Walking on water III

There! :-)

Walking on water II

Hmmm, I'm not so sure you believe me, I'll find a clearer water-walker, hang on, checking the million photos now ... hasta la vista, wiv another piccie, spk soon

Walking on water

So there I was driving away from the Create building on the Brunel Lock in Bristol, and the sun was shining, and I was full of the joy of a beautiful day, so full that there wasn't any room for brain cells ... clearly ... because instead of taking the lane that would put me nicely on the road back towards the Forest and a planned meander in Chepstow I found myself heading along the A370 under the Clifton Bridge and heading towards Nailsea, Blackwell and the like ... Having made this mistake before I knew that it was a divil of a road to find a place to turn round ... so I didn't bother and substituted Chepstow with Weston.

Hadn't been to Weston for years 'n years.

Stayed there till sunset, visited the International Sand Sculpture Festival, had vegetable jalfrezi and sag paneer on the harbour steps, watched people walking on water ...

No sh*t, they sooooooo were, I have the photos to prove it. See! You'll have to look closer, that sort of thickening in the middle-ish, that be a person ...

I didn't have time to walk on water meself, but I plan on a return visit to do just that, oh and buy pewter sea-horses at the market. And eat more of the Cinnamon Indian take away food watching the sun go down on the sea ...

Advance dates for your diary

I'm the speaker at an informal get together, as part of a series of speaker-ed coffee mornings, at the New Inn pub in Ruspidge, Forest of Dean. Website is: www.newinnruspidge.co.uk and phone number is 01594 824508.
I'll be doing a reading from my 'From Wear To Wye' anthology, and will be answering questions and generally chattering to anyone who's there and wants to ask or chatter along with me. The pub's in the traditional style and I like that it's putting on as wide a range of activities and events as it can while staying in the trad style of pub. Very friendly, very cosy.
That date is Tuesday 6th April, day after Easter Monday. Reasonably priced soup and a roll on offer. And my chatter o'course :-)

Another date, Saturday evening 22nd May, Lydbrook Church of Holy Jesus - the big one on the hill going out to Joys Green. I'm leading and reading in 'On That Note' - an evening in the company of local writers, with musical interludes. I'll post the flier once it's finalised, but the writers are me with my autobiographical/travel journal tales ... Christina Hollis, writer of Harlequin tales - but we're in church, right, so Christina will be reading from her short stories, the Harlequins will be available on sale, and Rebecca Tope, writer of popular series, the Cotswold Mysteries and also the writer of the Rosemary and Thyme crime novels.
More details to follow, but there'll be readings and a question and answer time, and music in between. Not to mention the absolutely gorgeous church as setting, tis beautiful!

That's me for now
Back soon, cos I still haven't mentioned the Monmouth event last Monday

What time is it Mr Wolf?

Blimey oh, look at the time, it's March! How did that happen?

Since the last posting back in December I have been busy ...

being entranced by the extended snowfall ... high on a hill in me cosy coat, yodel a-ee, yodel a-ee, yodel-a-ee-o ... up Worral Hill in the freezing cold, yodel a-ee, yodel a-ee, yodel-ayyyyyy ...

I can't think that's how you spell all those yodels though, ne'er mind.

The 'high on a hill' lines are the start of a poem that I performed at Maggie Clutterbuck's Poetry Evening at the Annexe in Lydney in February, great fun evening. The poem's called 'The Important Question', it's definitely a winter-seasonal poem, so maybe catch me for a rendition next winter ...

Further writings from the snowbinding include the tale 'The Anagantian Enchantment', well, it's called that at the moment, but it might also appear as 'Lullaby', haven't decided yet. Marquez seems to have squeezed his fabulously magic-realist way into it too

writing Sea-Fruit for the Coleford Festival of Words' March cabaret at the Kavern Bar in Coleford ...

working with some gifted and interestin' children at Steam Mills primary school in the Forest, doing a project called 'The Weather Machine'. The school has its own weather station, which I think is very, very cool ...

playing country kitchen and making loadsa Indian food and spicy stews

meandering ... more of that in postings-to-come and in my next book of tales which I'm busy compiling, hope to have a publisher for the finished version some time late summer or early autumn

supporting the fundraising for Lydbrook Church, more of that anon

preparing for my firstest ever visit to the US, more of that anon also

writing Wolf Month, another tale for the CFOW cabaret evening methinks

Anyways, that's a quickie summary just so we're all catched up ... sort of.

My next posting won't be so long in coming, because I just have to tell you about a great pub in Monmouth that I visited for the first time on Monday evening - the pub that is, I've been a Monmouth-loiterer for decades

Hope you're all well!

xx