Esprit d’escalier

June 2013 Yesterday I came face to face with untrammelled youth and lost the encounter. I was the one who stepped aside. It was a clash of wills; age lost and youth won, as in the end I suppose it must. It was a pity because I represent age. I stepped aside; the...

It’s May, which means nearly June

May 2013: I’m back to this site after too long an absence – I have been neglectful; sorry, all. But I have just finished the third of the Love and Inheritance trilogy – my first attempt at a historical novel, multiplied by three – and am able to pay attention to other...

Scandinavian outings: Denmark

April 2013: Denmark There are good festivals and bad ones. One has to be careful. A badly-organised one, (often the case when students do the organising – they can have difficulty realising that even if you’re a writer you’re not a figment of the imagination but have...

Scandinavian outings: Norway

March, 2013 : Norway The temperature in Oslo was minus 17 and I hadn’t finished The New Countess, third in the trilogy, as I had hoped. It just wouldn’t finish easily. On the other hand a week out in a really cold climate might shock my brain into some useful new...