What A Month!!!

I am but definitely not making excuses for the fact that it has almost been another month since my last post.  Oh - okay - I am making excuses but they are all perfectly legit and honest ones. Truly!

In the first place there was the joint birthday party to mark milestone birthdays for Steve and me.  It was held at a large local hotel and there would be a photographer, a silhouette artist, a DJ and some quiz sheets and all that had to be organised; not to mention the baloons, the approproate serviettes, the box for cards to be put in, the cake.  Also to contend with were the errors the large local hotel made in the run up to the party and the fact that when we reached the venue the tables had been set out for a sit-down meal like at a wedding rather than the buffet we'd ordered.  I will give the large local hotel their due though, they did their damndest to make it up to Steve and I on the night; not least by upgrading our room to "the best in the house" which was more a small flatlet with a sitting room, a toilet, a shower, a jacuzzi bath and swans on the queen size bed made out of pure white towels and sprinkled with rose petals.  Bless 'em.

We almost cancelled on the Friday night because of all the problems but we talked ourselves out of it. We knew we had guests booking into the hotel from York and Lincolnshire so it wouldn't have been fair on them to turn up and find it like a morg, devoid of music and laughter.

In the end we were mighty glad we didn't because WHAT a NIGHT it turned out to be!  We had around 130 people turn up and the evening just went like a dream.. The DJ was brilliant, the silhouette artist a massive hit, the quizzes hugely successful.  Everyone had a great time, there were kids running around having a ball, loads of dancing.  It was brilliant!    In the week or so afterwards, we were literally flooded with thank-you cards, texts, emails and whatsapps from people who'd really had a good time.

And the excuses don't end there.  My Young Writers had their fifth anniversary celebration at the library the following Saturday and that turned out to be a big event too, with the Deputy Mayor giving a speech, local author Ciaran Murtagh offering words of inspiration and me reading out messages to the Young Writers from the likes of Children's Laureate Lauren Child, writer Michael Morpurgo, the presenters of Blue Peter and children's playwright David Wood.

I know you will forgive me, oh so silent readers.  It is not often our lives resemble a merry-go-round.

And next time I promise a Writing update too.  Lots happening there ...