Holiday Blues?

January is traditionally the time for heavy advertising for holidays. I can remember when I was a kid the adverts on the TV on Boxing Day were always holidays, and there were pages of adverts in the Christmas TV papers too. In those days it was more likely to be Butlins and Blackpool rather than trips abroad. Yes, I am that old. With a new year, a few brave brochures trickling through the letterbox, intense fedupness with the same four walls and the prospect of vaccinations as a tiny speck of hope on the horizon, I've been thinking about my bucket list. It won't be for a while, but I am sort of making plans. Or maybe thinking about making plans? 2022 Maybe?

I have to say, I am a little worried about the big world, not having been much further than ASDA for nearly a year, not even into Cardiff! I expect I shall get used to it. So - what's on the list?

Cardiff first - baby steps!

Then in no particular order - 

Bristol - for my favourite fish and chip shop and the Egyptian galleries at the Museum - research for the book after this one. 

Bath - my second favourite fish and chip shop, the theatre and shopping

Oxford - I have my eye on the Pre-raphaelite exhibition at the Ashmolean and made a tentative date with a friend for viewing and afternoon tea, but really not sure if that will happen. Probably a bit too soon for jabs and relaxation of rules.

London - for theatre, bookshops, museums galleries, concerts - you name it - and events for the Romantic Novelists' and Crime Writers Associations. My London trips have been one of my greatest lockdown losses - I usually make at least half a dozen a year. The last time I was there
was 29th February 2020, at the National Archive in Kew, doing a last minute sweep for references for the PhD. I had a  lovely day - archives being one of my catnips. And then the world turned upside down. I miss it.

I also want to go to Scotland - I've never been and I have a family pilgrimage I want to make, I'll tell you about that another time. And Cornwall, ditto - but no pilgrimage. 

The trips abroad would fill a page - but the Riviera, of course, is top of the list and I do have a holiday paid for and 'banked' as it were, so I do hope I can make it. The other place I have a hankering for is Paris. When I lived in London I sometimes used to hop on the Eurostar and go for the day, but that was a long time ago now. I have a whole list of things to see from the Pere Lachaise Cemetery to the Cire Trudon shop selling specialist scented candles. I could get them here, but somehow the idea of buying them in Paris has taken hold. I also want to go to some of the places mentioned in Eloisa James's memoir of her year spent living in the city, Paris in Love. That would be following in the footsteps of my heroine Nadine, who did the same thing in A Wedding on the Riviera. 

Will I make it? Who knows? Maybe not this year. But soon? 

I'm also interested, if anyone would like to comment - what's on your bucket list? 

The Owls of Bath

Bath is one of my favourite cities, which is why I decided that Cassie's concierge service would be located there in Summer in San Remo. I made a trip over last week - very nice lunch and a visit to the theatre - and the streets, and the occasional shop, were full of these handsome chaps. 

He was in the new shopping precinct

And he was outside the theatre

This rather startled gentleman was in Jolly's department store

This handsome fella was outside a restaurant

Not sure where this one was, but the building behind looks impressive

If you look to the right, you can see me, taking the picture

Isambard Kingdom Owl
was in the railway station

Locations for Summer in San Remo - sort of ...

I like to do a short location tour for a book - just to give readers an idea of the look of places that appear. You can see the links for the ones for Never Coming Home and Out of Sight Out of Mind at the top of the page.

I haven't done one yet for Summer in San Remo, because I like to take my own pics and sadly health issues have stopped me from travelling abroad recently, so I don't have any up to date photos of the gorgeous locations I used from the Italian and French Rivieras. I had to rely on vivid recollections of some glorious holidays and a lot of Internet browsing. And that was such a lot of fun, and brought back some wonderful sunny memories. And a visit to the Riviera is top of the list as soon as I can get on the move again. When there will definitely be pictures.

I was thinking about this the other day, while drooling over holiday brochures. One of my secret addictions. There is a lot of drooling goes on, I can tell you. But you don't want to know about that.

Summer in San Remo is not set entirely on the Riviera though. The book opens in Bath. And Bath I have photos of, even if it is another country. So, here is a mini tour of  Cassie and Jake's home town. Imagine it has one of those signs that they hang outside bits of museums that are temporarily unavailable 'Gallery under re-construction' or similar. And I promise pictures of sunshine as soon as possible.

The Christmas Novella - have I told you the title? It's What Happens at Christmas - is set in London and in the Brecon Beacons, around Abergavenny, so I should be able to manage pictures of that.

And in the meantime - here is a taste of Bath.

This is at the side of the Abbey.

Poultney Bridge, which has shops all along it

Walcot Street, which is where Cassie's fictional office for her concierge business is located 

One of the side streets, which gives a good idea of the style
 of the buildings and the colour of the stone.

This has nothing to do with the story,
but it's such a posh pillar box I couldn't resist including it. 

So that's a few shots of Bath. The start of the Summer in San Remo tour.
To be continued ...

Researching Austen in Bath

In a few weeks time I will be one of a party of Choc Lit authors attending the RT Booklovers' Convention in Kansas City. It's a huge event and it is going to be pretty hectic - talks, signings and panels. I'm going to be helping out on Sunday afternoon when Juliet Archer leads a session on Jane Austen. As Juliet is Choc Lit's Austen expert, re-imagining the books into modern settings, and I write contemporary romantic suspense, and am in no way an Austen expert, this might have resulted in me simply volunteering to hold her coat and mind her handbag while sitting, fascinated, along with the rest of the audience.

It still might.

But I thought I should make an effort at something I could do. I could visit Bath and look at some of the places that would have inspired Jane and influenced her writing. So I did. And took pictures. I'm still nowhere near being any kind of expert, but I hope I might be able to find one or two interesting remarks to make on the day. If not, I am reasonably adequate at holding coats and minding bags.

Two of Jane Austin's books are set in Bath - Northanger Abbey and Persuasion and there are references to the city in other books. As a spa town it was a popular place to visit in Jane's time - with shops, entertainment and the chance to 'take the waters' - to drink, or sometimes to bathe in, the waters of the thermal spring that were thought to have medicinal properties.

And as it happens the new novella which I am really going to finish very soon opens in Bath. So there is a connection. But it's not Jane Austen.

The Pump Room - where visitors would drink the water, and congregate to see and be seen. Now a posh restaurant with live music. 

The Abbey

Pulteney Bridge - lined with tiny shops . A bit like the Ponte Vechio?

Elegant Georgian houses

Great Pulteney Street 

Bath has some very fancy post boxes

Walcot Street

Trim Bridge - was the blanked window the result of the window tax?

I don't think these were cobbles as walked on by Jane, but you get the idea. I doubt they had yellow lines either.

A side street of smaller dwellings