This morning I am hugely grateful for all the love… I had so many kind comments on my last post here, and on my Facebook page. You lot are lovely. And it goes to prove my point that I am certain that all the negativity in the world is tiny compared to all the love, peace and kindness. The world is a good place, people, and I am glad to be in it today.

(If you haven’t found my Facebook page yet, please go and have a look. I post there most days.)

It’s a bit cold out there today….

… so I am writing in the house, with my big cup of tea.

I had a really good weekend, though. On Saturday I was speaking at the New Writing South Publishing Day at the Jubilee Library in Brighton. I was up first, which is never good, and I arrived with just a panicky five minutes to spare which never helps – unexplained traffic on the M25. I did all right in the end I think but I know I started off rambling. I think it also didn’t help that I had planned what to say, I think I am actually better when I ‘wing it’. Normally with an event like this I would hang around for the rest of the day, making the most of the other speakers and chatting to people, but on this occasion my lovely husband and son had come with me and they were loitering around outside the library waiting for me to be done.

(If you were at the Jubilee Library on Saturday, I’m really sorry I went off so early! Felt really rude…)

I did have lots of fun in the afternoon, though. We had a really nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant (very nice, highly recommend) and then we went to the Brighton Pavilion.

The Royal Pavilion

I hadn’t been since my school days and I think I must have forgotten just how amazing the decoration in the rooms is. My memories of visiting, probably on school trips, centre around there being a plastic rat in the big kitchens under one of the tables – but that seems to have gone now. Or perhaps I imagined it! Forgot all about the giant dragon holding up the chandelier in the banqueting room, for example – and the glories of the Music Room.

The Music Room

…Although the Music Room suffered a catastrophic arson attack and then was badly damaged by falling masonry during the Great Storm of 1987 (which is around the time I would have been visiting), so maybe I didn’t get to see it back then…)

There was a Chocolate Festival going on in the street next to the Pavilion Theatre, I had to walk past in a hurry. That sort of stuff is WAY too tempting.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the UK. I had a cup of tea brought to me in bed, along with the copy of the Saturday Guardian and the Kent Messenger that I’d bought the day before and not had a chance to read.

After that I cooked roast lamb (my favourite) for lunch because my Mum came over.  And once THAT was all done with, I got to sit down and watch the Six Nations rugby match between England and Italy. England won but they didn’t really do particularly well – I was almost cheering for Italy by the end. They deserved to win, really!

So this entry wasn’t about writing – but I guess I’ve given you a bit of an insight into my lovely weekend just for a change!

Hope you all had lovely weekends too.

xx