They say being a writer is a lonely business. I think this is especially true if you're a writer who doesn't live in London. Please don't misunderstand...this isn't a moan. As a woman who has turned being anti-social into an art-form at times, I don't necessarily see being 'lonely' as a negative. Indeed, shutting myself away in a room with only a laptop for company is a bit of an indulgence for me. Especially as I don't get the chance to do it that often these days. However it is nice, once in a while, to catch up with a few fellow Legends and other literary types. Again, a bit of an indulgence: the day job and the distance means I don't get to go to as many Legend bashes as I would like. So, it being the summer holiday and all, I grabbed my opportunity to head down to The Smoke on last Thursday.
Admittedly the trek from the provinces wasn't all plain sailing. Our train broke down and we were booted off in Bedford and ushered onto another very overcrowded train which eventually heaved it's way into St Pancras over an hour late (Yey!) However, it was a lovely sunny day in London so we weren't disheartened. Even with the delay we'd still arrived with a few hours to spare before the 'do'. We headed down to Covent Garden for a spot of light refreshment and a spot of shopping.
All was going swimmingly until some oaf trod on my heel and...disaster...
They managed not only to pull my flip flop off my foot but completely detach the top bit from the bottom bit. Alas my footwear would neither flip nor flop and I was left in the middle of London with only on item of functioning footwear. Excellent!!!!
A barefoot trek to the nearest tube station followed. Gadding about on the Piccadilly line with only one shoe is quite an experience too, I can tell you. At last, I managed to reach Accessorise back in St Pancras and treated myself to this new pair of spangley flip flops to wear to the party. Astonishingly, after explaining to the shop assistant that I really didn't need a carrier bag for my purchase, we got to the appropriately named 'Yorkshire Grey' on time. Had a few glasses of vino to cool down with before the main business of the evening. The re-launch of White Summer - written by my much missed co-author Luke Bitmead and the award of the writers' bursary set up in his name. The finer details,
I'll let you read about on the Legend Press website. However, a good evening was had by all, despite the rather precarious journey there. Was great to meet up with Legends I'd not met before and to catch up with those I'd met previously. Here's looking forward to the next one!
Yay! And it was good to meet you as well. And I even managed to make a complimentary comment about the diamante flip-flops! Sorry I wasn’t available for too much chatting, that’s what it’s like at these things, everyone gets a tiny piece of me.
Posted by: Josie | July 28, 2008 at 12:37 PM