Party time

We scrub up good!
(Thanks to  Lynda Stacey for the photo.)

I got out of the Ivory Tower again last week - this time for a trip to LONDON. (Squeals of delight in background.)

A little trip that included many of my favourite things:

• Staying at a nice hotel (no bed making, full English breakfast and NO WASHING UP)

• Wandering over Waterloo Bridge at dusk,  with all the new skyscrapers in the city lit up, and St Paul's lurking like a ghost in the background. (OK, yes it was raining, but the Xmas market was in full swing on the South Bank, so it felt cosy and warm, in spite of the weather.) 

• Going to parties in posh places (Author Trisha Ashley's lunch time get together at the top of Waterstones in Piccadilly and the RNA Winter party, plus the annual Industry Awards, at the Royal Overseas League)

• Getting together with other Choc-lit authors and hearing about some exciting plans our publisher has for 2017. (You'll be the first to know, I promise. 😍)

• An exhibition at the National Gallery - Beyond Caravaggio. (Some memorable art, but also research. I know I keep threatening it, but there is going to be a book with a 'lost' Caravaggio in it one day, I promise that too.)

All in all I had a very good time, but am now very tired. Lots of sleeping going on. Back to normal next week, I hope.

It's all about the stories

A couple of weeks ago I did a lightening hop to London for the RNA summer party - as much fun as always and so good to catch up with friends. And soak up the writing atmosphere that I have been missing of late. The award for the Joan Hessayon was the big event of the evening ... congratulations to the wonderful finalists and winner Brigid Coady, who was very sweet about letting me hold the trophy. I gave it back with only the smallest of struggles.

I also managed to squeeze in a couple of hours at the Chelsea Flower Show the evening before. When I lived in Chelsea I was a regular, but I haven't been there for a while. Fun again to catch up. I took pictures, intending them to be for myself - a few memories and ideas for my own garden. (Dream big!!!!) When I ran through them I realised that several of the gardens and displays I had chosen to photograph seemed to tell a story, be an inspirational setting or be connected to some point in history, so I thought I would share a few of them after all.
 

I loved this one for the cool quality of the stone and the white and green planting. 

This was an evocation of a garden in the South of France. Perfect setting for a book? 

This was France again - the retelling of a story of an airman shot down in WWII

One for the history buffs - celebrating Magna Carta

Another historical theme - this time Waterloo

Party Time

What makes the perfect party?

Good food - and drink? A lovely setting? The chance to see and be seen, to catch up on gossip, to mix with influential people, to admire beautiful dresses and amazing shoes? My own favourite thing is meeting up with old friends, and making new ones - people who share a particular passion, so that you know you are among friends, even if you've never met before.



Some of the Choc-lit team
at the summer party in May



The RNA parties are renowned for all those things, and I haven't missed one in years. Sadly, for a number of reasons, I won't be at this year's Winter Party, which takes place at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers tomorrow.

I'm totally envious of those who will be there, and can't wait for the pictures to start appearing on blogs and websites.

 I know everyone who attends will have a great time, and will raise a glass to absent friends. Enjoy.