The New Life

I’ve just had the best night’s sleep I've had in a long time. I’m not quite sure how I achieved this since last night was hot enough to bake a rabbit and I’d only had the minimal amount of alcohol, but there we are; sleep I did. When I woke up at about 6:30 I did something that I haven’t had the luxury of doing for a long time. I made myself a cup of tea and took it back to bed to read for a while. Reading in bed is one of the best indulgencies one can afford oneself and I love it (I’m not sure I’m actually loving the book I’m reading at the moment – Lionel Shriver’s ‘Post Birthday World’ – but that’s another story). Reading in bed in the morning is one of my favourite things (along with raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, of course).

Anyway, I’m quite busy today. I’ve been neglecting the administrative side of my life recently, so today it’s back to the boring stuff like washing & cleaning, paying bills and replying to the various communications that I’ve been neglecting to deal with to date. I also need to earn some money because the drinks cabinet is looking a bit threadbare these days, and the fridge contains nothing but three bottles of champagne and a two-week-old mango. I also need to write the script for the talk that I’m giving next week at the Nottingham Creative Network seminar. The organizer (my mate Jim) has asked me to provide some PowerPoint slides – but what would I put on them? Since the talk is all about writing in Nottingham, should I put up some images of people chewing on pens; tearing up pieces of paper in despair; starving in lonely garrets perhaps? Or maybe I should put up an image of me, lounging in a smoking jacket on a chaise-longue with a glass of claret and a foot-long cigarette holder? Very Oscar-ish if you ask me.

This reminds me: I’m attending the gala dinner for the Creative Business Awards next week. The dress code is ‘Black tie with a twist’. Mmm, I wonder what that means? I think it’s appropriate that I should wear a ball-gown with a mink stole, but what about a tiara too? A bit over the top do you think? Before the dinner there’s to be a champagne reception and I’m wondering if they’ll be serving Ferrero Rocher chocolates. “Oh, Sheriff of Nottingham, you are spoiling us”. Incidentally, did you know that the current Sheriff of Nottingham is actually a woman and looks absolutely nothing like Keith Allen? Diable, on s’arrête!