Our practice run into Skipton was … interesting! Sixty mph on the narrow, winding road seemed impossible. Add in the fact that the national speed limit in Norway is 50mph and I hadn’t driven on the left for three years and starting out was something of a challenge. Mum and Dad’s manual, diesel Polo couldn’t be much different. I wasn’t looking for an automatic, but as luck had it, that was what I got. it had to be suitable for winter driving and potentially farm roads. When I bought my car two years ago in Norway, I went for a sturdy SUV. Instead of quarantining, Anna joined Andrew and me and we drove to Glasgow to attend her funeral two days ago.ĭriving in the UK again was something of a challenge. Our intention was to quarantine for a week before moving into my parents’ house, but our plans changed with the sad death of my mother-in-law. I had booked an AirBnb – an old workers’ cottage in Upper Settle. It was both wonderful to see him after two and a half years, and jarring at the same time as he stood well back: the first time we’ve met and not hugged immediately in many years. My dad met us as we climbed down onto the platform. Snow-capped mountain peaks and Tromsø from the airĪndrew and I arrived in Edinburgh in the evening, then the next day we took the train, via Carlisle, to Settle in the Yorkshire Dales. The island the city inhabits is still surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Despite the threat of strikes and potential airport chaos, for us everything went without a hitch. It felt very much like being inside a James Herriot novel (though without the animals, obviously) which I found very pleasing! We called into the village institute, where volunteers were serving tea and cakes. We walked past an old mill, then on up the hill to Langcliffe itself, which is even more charming than Settle, with its terraced stone houses, quiet country church, and village green. We walked to Langcliffe, which is a village not far outside Settle. After not seeing him for two and a half years, all the time wondering whether we would ever do such a thing again, it felt wonderful to be out in the Yorkshire countryside: a very precious moment together. He seems an unfit person to be in power, with his history of lies and profligacy, but he’s obviously one of those divisive figures that some people love and others don’t.Īnyway, onto the walks and photographs. Watching from the relative calm of Norway, with its early lockdown and only marginally slower vaccination roll out, it seemed bizarre that he received quite so much credit, but of course I don’t know what it felt like on the ground. It has interested me, watching from Norway, that in the UK press at least, it has appeared that Johnson has been credited with handling the pandemic marvellously, based mostly on his roll-out of vaccinations. The astonishing events of the past week, with dozens of resignations within the Conservative Party, resulting in the resignation of Boris Johnson (though he hasn’t gone yet which, given his recent maverick activities, seems risky) have been something to behold. I guess it would be odd to write this without also noting that John, Andrew and I have ended up in the UK at a time of mass upheaval in parliament. Commercial fiction within traditional publishing tends to fall into very specific genres at the moment and what I’ve written doesn’t fall neatly into any of them, so it was always going to be challenging. She did say it was well written though, so I hope that somewhere there is an editor who will fall in love with it. One editor gave more specific feedback that she “wasn’t sure had quite the escapist, romantic tone looking for at present”. Too commercial, seems to be the main objection at present, which presumably means it doesn’t fit the style they’re looking for, and not that they think it will sell too well.
Another couple of rejections, but with some positive feedback about my writing. On the subject of submissions and publishers, there’s nothing much to report. It’s only somewhat physically troublesome, but psychologically more so. It’s nowhere near as bad as the pain before I had my gall bladder removed ten years ago. This has mostly worked, but any time I deviate from it, I develop pain.
Because of the likelihood of some kind of blockage of my bile duct, I have been eating a low fat diet.
This week’s post will mainly be about two walks I took this week, the first with my dad, the second with John, but first a quick update on things I forgot last week when I was unable to use my computer.