When I started on these Blogs some months back I thought I would run out of ideas within a couple of weeks at the latest but there are still some things I wanted to write about months ago, weeks ago, days ago that remain in the outbox, as new ideas and new events like queue jumpers slip in instead.
It says a great deal for someone’s writing when you reach the end of a book with a sigh of disappointment, a regret that that is it, there is nothing more to come. I finished The Archivist’s Story some days ago (there you are, have only just got around to mentioning it) and that was exactly the feeling I had as I realised I was on the last page. How do you express your feelings about a story which can hardly be called enjoyable yet which you thoroughly enjoyed? It’s like saying you enjoy going to a funeral. Well, it’s a remarkable novel and whoever left it here I’m glad they did. Now I’m back to enjoying Dalzeil and Pascoe.
Started to watch yet another movie and gave up. This one was called Premonition and starred Sandra Bullock. After twenty minutes or so of not knowing what was real and what was unreal, what was supposed to be a dream and what wasn’t, it was such a mess (or am I as thick as two planks?) I thought there was simply no point in staying with it so switched to Vouli and watched a documentary on Bernard Montgomery.
Yet another rejection slip – No, rejection slips are passé, now it’s electronic rejection, rejection by e-mail. This one was from Evan Leighton Davis regarding DEAD ON TIME and WHEN THE DEVIL RIDES submitted to Barnaby Thomson at Ealing Studios “While there is undoubted potential in both projects, I’m afraid we didn’t fall in love with either enough for us to be taking them further. Thanks for sending them to us though and good luck in finding a home for them.” I wonder if we ever shall. Who’s interested in the civil war as the film mogul said when presented with Gone With The Wind. I had the same reaction many years ago from Granada TV when I submitted my play THE RIVER OF SAND. Who’s interested in South Africa? It wasn’t too long after that the whole world was interested in South Africa. Were I ten years younger I would give my eye teeth (as the saying goes) to direct WHEN THE DEVIL RIDES, but there you are, I’m not ten years younger and a terrific script, even though I am forced to say it myself, is going begging.
Why is it that every year at this time the house is suddenly inundated with flies? Is it the falling pomegranates, nature’s grenades, that explode on contact with hard concrete, scattering seed and juice everywhere and creating the stickiest ever mess? Oranges are dropping now as well, too small and too early, and the quinces need to be picked before the bugs get to them.. They are enormous and again it’s a big crop.That single tree has really done us proud but, like the walnuts, we put them aside, eventually they go off and then they’re wasted.