It’s probably not exactly news that winter’s come back for another go in these parts. Unfortunately, this coincided with a round of various activity: the Professor was in Aberdeen, where he was to go to the United Trades dinner (i.e. the local equivalent of the London livery companies) and meet up with the Emblematist, who […]
A potential gardener presented himself in the course of today: he sounded a bit weird on the phone, but as I said to the Professor, the sort of man who wants solitary outdoor work is also, not uncommonly, someone who finds talking to total strangers a bit of an ordeal. When met in the flesh, […]
We continued to have a lovely time in the Moorfoot Hills. I spent almost my entire time either reading or writing about the third century AD, and achieved some 25 pages. The Professor did a variety of southern things such as seeing his Good Aunt, and came back from Edinburgh with a present for me. […]
I am writing from an unknown address in the Lothians. We had a brief and welcome visit from Dr Biswell, and bade him farewell on Sunday, leaving him to square his shoulders to the hideous task of packing up a variety of his books and other possessions and taking them to the new flat in […]
We have just acquired another godchild, Young Northfield, affectionately if irreverently known as Little Lord Jesus because ‘no crying he makes’ — he is quite the sunniest tempered infant I have ever encountered. This was achieved at his home, which is in the Lothians. There’s something very nice about a drawing-room christening, especially on […]
The local builder turned up rather early this morning, and has declared the back kitchen legally dead. We think the man has a point. We’ve spent quite a lot of money on it. It has had its malfunctioning roof wrapped in blue tarpaulin for the last four or five months, it still leaks like buggery, […]
I’m now in drafting mode, best characterised by extreme absence of mind and the regular deployment of the words ‘Whatever’, and ‘I don’t mind’. A prospect of incinerated pitta breads, forgotten eggs, and dried-up saucepans awaits my longsuffering household. Meanwhile, on the odd occasions when I’ve found myself inhabiting the real world, things are […]
The Lady Novelist is embarking on another work of fiction. It’s official — as indicated by the formal opening of a new writing-book, which is always a bit of a moment. This will be carried about for some months and needs to be fairly tough. I was delighted to find, when I visited Signor Valese […]
Well, all bullet points were ticked on my trip South — saw new agent, did final edits for an article in the British Library, gave paper in Oxford, had haircut, spent some time with my mother, etc. etc. I have come back to find a new computer. The old one had become the […]