I've had my Christmas dinner!

My lovely daughter rang a few days ago and invited herself and my son-in-law up for a long weekend.  I'm so glad that she did:)

I hadn't been feeling particularly full of festive spirit, indeed, the Christmas shopping isn't done, but the cards are written and posted.

So, yesterday, I made some small veggie loafs with a central layer of cranberries for our Christmas dinner, along with jacket baked potatoes (I don't do roast potatoes), button sprouts and carrots.  They all ate small Yorkshire puddings, too, but since I've never really been a devotee of the things, despite coming from the right side of the Pennines, I didn't feel deprived!

We finished with mince pies and Christmas pudding with custard - we're not white sauce fans!

We all agreed that we felt much more Christmassy after that:)

Christmas is coming!

No, I'm not going to ask you if you've done your Christmas shopping, or boast that I've done mine - I haven't!

I mentioned that I had an interview the other day, and I'm delighted to say that I've been accepted to work for an MPhil/PhD commencing in January, and my subject is essentially woman's role in Christmas over the last two centuries in texts.

So, rejoice with me, Christmas is coming - and it's going to stay for three whole years!  It's going to be really hard work, and I'm planning on enjoying the journey.

Waiting never gets easier!

I've just returned home from my interview to be admitted on to the MPhil/PhD research programme at UCLAN.  

I feel like I've been put through an old fashioned mangle, and must now "wait and see".

All the positive thoughts you send in the direction of UCLAN will not be wasted - send away!!!!

Just as a by the by - bizarrely, despite having graduated from there 18 months ago, I was obliged to take in my physical copy of my BA degree certificate and my transcripts for them to photocopy; the admin office clearly doesn't appreciate that this is the C21 and that their own computers have all the documentation relating to my BA.  Not only that, but on the bottom of the documents it clearly states that on request, the university will verify my grades - all they had to do was ask themselves the question!

I did it!

I did it :)

Back on the first of November I foolishly embarked on my second NANOWRIMO attempt, with a plot in mind about mob violence.

And that's what I started to write about - honest! But then I noticed that the writing was drifting away to a village setting, not quite the London riots I was envisaging.  Not only was it becoming a rural tale, there was a death - and no murderer caught.

So, Mob Mentality became Forgive Me Father over the course of the month - that's just the way it goes, and I believe it's best to go with the flow.

Now comes the really hard work, that of pruning and shaping, because I certainly wouldn't want anyone to read her as she is at the moment - she's an incoherent babble currently, and needs taking in hand.

But hey, be pleased with me - I wrote over 50,000 words in the last twenty nine days - whoo hoo!

Nanowrimo

I've managed to pick up some bug or other, and have a sore throat and hacking cough.  Undeterred, I have made three pints of lemon barley water to soothe my throat, and having a cough doesn't stop the creative juices from flowing - fortunately.


So, now my fingers are tired.  I've been slaving away over a hot laptop for what seems like hours, and have clocked up just over 8000 words.  Actually, it doesn't seem like hours at all, it never does when you're into a plot, but my back is ready for a different chair, and my characters are very patient, and will wait for me to rejoin them either later this evening, or tomorrow.


Here's a tiny chunk, just to prove I really am writing, not just pretending!

“Nothing new on the menu, is there?  I think I’ll have a burger and some chips.”

“Ashley Brown you’ll look like a burger before you leave this school!  I don’t know how you stay so slim.”  Hannah looked enviously at her friend’s slender figure.

“It’s in the genes, my girl, you know that, we did it in biology.”

“I’m going to have the carrot and coriander soup, and a bread roll.  I like the way they put coriander in the rolls, too.  I wish Mum would bake more bread at home, but she says she doesn’t have time any more.”

“Did your mum get that Christmas job, then?”

Jen nodded, “Yup, Father Christmas will visit the Jennings household this year, after all.  Tom and me, we were getting a bit worried about it – you know, not asking for too much on our Christmas lists, but not making it look as if we were cutting back on what we wanted, so Mum wouldn’t feel bad.”

“Yeh, must have been hard.  I’m glad she’s got a job; I bet she’s happier now, even if she doesn’t have time to bake any more.  Where’s she working?  Does she get a good staff discount?”  Sara liked to save money wherever she could.

“There’s a table over there, I’ll go and bag it for us.”  Hannah left the others chatting, and made her way over to an empty table and put her lunch box down.  The dining hall was very noisy; the clattering of plastic trays, the rattle of cutlery, not to mention the non-stop babble of hundreds of girls who’d had to be relatively quiet for the last hour in their classrooms.

Soon the friends were tucking into their various lunches.  Hannah tasted Jen’s soup, and pronounced it almost as good as her mother’s – praise indeed.  But peanut butter and marmite sandwiches – well, that’s just an unbeatable combination of saltiness and sweetness and savouriness!  She was soon crunching on her Egremont Russet apple to finish off her lunch.

“I’ve got to go to the library – anyone fancy coming with me?”  Jen asked.

Callous youth

As we were walking to the shop a couple of days ago, we passed an elderly car at the side of the road, with the door open, which was what caught our attention, and then we noticed glass on the pavement.


We assumed that someone had broken into the car to steal something from the inside.  Since it was parked outside some houses, we assumed that it would have been noticed, and was being dealt with.


We walked  on.  Ahead of us a couple of young men were wheeling a motor bike into the garden of a house across the road.  A few yards further along we came to a road junction, and were approached by an old lady who asked if we had a mobile phone.  She had just been in a motor accident and wanted to phone the police.


It was her car we had just passed, and the motor bike we watched being wheeled into a garden was the one that had overtaken her and smashed into the side of her car, shattering the windows and denting the door.  The young driver told her that he wasn't hurt, so there was nothing more to do, and walked off!


I dialled 999 and explained what had happened.  As we waited, the young men walked past us who had parked up their motor bike.  A police car was soon on the scene.  Since we hadn't witnessed the accident we left once the policeman was talking to the poor lady, after pointing out the house where we'd seen the bike being left.


It's hard to believe that those youths could be so callous as to simply walk away from an old lady, who was clearly somewhat shaken by her ordeal at their hands.  Thankfully the police arrived promptly, and would be able to track them down with the registration number of the bike.  I hope they are suitably punished for their terrible attitude.

Nanowrimo looms large

It's nearly November, therefore it's nearly time to write a novel in a month - yes,  you read it right - a novel in a month!

Not the finished product, but the basic, un-tweaked embrionic novel that might, one day, become a finished masterpiece.

I managed to achieve my target of 50,000 words last year - but will I be able to do the same this year?  Who knows - that's the exciting thing - there's no knowing who'll plod along to the end, and who'll fall by the wayside.


Wish me luck:)