The most lovely word in the English Language?

HOLIDAYS!!!!

Here we go again...

Spotted this fella in Manchester outside the astoundingly beautiful John Rylands Library - a cathedral for bookworms! We visited it last Sunday while making a pilgrimage to Salford for BRB's 'Romeo and Juliet'. An amazing weekend - only slightly marred by the fact that somewhere on Piccadilly station I left a Harvey Nichols foodhall bag...!

Two weeks to go until the summer break and instead of winding down, I seem to be powering up! My research for the 'new project' has stepped up several notches and I'm planning how to make the best use of the summer and the university libraries near by - none of them, it must be admitted, as beautiful as JR's but all well stocked
I've also booked a flying visit to the Edinburgh book festival where I'm going to do a crime writing workshop and then see Ian Rankin again: once was not enough!

Perhaps, most bizarrely, I've set the wheels in motion to direct a musical at school: it's five years since I last did one, and that was such a fantastic experience that I said 'never again' : I didn't think it could be bettered! Now, almost at the anniversary of the first night, I still don't think it can be bettered, but I'm curious to see whether it can be matched! The school I work in has changed enormously over the past few years and I think a show may be exactly what it needs.

It's certainly what I need: last time we did a show I was writing 'Scotch Mist' at the same time - and I quickly discovered that the more creative I am forced to be, the more creative I become! So, as well as everything else this summer, I'm going to be planning and plotting a production in my head! That, and working out exactly where I'm going to be able to store all these books I'm still buying. Now, if only I could get someone to build me a gothic revival Library...




Whoops! Forgot about the cake!!! Two this time - i) an Eccles cake at the above Library's lovely coffee shop - so curranty!! - in honour of the Eccles tram we took to Salford and ii) half a huge slice of chocolate cake at Gibside Hall this afternoon - it was the black cherry conserve and the proper butter icing that made it so wicked! I feel the waistline expanding already...