Author: graybo

more nocturnal blogging….
some of you may know that I’m a fan of the work of Ben Richards – one of the best thinking British novelists of recent years. I’ve just been out and bought his latest novel A Sweetheart Deal (which I’ll need to delete off my Amazon wishlist). I’d like to reproduce some of the cover-quotes here to encourage you to read his books:
– “Ben Richards could be about to make history – as the first heterosexual male novelist to write a non-prurient lesbian love story…its consequences are shattering, but in unpredicatable, clever ways” (The Times)
– “…sidesteps the vacuity that seems to characterise a great deal of modern, London-based fiction” (Bookseller)
– “….Richards ranges over familiar territory, but never with the facile, lazy eye of his ‘lad’ and ‘chick-lit’ contemporaries” (The Times)
– “original and compelling…deserves to be read” (Independent on Sunday)
I’ll report back with my own opinions as I progress through the pages, but his previous novels have all been excellent, especially The Silver River and Don’t Step on the Lines. Form an orderly queue at your local bookshop now.

this evening, I have helped the beleagred British agriculture industry by:
– avoiding contact with livestock
– eating British meat
– eating British bread
– eating British tomatoes
– eating British dairy produce
…in other words, I sat at home and ate a cheeseburger.

urrrrg – hangover. next time I go to London for one of these things (or wherever it may be held) I’m going to eat something first!
I had a really good time (even if the woman sat opposite me on the train home thought I was a lunatic!). About twenty or so UKbloggers were in attendance, and I’ll not try to list everyone as I’ll be sure to miss someone out. But highlights included:
– finding out that Luke refers to this site as “The House Of Pain”
– discussing shoe collections, red hair, black ribbed sweaters and Gap cargo pants with Catherine
– talking about nicknames with Nick
– verbalizing my employment situation with Meg, drinking (if that is the correct verb) vodkajelly (thanks!) and discussing the merits/dismerits of living in an overgrown village like Chichester. Hope I didn’t run out of beans!
– I also talked with a whole pile of other people (sorry, it’s a bit hazy – as it comes back to me I’ll try and mention/link you all), but the pile included Ian, Vaughan, Mo, Matt, Cal, Tom, Dave, David ….[will add more later!]
– and finally, arriving at Victoria to find that I had 54 seconds to get from the tube to platform 15, and shouting “oh fuck” at the top of my voice, much to the consternation of at least 50 passers-by (passer-bys? …um…bystanders!).

oh, and by the way, if anyone is really serious about coming down to Chichester for beer (it is worth it, I promise), the last train back to London leaves at 10.40 (change at Three Bridges, gets to Victoria at 12.39). Or there is Graybo’s famous sofabed (sleeps two if you are friendly or have separate sleeping bags), or there’s the floor (sleeps ten in discomfort) or (third option you lucky people) stay awake all night drinking (holds 20 – I know, I’ve seen it done!). Seriously, if anyone is up for a visit, let me know.

oooo – slightly tipsy, must confess, in spite of being “on the wagon” for the last two hours in a Connex-enforced kinda way (you have no idea how long this is taking to type!). I’ll write more about this in the morning, but for now: went to the blogmeet, had a brilliant time (what a great bunch of people), met some new faces and (thankfully) made the train back…..for those that were there, I had to sprint (how unfit am I??) and got to the train with a platform guard holding the door open – he slammed it behind me and the train started moving straight away – that is *too* close for comfort!! so, next time, anyone got a sofa/sofabed/bed/duvet/whatever they can loan me?

my mood was improving until I got an email from Heather telling me that she called the Chartered Institute of Marketing today. We are due to recieve our exam results tomorrow (they should have been posted today) – but when she called she got an answering machine message saying that due to “technical problems” no results would be available until after March 16th.
This is not good, as that may be too late to enter for the re-sits if we’ve failed. Not good at all. The CIM is the most useless organisation on the face of the earth.

not in the most blindingly cheerful mood this morning, partly because I can be miserable sod some days, partly because I’m tired and partly because it is grey and dull outside. However, in spite of requests (in jest, I hope) from one or two people, I’m not going to start rambling on about my woes to any great degree here, so you can all breath a sigh of relief about that.
UKBloggerland seems quite this morning, with very little activity anywhere. I guess everyone is saving their energies for tonight’s blogmeet – I’m still undecided as to whether I should go or not. checked the train timetables last night, and the last train back is 10.15, not 10.30 – so even less time there. and I don’t fancy kipping on someone’s floor (which has never really been my scene).

it could happen to you (link shamelessly poached from Meg)

Luke in burnt pie scam!
how does the man find time to write such long posts? having said that, however he finds time, I hope he keeps finding it.

forgot the TPL update yesterday – no matches were played, so my score for the week was nil. Plenty matches this week though, although my Liverpool players will not be in action.