Reading.....

     I'm re-reading 'Get Carter', or to give the novel it's original title: 'Jack's Return Home.' It's to say the least 'gritty'. Written at a time when censorship was loosening in Britain there is an almost 'throw-eveything-you-have-at-it' quality. It is incredibly brutal - does any character have an reasonably functional relationship with any other? What you may not know is that the novel is set in Scunthorpe, the industrial town in the top north-west of Lincolnshire, and all the other action happens in the north of the county. (The film was set on Tyneside) Knowing how disliked D H Lawrence is in Bestwood, I wonder what the good people of Scunthorpe think to Ted Lewis? Ted was a sort of local boy, in that he grew on the south bank of the Humber in Barton-upon-Humber, and went to art college in Hull, taking the ferry from New Holland every day. (A friend of mine was a contemporary of Ted's in Hull)

     Have also started 'Hackney, that rose red empire' by Ian Sinclair. More of that later. As I'm tired and haven't slept well for days....tiredness certainly spoilt my day in London on Tuesday.

An afternoon off

     A break from caring. Accompanied by my friend, Mr S, I headed north to look around a couple of open gardens in the village of Aslackby. And how beautiful they were! The pleasure was not so much in the planting but in the texture of hedges (mainly beech) and old walls of brick and stone. The entire afternoon re-acquainted me with an English aesthetic I had begun to lose contact with. It's easily done. There are often too many visual demands made upon us, to many shrieking and competing 'looks' and styles. The two gardens seemed to point in the direction of more concrete and lasting aesthetics. In addition to the the sensory feast on offer the afternoon also offered tea and cake in the village church. (Pews removed some years ago enabled the nave to be used as an exhibition space - wish I had bought that salad bowl!!!) These open garden afternoons, as well as village fetes, always have the added bonus of home baking. A treat! Not much work done recently on revising the book. Reading: I have laid aside the 'Dubliners' and have started 'Caprice' by Ronald Firbank. A novelette (seems the only way to describe it) I started years ago and put down.

After the Jubilee

     The bunting came down this morning, and I have been left feeling somewhat melancholic. Perhaps it is the sensation of the passing of time that these events evoke, who knows? (Funny, but I still regret that for the Silver Jubilee in 1977 I was in France on a school trip. Well it was either the Lake District or France - and I rather I didn't do either but it was compulsory to do one. Character building or something.....) For me the only thing at fault during this Jubilee was the non-appearance of the State Coach. (I'd like to add, 05.02.2013, that was as if the Queen's journey to St Paul's Cathedral had become a purely private event - the lack of crowds along the Strand and Fleet Street reflected this?) A pity. This lunchtime I managed to do some revising of 'Chameleon'. Yet more revision, this time pushed on me by my poor attempts at turning the novel into a screenplay! Writing this I am listening to Kinny and Horne.

Wet Sunday

     I've returned.  The blog resumes....

     Wet slightly cold day here.  This morning my neighbours and I have decorated our houses with bunting for the Jubilee.  The house suddenly looks rather conspicuous, which I'm not sure I like.

     I suppose I should do some catching up....sometime.  I think all I will say is at the present concerns 'Chameleon'.  The first three chapters of the novel are with an agent at the moment and I am waiting for her reply.  It's bound to be bad news - always is!  At the suggestion of the bf I am writing, or I should say attempting to write a screenplay of 'Chameleon'.