A brief taste of celebrity

It’s been a busy week, all leading up to my book launch last Saturday. A week ago, we had friends over for lunch. The day seemed topsy turvy, as I’m not used to eating properly at lunch time. So I just nibbled that evening. I was hoping to lose some of the pounds by the launch date, but as it got nearer and nearer, I realised it was a forlorn hope. I just didn’t have the will power to do the right things in terms of food - and there seemed to be too many jobs which required me to be sitting down - not much good in exercise terms. However, there was also a fair amount of washing, ironing and changing of sheets, in preparation for visitors.

I forgot to say that I finished Irene Black’s novel, Darshan, a magnificent journey into the mind of a young Indian girl, with a very authentic feel to it. Irene knows India so well that it’s no surprise that she is able to describe so many nuances of the people and the traditions to be found there, but she also got into the personality of her heroine, so that I almost couldn’t believe it wasn’t an Indian girl writing it. Darshan is to be the next Goldenford novel to be published in a couple of months’ time and will be a great read.

During the week, I chased up non-responders to my invitations. There were people who couldn’t come because of last minute changes of plan, and people who were going to come even though I’d asked them at the last minute. Squashed in somewhere was a meeting with a solicitor about some property problems - you don’t want to know - a Guildford Writers’ meeting, when I read out the first three pages of Tainted Tree, as a sort of rehearsal and a Sainsbury’s trip to get stuff for family coming back to our house on Saturday afternoon. I also updated my website.

The weekend started in earnest on Friday, with the arrival of M’s cousin and husband, who were staying the night with us. This was good, because looking after their needs meant I didn’t get tense about the party the next day. (I have quite a complex about big functions and felt quite ill at my daughter’s wedding and my 25th, to name but a couple of occasions - that is, when I am the person most involved with organising them; not when I am merely a guest.) When we got up next morning, I couldn’t believe how calm I felt, and that was a real treat, because it meant that I actually enjoyed the whole day.

We’d hired the local village hall and my caterer was very organised when we got there; soon the Golden girls arrived and we put all the books on display. At midday, friends, neighbours and family started arriving for drinks and after 40 minutes or so, I read out the extract from Tainted Tree. Then there was a great spate of signing books. I felt quite a celebrity. Unfortunately, my son and family arrived late (Bank Holiday traffic on the road) and M was outside playing with a great nephew on the swings and roundabouts. (Any excuse not to listen to me.) But I think it went well, and everyone chatted all through lunch, and started drifting away after 3.00 p.m. Then close family came back to our house and we sat in the garden with a very naughty chocolate cake and tea.

The Son&Heir and his entourage stayed over that night, and we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant we like a lot. The girls like it, because they can get up and visit the buffet table over and over again, without needing us to help, and without being grumbled at for fidgeting.

I was exhausted by all this entertainment and have been half asleep for the last two days. Alas today, I have had to start bookkeeping. We are going on holiday for ten days and the VAT return is due in at the end of the month. So I have to start working in earnest. After the Lord Mayor’s Show …