 years! Kylie and Robbie Williams are
the two remaining artistes who I really, really want to see in concert.
I may have to write another review - I haven't done one for ages, but think
I will have to take a little break from the novel and don my 'critic' hat again.
Folks say I haven't added any new stories or reviews on here for ages, but to
be honest I've been way too tied up with my novel. I endeavour to keep the website
up to date with these diary style entries - because, frankly, they're easy to
write. But all my energies are currently being channelled into the saga of Chantal,
Faith and Justine, alias All The Rage, the fabulous girl band from Willenhall!!
After a dry patch in the wilderness, I have now well and truly got my enthusiasm
back and feel back on track with the story.
My next, post-All The Rage project will centre
around the eccentric inhabitants of a Black Country village - fictional but
based very closely on the one in which I grew up. Every time I go back 'home,'
I get more inspiration and can't wait to get stuck into the story - sounds sad,
but that's writers for you. I should have it finished by the time I get married!
Saturday
26 March 2005
IS THIS THE WAY TO AMARILLOOO???
Brilliant to see Peter Kay on top of the charts, and with a video that features
so many fab people: Brian
May! Roger Taylor! Sooty! Sweep! Geoffrey! Bungle! Er...Jim Bowen!!
Anyway, sorry I haven't updated you folk for a while. Been busy busy
- attending weddings, travelling to Holland to see Nathan's band play, attempting
to catch up on sleep - and wedding venue-hunting!!! Will let you know once I
have more news on the latter score...
I've also managed to do a bit of writing - something I haven't always found
easy in recent months, but my current chapter - Chapter 6 of All the Rage
- is going well, and I have plenty of ideas for future stories.
Thursday
10 March 2005
Am attending two - yes, TWO!! - weddings this weekend!! Tomorrow sees
the marriage of a couple of old friends of ours (I mean we've known them a long
time, not that they're old!!!), and Saturday is the turn of my lovely
cousin Mark. Should give me plenty of ideas for my own nuptials!! I will be
all wedding-ed out by Sunday.
In the meantime, big love and CONGRATULATIONS to Roger & Helena and
Mark & Zoe!!!!
Friday
4 March 2005
Oooh, this wedding planning lark is all very exciting!!! Nathan
and I have more or less decided on the venue, and have planned out the first
draft of our guest list. At the moment it stands at 70 for the sit-down meal
and 115 for the evening do.
This week I have officially
turned into Bridezilla. I have become a devotee of www.confetti.co.uk,
have bought up virtually WH Smith's entire stock of bridal magazines, and fall
asleep at night dreaming of seating plans!!
I invested in a huge notebook yesterday - the like of which I hadn't felt the
smallest inclination to purchase since my fraught A-level days - which has now
become my 'Wedding Journal' and into which I scribble things like hairdo ideas
and 'Which drinks package can I afford?' type calculations.
Not surprisingly, my writing has rather gone to pot since the engagement announcement.
My output this week has been, er, zero! Making lists of who will be guests at
a wedding that's taking place 2 years from now - and agonising over whether
they should dine on chicken chasseur or racks of lamb - is infinitely
more interesting!!
I need to calm down. Perhaps a few deep breathing exercises are
called for!
Tuesday
1 March 2005
Last night, we went to see the very excellent Jus' Like That at Birmingham's
'Alex' Theatre. It's a one-man tribute to the legendary Tommy Cooper, and stars
Jerome 'Soldier Soldier' Flynn. (The
Alexandra do 'Buy 1 Get 1 Free' on Mondays too, which is worth knowing!)
Jerome is best known, of course, for Robson & Jerome, that toe-curling,
aunty-adored duo with Robson "ooh, we're two minutes into this gritty ITV
drama - it's about time I took me top off" Green, who butchered such classics
as Unchained Melody in the 1990s. I recall buying Mum one of their tapes
for Christmas 10 years ago - an act which necessitated a bag-over-the-head disguise
in HMV.
But if horrifying Robson & Jerome-related flashbacks put you off seeing
Jus' Like That - think again! Jerome gives a spot-on impersonation of
the great fez-wearing comedian, in a performance that is by turns hilarious
and moving. You can't tar him with the same brush as the wooden Robson - he's
a very underrated actor with a fine flair for physical comedy.
Sunday
27 February 2005
The novel-writing process is a tad slow and frustrating at present! I feel like
I've been working on Chapter 6 of All the Rage
for about 54 years, and
now that I am nearing its conclusion I have reached the spilling-out-drivel
stage.
That's why I prefer to get what I vaguely want to say down on paper first, then
tweak and perfect it later, rather than attempt to compose a flawless piece
first time.
I'm contemplating actually abandoning Chapter 6 - since I'd given myself until
today to finish it - moving on to 7 and coming back to the unfortunate 6 when
I'm in a fresher frame of mind. I've got a week off in May - I might use it
to rake over my previous 5 chapters with the proverbial fine-toothed comb.
