Saturday, August 19, 2006

Hascombe village fete, and mother

A social day today, so bright smiles all round. Mum and Jim came for lunch and tea (cue good and normal daughter attempts - hmm, not much success there then ...), and we all went to Hascombe village fete in the afternoon. Billie Piper opened it and did a wonderful job of smiling and being kind (she obviously makes a better job of being a daughter than me), and also judged the children's Dr Who fancy dress competition without causing too many tears - so good on you, gal. Her ex made a good job of running the "get the golf ball into the umbrella" competition all afternoon too. My, what fun we have at the fete. Just like Midsomer Murders, as Lord H said - we had two high-profile guest stars; now all we needed was the body. Mother?....

Managed also to ransack Jane's high quality bookstall (she works for a publisher - can't remember which one though, but that doesn't stop the writerly jealousy flowing through the heart: hey, why can't they bloody well publish me? And stop being so damn snobby about my novels ...) - so am well stocked up with books now. Some of which look as if I might actually enjoy.

And - joy! - I won a bottle of very good quality champagne and a bottle of beer in the tombola - and with Lord H's money too, so a double whammy of good luck. Hell, I deserve it!

Post-tea, the family have gone home now - it's always a bit of a relief when people leave the flat. The older I get, the less I actually like having guests. It's rather like being invaded, no matter who they are - our home's not our own till there are only us two in it. Still, everything is back to how it should be now, thank goodness.

Tonight, it's a concert at the church, but I hope I don't have to speak to anyone. I've had my fill of society for today, I think.

And I've just finished an utterly marvellous book, which completely ravished me - at last! Must be the best thing I've read this year! - Sue Miller's "Lost in the Forest". Fantastic insight into relationships between people, and between people and objects. Like Anne Tyler, but with more passion and intensity. She did have two very strange men in there though - John was simply weird and unsettling (if dead) even though he was supposed to be nice, I think, and Duncan was just a self-obsessed loser. But, hey, that's life. I shall definitely be buying Miller books again. Soon.

Today's three nice things:

1. The feeling of bliss when visitors go
2. Winning the champagne
3. Seeing Billie Piper in real life - goodness, how like Rose Tyler she looks ...!

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk

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