My dear readers may be surprised to learn that my first visit to Italy was as an au pair. Yes, me responsible for children and ‘light household duties’. It was the year of my world trip. I’d chucked my job and I was waiting for my travel companion to get the results of her journalism […]Read Post ›
They say that when good Americans die they go to Paris … Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891, and later, in A Woman of No Importance, 1894 Who doesn’t remember their first trip to Paris? Mine was on my school exchange. Our city was twinned with Lille, northern town syndrome I suppose, but […]Read Post ›
Gib does World Book Day in fine style; today is World Book Day. This year’s book day promised the same as last year, a load of free books and author stalls and signings. And all just over the road from me, a mere skip and a hop. Except, skip, hop and me don’t combine together […]Read Post ›
We handed the chocolates over the wall. Ferrero Rocher. Sixteen of them immaculately wrapped in gold foil and in a rather useful hard plastic casing. Suitable for vegetarians too. I claimed they were given to me some time after The Ankle, he claimed they were given to him for doing a neighbour a favour. Either […]Read Post ›
Is there any child, by which I really mean girl (in the privileged western world), who has not hated going into school on Valentine’s Day? I dreaded it. Listening to all the smug girls with boyfriends, or the lying ones without, who were all inundated with cards. Or even just one card. Anything was better […]Read Post ›
So, what’s the difference between £500 and £3,000? Those of you who are hot on numbers (clearly, not Ark, Kev or Mak who complained about numerical analysis on the previous post) will quickly answer, £2,500. But, to be serious, what can you expect the difference to be between a job at the bottom end of […]Read Post ›
I never saw a purple cow I never hope to see one But I can tell you anyhow I’d rather see than be one This quaint rhyme was hung around the neck of a rather pretty purple faux suede cow that my mum bought me when we were on holiday in Cornwall. The author is […]Read Post ›
Although sometimes it feels more like the Conciergerie. There are pros and cons to managing the block. One, is that, as chair of the management committee and budget holder, I am in charge, which is nice. On the down side, there are always non-payers. Although our annual block charges are cheap compared with other properties […]Read Post ›
To cut to the chase, how much does it cost to publish a book? Well, clearly very little if you do everything yourself. The three/four main costs to factor in are book cover, editing and/or proofing, and formatting. Given that many people are capable of doing their own formatting, to a greater or lesser degree, […]Read Post ›
Or, what’s in a name? (Credit to Will S) Because if you try and differentiate between the so-called different types of editor you need, you will end up with an infarct, of the myocardium. An aside, when I was discussing heart attacks – as lay people call an MI – with a clinical colleague, I […]Read Post ›
