The days come, the days go, and little if anything seems to be accomplished. Have done no writing in a while and don’t feel like doing any at the moment although I am well into Thornton King number four. Still, there is no hurry for it. Number three won’t be published till next year. The house desperately needs cleaning (it’s a big house) and I can’t seem to rake up the energy for that, and as for the garden I haven’t even looked at it in days despite the fact that the prickly pears are aching to be picked and must be dropping by the dozen. Maybe tomorrow. The weather has been overcast with the promise of rain but still muggy and still inclined to make one sweaty. In fact as I write this the fan is blowing at my back.
Friends Charmaine and Dave came around for coffee Monday morning which made a pleasant break and we were desperately trying to remember the name of a film director but it completely eluded us. There’s fame for you. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that something triggered my memory and the man we sere trying to think of was Tim Burton of course. I have the perfect vehicle for him and Johnny Depp but how do I get it to him? Still haven’t heard a word from Vanessa Redgrave’s agents. I have sent a polite e-mail as a little reminder. Also thought of sending an e-mail to the publishers John Murray. Am reading “The Luminous Life Of Lilly Aphrodite” and enjoying it immensely but oh, wow! On page 81 I read “the mounted infantry and the goose-stepping cavalry”. How on earth did that get passed author, editors, and proof readers? It is too easy to miss small typos in a manuscript but something as big as this? Readers have pointed out mistakes in my autobiography but apart from palette for palate, a word I didn’t know until Roger Beeching (trust me I’m a dentist) pointed it out to me. they are all pretty small. Anyway, the e-mail address on the fly-leaf is unrecognised so I tried another I found on the internet and that too was unrecognised so I gave up. Wasn’t going to go for third time lucky.
Charmaine’s highly talented nephew, Henry Cockburn is to be congratulated into getting a place at Oxford. How long is it since he, his mother and sister were out here and we met at the Litsarda panagerie, four or five years? I remember him telling me at the time he had ambitions to be an actor and I believe from all the news Charmaine passes on that he has been at it pretty regularly whilst at school. No doubt he will continue to do so with OADS, a good jumping off place as many a theatre and television success has found.