'Why can't I write?' I keep bawling at Nathan. What I mean is, why can't
I write the kind of beautifully observed, true-to-life working-class comedy
drama that the great Peter Kay ('garlic bread - that's the future, is that!')
did with Phoenix Nights? I'd love to create a gem like
that, only in book form.
The fact is I have the boredom threshold of a gnat, and after toiling over a
chapter for 2 or 3 weeks I get frankly sick to death of it! I start each episode
with keen intentions, but by the time the punchline comes I'm writing like a
four-year-old because I'm so damn desperate to finish it.
So Chantal, Justine and Faith - the heroines of
All the Rage - began
Chapter 6 expressing fairly sane sentiments and opinions but are now talking
bollocks.
I can see parallels in myself there! My first week as a fiancee has seen me
transform from a sane(ish) girl into an insane bridal magazine addict with a
sudden fascination for sugared almonds and table decorations. Ooh, it's crazy!!!
The whole idea of me getting married seems very bizarre - I suppose until we
got engaged I'd always somehow thought of it as something other people did.
If this 'ere website is still up and running in 2007, rest assured I'll be printing
my wedding photos on here - whether you like it or not!!
Wednesday
23 February 2005
For those of you who like this sorta thing - an engagement photie of Nath and
me at the Reflex 80s bar on Saturday night is now appearing on the Reflex
website!!
Visit www.reflex-bars.com
and select 'Sutton Coldfield' from the 'Check out your nearest Reflex' drop
down box. Then select the 'View Gallery' option - you'll easily find our picture
as it is the only one on there for the Sutton Coldfield branch!!! By double
clicking on the pic, you can view a larger version of it!!
Sunday
20 February 2005
Here are a couple of our engagement pictures:
kjhljhljhljhljhljkkjkh
The Rock!! nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnCelebrating
at the Reflex 80s bar
Saturday
19 February 2005
Today it is my birthday, my birthday, my birth-y-day...
Today it is my birthdaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy...
My birthday is today!!! [Raucous, Zippy style cackle]
Scary thought alert: it's the 10th anniversary of my 18th birthday!!!!!
So yes, mathematicians, that makes me the ripe old age of 28! How does it feel
to be logging on to a website run by a geriatric webmistress??
But it's not all bleak, scary news. At 8.00 this morning, Nathan
proposed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't pretend it was a surprise - we'd been talking about getting wed for
a few months - but it is nonetheless terribly exciting and surreal to be finally
engaged after 7 years!!!
In typically down to earth fashion, we celebrated this morning with bacon sandwiches,
champagne and a Sooty video!!
Not until my mum (who knew of our plans) phoned us this morning and congratulated
us did it start to feel real. Perhaps it will feel more real when we've
told people who weren't in on the secret?
I've got a gorgeous emerald ring (green is my fave colour), and we are planning
a civil wedding, provisionally for May/June 2007 - nothing like a bit of forward
planning, eh??? It actually feels odd having a ring on that finger - I'm so
unused to it! I wear other rings, and don't even notice them, but because my
ring finger has been bare for 28 years I'm so conscious of this one!!
We're off to TGI Friday's tonight, with some mates (who don't yet know our news
- well not unless they read this first!!!) and will therefore soon hopefully
have some celebratory photos to post here!
Monday
7 February 2005
Just got back from fab weekend in London, where we saw the stunning Queen musical
We Will Rock You.
The show has had its critics, but I thought it was amazing. The singing (especially,
I have to say from the girls) was extremely powerful, the special effects -
in true Queen style - were incredibly lavish, and there was plenty of comedy
too (the show definitely had Ben Elton's mark all over it).
So big hugz to Nathan's brother Nick and his girlfriend Kristie for looking
after us and giving us such a fab Christmas present, in the shape of the theatre
tickets!
Walking over Waterloo Bridge and seeing Big Ben, the London Eye and all those
landmarks by early evening light was really rather exciting. I, like everyone
else, did the touristy, Londony thing when I was at school, and never thought
I'd feel the inclination to do it again, but it was actually quite a thrill
to be seeing these world famous buildings in the flesh, so to speak. I found
myself quite wanting to book a coach tour!
It's been a very inspiring weekend, which ought to have supplied me with plenty
of material for future stories - though obviously having just had three days
away from my writing desk I now have to catch up on my task in hand, the completion
of this seemingly never-ending novel.
Tuesday
31 January 2005
Oops - haven't added a diary entry for a while! Better rectify that before January
is out.
I have just written Chapter 3 of the
Bold Writers' collective 'Immigrants' story, which is unfolding into a tale
of Italian gangsters in 1930s New York. I actually found the chapter surprisingly
easy to put together, considering I was writing about a subject in which I have
no interest and about which I would never write a story by choice. Julie, who
did Chapter 2, left me with a lot to work on so there were many threads I could
have picked up and continued with.
