Chatsworth

This past week I've been off work, using up some of my holiday. And it's been bliss. I've planted tomatoes, strawberries, runner beans and both red and green peppers in the garden (as well as a patio rose bush), did a little writing, and, on Friday, hired a car and went to Chatsworth House. It was absolutely beautiful. The house is striking in its grandeur against the lush countryside around it. To be honest though, I was a little disappointed when touring the house - the state rooms were lovely, but the rest of the house we were allowed to tour was more like a museum than a residence, and it's the people that interest me. The gardens, on the other hand, were magnificiant. If you can't find inspiration for a Fantasy world setting there, then I don't know where. The rock garden in particular was beautiful - going to bore you with a few photos, but you get the idea!

Officially I am now part of the Speculators group, which is a SF writing group that meets every week on Queens Road. They're producing a magazine to promote the group, and this was the motivation to finish my short story "Tick", which is the steampunk reworking of Inter Vivos. The word limit for the mag was only 1,500, so I think I'm going to go back to the story and develop it further.

Development for my Corrie Flint/Selena Waterford/Mattthew Gray story is coming along, although I still don't have anything to link all the stories together - aside from the fact that they all take place in London. I'm sure my brain will puzzle it out eventually though.

Hope you all enjoy your bank holiday Mondays!

Beep Beep!

So, on Friday I drove 80 miles for work (to Rugby and back) and lived to tell the tale! It was my first solo drive since passing my test in September, and beforehand, to say I was scared seems like an understatement. So the day came and I got my hire car, a cute Vauxhall Corsa with a gear stick I discovered later didn't like to go into first. Like when I was at a busy roundabout. Or at a traffic light-controlled obstruction with a huge lorry waiting behind me, beeping its horn every time I stalled (twice; the lights changed to red again before I could move). Oh well. I went on the motorway and managed to get into the middle lane without causing an accident. And when I got lost because of road works coming off the M1, I managed to find my way from the middle of nowhere to the school I was visiting in less than 20 minutes, using no directions or maps, other than the road signs along the route. Just thinking about the whole experience again gives me a bit of a high. Driving = fun.
I'm definitely going to buy a sat-nav though. I mean, it was good that I could find my way when lost, but soon I'm going to have to drive down to Surrey, and then make my way from there to Canterbury, and I think some assistance will definitely be beneficial.