I’ve spent the last two writing days in my own personal Tardis, in which I whizzed back in time to Saturday July 30th 1966, the day England won the World Cup. I’m not a huge football fan. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy sport, I like to see a good match of anything – tennis, rugby, cricket, hockey – as long as it’s exciting it’s got my attention. But in spite of growing up with football – Dad a referee and big West Ham fan, the Brother and Nephews live and die for QPR, – I can take it or leave it. This is probably because for me, professional football epitomises everything that’s wrong with our world. It’s a place where the rich get richer and pull all the strings; a world in which men of limited intelligence and misogyny written into their DNA are paid obscene amounts of money for kicking a ball around.
So, it was nice to go back to an age where what mattered was the quality of the game, players’ salaries were not much above the national average and they let their skills do the talking for them and seemed to have no need or desire to ‘roast’ drunken girls in hotel rooms or behave like little Gods. And the reason for my trip down Memory Lane is that I’m now in 1966 in The Banjo. The book ends in 1970, so as you can see – The End Is Nigh!! I’m typing as fast as I can, although I stopped mid-afternoon as I was expecting a builder to come, but he didn’t, so that was a waste of a couple of hours as I then started watching Indian Wells – and just as Nadal was about to take on Verdasco – ten minutes ago – the transmission ended for…………football!!

I’ve had a nice time since my last blog. On Saturday night I went to Splash Antigua (virgin territory for me!) to see Soothe. I had been expecting to walk into a theatre of some kind, i.e. with rows of chairs and a stage or performing arena. As it was, the venue was dotted with sofas and chairs arranged around tables and bar stools, all facing in different directions. There were several performance arenas and the idea was that it was an evening for groups of friends to chat and listen to music and be entertained by singers, musicians and spoken word artists. So, it was different. I shared a sofa with two stunningly beautiful and extremely pleasant and friendly young women, Stacey and Nicole, and it was most enjoyable, although, to be honest, it could have moved along a little quicker for me.

Nevertheless, some of the performers were most engaging. For me, the highlight of the evening was Heather Doram’s monologue. Yes, she’s my friend and I love her, but even if I’d never seen her before I’d have been swept along with her confident, clever delivery of a menopausal woman who’s sexuality has suddenly been awakened by a new man. And what a man! Written by Zahra Airall (I think!) Heather had the whole audience whooping and shrieking along. Fabulous to see, enjoyable and entertaining!

And yesterday was my birthday. The time difference between Antigua and UK meant that by the time I’d woken up it was to dozens of e-mails, e-cards, messages and Facebook posts. How lovely to get so many greetings from Australia, US, Germany, UK and Antigua. I was overwhelmed that so many people had taken the time to think of me and wish me well – truly humbling and I thank EVERYONE who did so.

Thanks to technology I was able to have a long, long chat with the Daughter and the Sister and exchange birthday greetings with Nephew The Younger, who shares the day with me. I’d brought the birthday cards I’d been given in UK with me and stood them on the table –

– and I’d also brought the presents that were light enough to carry, which were gorgeous and I loved them! I’ve already started reading The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck by Sara Knight, which was a present from the Brother. It’s really making me laugh.
The Fella Who’s Far Away (but not at the moment) brought perfume and pink champagne and lunch, which was lovely and I was then supposed to go out with my friends B and C for dinner but B had been in bed all over the weekend, so we’ve postponed it until Thursday – something to look forward to. Get well soon, B!

I was tickled to see I shared my birthday with National Pi(e) Day – how apt! And then, my friend Spencer pointed out that it was also National Steak and BJ Day, too, the premise being that you like your steak rare and your blow-job well done!! I kid you not! Still, I’m an unrepentant carnivore so there you go! 😉 All in all, a great day celebrating another bubble in the mad, glorious, joyful champagne-glass of Life.

And late last night I watched the final episode of Series One of The Affair. O.M.G. Loved it! I do love a twist and it had several per episode, or so it seemed. It’s so clever and I can now add Joshua Jackson to my list of favourites. Phwoar! Not only can he really act well, he’s hunky. I just have to watch Series Two now! On my ‘to-buy’ list when I’m back in UK.

And I’m just putting it out there… I’m having a real re-think about my next book – books even!… I won’t say anything yet… but once I’ve made my decision, you will be the first to know! 🙂