However, I was conscious that the job was probably easy because I was stringing
together a bunch of clichés purloined from Mafia movies rather than putting
in any great effort of my own! I found it difficult to create Mafia characters
without creating a clump of stereotypes. I acknowledge it isn't my best work
- in no way dear to my heart like the novel is - but I had a go.
As for the novel itself, I am progressing well with Chapter 6.
Thursday
13 January 2005
Back to writing group last night. Was ace. Nice to be reunited and get some
much-needed inspiration and feedback following the slobby Christmas break, during
which I achieved the square root of nothing, novel-wise.
The gang are writing another 'Consequences' style story, in the style of The
House, our previous joint effort. This one has the theme of 'Immigrant.'
John, who had the lucky task of writing Chapter 1 - and thus coming up with
the idea for the story's setting - unveiled it to us last night. It's the tale
of two Italian brothers making a new start in 1920s America, and promises to
unfold into a gripping read.
We drew lots to determine the order again, and this time I am down to do Chapter
3 rather than the penultimate one, so it will be interesting to see how I fare
coming at the narrative from an earlier angle.
At the moment I'm actually a bit poorly
- off work, laid up with this gruesome flu bug that's been going round for weeks
now. I am snot-ridden and knocking back Lemsip like it's going out of fashion.
Nice! There's nothing worse than being (horrible phrase) 'bunged up' - but at
least for a while it gives me a sexy, husky, Marge Simpson- esque voice!!
Wednesday
12 January 2005
Am currently full of cold. Boo!
'Tis my first post-Crimbo night back at writing group tonight, so am looking
forward...
Am enjoying too my long overdue return to novel-writing mode, following the
lazy Christmas hiatus.
Is good to get back into it - I am currently rereading my previous chapters
and tweaking them about to make them more, well, readable. Is quite satisfying
- in a smug kinda way - to revisit one's own work a few months after writing
it, and be reassured that it isn't the drivel I thought it was!
Sunday
9 January 2005
Mum and I have just returned
from a fabulous weekend at Hoar Cross Hall, the luxury health farm in Staffordshire.
Was distraught about coming home and wished I could have stayed there forever
- which I probably could have done in the glorious Royal Suite to which we were
upgraded!!
My mum and I had been due to spend a day at Hoar Cross in October - but Dad's
deteriorating condition, and subsequent death two days later, prevented this
mother-and-daugther event taking place. For this visit we were therefore generously
upgraded to a magnificent suite, which was roughly twice the size of my flat!!
It was jaw-droppingly huge and opulent. Save for the absence of a kitchen (a
utility not exactly needed when you're being so succulently fed three times
daily), one could have more than comfortably lived in it.
Previous VIP guests in this suite include Fergie(!), Christopher Biggins(!!)
and Deirdre from Coronation Street (!!!) - though possibly not at the
same time!!!
We had a wonderful weekend of pampering, chilling, eating, swimming, walking,
sauna-ing, jacuzzi-ing, yoga-ing, tai chi-ing and bums-and-tums-ing. I feel
marvellously fit, healthy and tingly - and now I'm home I feel I want to maintain
this level of fitness, health and tingliness in my everyday life.
We now plan to make it an annual event, and January would be an excellent time
to go each year as life post-Christmas does tend to go rather flat and staid.
Two days at Hoar Cross will be a wonderful pick-me-up for both of us every new
year.
Sunday
2 January 2005
Happy New Year, one and all!
I trust you all had a pleasant festive season. Mine was OK, but far from easy.
I missed Dad every day, and felt his presence in everything I did.
Here is Leigh's 2004 chart:
Best band: The Darkness
Best male artiste: Will Young
Best female artiste: Katie Melua
Best gig: The Darkness - NEC Arena, Birmingham
Best CD: Katie Melua - Call Off The Search
Best single: Katie Melua - The Closest Thing to
Crazy
Best film: Bridget Jones or Shrek 2
Best TV progs: Strictly Come Dancing, The Simpsons
(great to see it back on telly), Little Britain, Friends - the final ep
Best read: Either Harry Potter and the Order of
the Phoenix (yeah, I know, I'm a big kid at heart) or the hilarious 'Shopaholic'
series by Sophie Kinsella
Best show: Jesus Christ Superstar at the Birmingham
Hippodrome
Best comedian: Peter Kay
Most outrageous crime of the year: Slimy Steve
winning X Factor
My proudest achievement: Completing my first novel
and getting this website up and running
Most expensive purchase: Animal, my new car
Alcohol units consumed: Infinite
Calories consumed: Doesn't bear thinking about
(I wish I was one of those people who stop eating in times of stress)
Best moment: Seeing The Darkness live
Worst moment: Losing Dad - need you ask
What I learned in 2004: Dad's untimely passing
taught me to never take life for granted or waste a single second
Hopes for 2005: That I will finish my novel and
make a start on the next one, and that the year will bring a general miraculous
upturn in my presently luckless fortunes
2006 archive
2004 archive
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