Sunday 25 November 2012

Soon Be Christmas


Not much of a post, more of a, we’re still here and thinking about things, and waiting patiently for some sort of news or movement. We’ve had our third potential bite on the house sale, and this one actually looks promising, the first was an investor and wanted to offer silly money. The second was a slightly dippy couple, he seemed interested, she not in the slightest bit. The third is a single lady, first time buyer, looking to move out of the inner ring of suburbia. We live in hope.

The weather is too cold or too wet to tinker with the motorhome, so the Trim Project is in abeyance; couple that with me working every weekend for the last five weeks and the time has gone. I did four weeks of 4am starts which was a killer, and meant that the Fridays that I don’t work was a total loss as all I did was catch up on sleep. The plus side of all this is that we’ve had a few extra pennies at a time when they are most needed.

There is light at the end of this particular tunnel, I think I have five days off at the start of December (I think that’s next week), so while the day light hours are short, I have five of them soon and of course, once the door panels are off. Then the remaking and re-covering is a sit at the dinner table and tinker job.

We had the Brakes sorted out for the MOT, and we can say that the motorhome is winterised, all except an Anti-Freeze and engine fluids check, but I hope to get these bits done next weekend. I hope to do a bit more writing of my first attempt at a novel.

I’ve been, doing mini biographies for the characters to remind me of what I’ve been thinking about them and their interactions for the future. This is because I can’t write consistently. To define: I can’t write consistently; I mean I don’t get to meet my muse at times to suit both of us ... our calendars are not synchronised. I work ... it doesn’t therefore it can come up with fantastic ideas while I’m in the middle of racking a server, or cooking the dinner. I do have gadgets such as the good old fashioned pen and pad, a Dictaphone, even voice recording on the phone. But then getting a clear period of time to rationalise and write from snippets isn’t easy.

Neal Asher, whose blog I follow, tries to write two thousand words a day, and usually succeeds. I’m lucky if I can manage two hundred, though on my best days I can knock out five thousand or more. However that five thousand will come from three or four weeks of bare notes and reminders. Neal Asher is a successful SciFi novelist, so maybe I’m setting my aspirational bar WAY WAY too high for this early in my fantasy career, but a target is a target and this one is as good as another.

Does Blogging eat some of that writing time? I guess so, but then there is the fact that if your thought bucket is overflowing with minutiae, you end up with head clutter. That’s why this post is a ramble ... a mental comfort break.

I’m going to cook the dinner.

PS: The Sloe Gin is looking very red and fine.

PPS: If you're Neal Asher and you read this. Thanks for the target, and all the tips.

Monday 5 November 2012

No News is No News.

This last week has seen us being miserable, anxious and generally irritable. It’s not a great time of year, with the clocks going back, and daylight hours being restricted to that portion of the day you have to spend inside at work. The only people to view the house couldn’t be arsed to give the estate Agent feedback; we assume that’s the last we’ll hear from them.

Time wasters, I reckon they are at least thirty percent of footfall, based on previous sales. Now we need the other sixty percent to come knocking, and we are now counting down the days to the opening up the sale to other estate agents.

In terms of planning options, we are currently in suck it and see mode. We’ll know what we are doing next when the market moves. If the market moves?

On the up side we had a really great time on Saturday at London fields Lido (the last heated open air pool in London) and we plan on going as often as possible through the winter months … well just because why not? And we now know what we are aiming to do on Boxing Day.

Picture courtesy of the Guardian Newspaper (you can't take your own ... people get cross and call the police).




Other than these gems, I think posts will slow down over the next few weeks as the urge to hibernate takes hold, albeit with the odd interlude for a couple of motorhome jobs I need to get done (as per earlier post), and any posts arising based on the success or failure of said jobs.

TTFN then.

PS: The Sloe Gin is coming along fine.

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