Home on the range...
Well, I finally got home. Saturday was the day from hell, though - my printer ran out of ink and nowhere in Aber had the right kind in stock, so I had to take my portfolio to Charlie and Becky only half-printed and ask for a big favour; I packed everything in a rush, meaning I forgot useful stuff; and Trenau Arriva Cymru were being their usual brilliantly-efficient selves. The train was late getting to Aber, and therefore late leaving. Fine, no problem. We eventually got to Wolverhampton, and had been sitting there for about five minutes waiting to leave when they suddenly decided that they were going to terminate the train there, and we'd all have to get off and wait for a different train to take us to New Street. Which didn't take long, to give them credit. But it did mean I had to catch a later connection and get home later and it was just the perfect end to a generally stressful day!
Sunday I went and got new walking boots, which are lovely. Not quite as practical as the other ones, since they're suede not proper leather, but they are really really nice and do have flat soles! (I have a problem with shoes - I roll my feet to the outside when I walk, meaning that I can wear the sole through on one side but still have un-worn tread on the other. This means I end up with shoes with uneven soles that make my feet roll even more to the outside, which hurts my ankles and knees until I buy new ones.) Sunday night I went to Mum's, and we went to the firework display at Southwell Rugby Club, which was excellent. I haven't been to a fireworks display for ages, because we've had the dog, but I've always loved Bonfire Night. Something about the smell of burgers and sparklers that brings out the child in me. It was very good, anyway, even if they had built the bonfire somewhat close to a tree and ended up setting fire to the smaller branches!
Other than that, I'm thinking it might have been less boring to stay in the flat on my own for a week! Yesterday I did a day's work in the Carlton office for Mum and Kevin, and although it was good to do some proper work for a change, I could count the number of times the phone rang on one hand. Really not that exciting. And now I'm trying to get my work done before I go back to Aber, and I seem to have writer's block. Well, no, that's not true. I know what I want to write, and I'm happy with the plot, which is my usual problem, it's just the dialogue getting me down. The last couple of stories I've written I've been really pleased with and I thought I might have somehow got over my problem with writing stories, but I've realised now what the problem is - the dialogue, which the last couple of stories didn't really have. It just sounds completely wrong in this. And where it feels natural to put dialogue, it doesn't further the story. ARGH! This is the problem with perfectionism - if I could just get the thing written, then I could edit it into something halfway decent, but my brain wants to write it perfectly first time, and it just isn't happening!
Sunday I went and got new walking boots, which are lovely. Not quite as practical as the other ones, since they're suede not proper leather, but they are really really nice and do have flat soles! (I have a problem with shoes - I roll my feet to the outside when I walk, meaning that I can wear the sole through on one side but still have un-worn tread on the other. This means I end up with shoes with uneven soles that make my feet roll even more to the outside, which hurts my ankles and knees until I buy new ones.) Sunday night I went to Mum's, and we went to the firework display at Southwell Rugby Club, which was excellent. I haven't been to a fireworks display for ages, because we've had the dog, but I've always loved Bonfire Night. Something about the smell of burgers and sparklers that brings out the child in me. It was very good, anyway, even if they had built the bonfire somewhat close to a tree and ended up setting fire to the smaller branches!
Other than that, I'm thinking it might have been less boring to stay in the flat on my own for a week! Yesterday I did a day's work in the Carlton office for Mum and Kevin, and although it was good to do some proper work for a change, I could count the number of times the phone rang on one hand. Really not that exciting. And now I'm trying to get my work done before I go back to Aber, and I seem to have writer's block. Well, no, that's not true. I know what I want to write, and I'm happy with the plot, which is my usual problem, it's just the dialogue getting me down. The last couple of stories I've written I've been really pleased with and I thought I might have somehow got over my problem with writing stories, but I've realised now what the problem is - the dialogue, which the last couple of stories didn't really have. It just sounds completely wrong in this. And where it feels natural to put dialogue, it doesn't further the story. ARGH! This is the problem with perfectionism - if I could just get the thing written, then I could edit it into something halfway decent, but my brain wants to write it perfectly first time, and it just isn't happening!