getting there!

Today was the day of collecting stuff to pack and discovering what I haven’t got. Not much, it turns out. I’ve sorted out my pharmacology, my socks, my underwear … okay, that’s probably all you need/want to know. I’ve arranged to meet up with Ian Miller in Brighton at the end of the UK tour – he did the cover for the British version of WORLDSHAKER, and he’s absolutely my favourite SF/fantasy illustrator of all time. I’m expecting an evening of organic cider – if it lives up to his claims, my health will be perfect for the next 20 years.

Here’s Ian’s cover, which is amazing if you could see all the detail in it – only you’ll have to take my word, because I can’t upload the real huge size of the file on WordPress.

Meanwhile, Aileen and I have been booking hotels for that last part of the trip after the tours are over. Here’s Aileen being glamorous (with brother-in-law Bob)

Turns out that the offices of my French publisher in Paris are in the Latin Quarter v close to a flea-bitten hotel where I used to live when I sold newspapers (Herald Tribunes) to American tourists in Paris. The area must’ve changed – from bohemian to upmarket and ultra-fashionable – but maybe I can find the soup kitchen where I used to eat (well, a charitable institution serving cheap meals to the down and out!), the bars where we used to drink and argue, the bookshop where we used to lounge around reading entire books.

Ah, strange times, exotic memories. Right now, present reality is calling me back to sewing trouser cuffs that have come unstitched. (One of the things about glamorous wives is you have to do your own sewing …)

Cheers

Richard