The Spoons That Are My Ears!

I started Salsa classes last night. What a great place to meet women! All that money I've squandered in pubs and nightclubs to no avail! Now I know better. I like the music as well. I've liked it ever since I heard a compilation of Cuban songs about seven years ago. It changed me completely into a World Music freak. Dancing is painful though. I've got a nasty gash on my foot from a stiletto heel (not one of my mine, I hasten to add...!)

I want to write about the amazing thunderstorm I was caught under last week but the words mostly escape me. I've never witnessed a thunderstorm like it. I was stuck out in the open on the dunes and the sky was incredibly clear and full of stars. The thunderstorm seemed to be contained in a small bank of cloud that sailed around in circles. Every ten seconds or so there was an incredibly bright flash of lightning and this went on for hours, the cloud going first one way then coming back. I got drenched in my sleeping bag but the really bizarre thing was that I could still see the stars. An awesome combination...

I've just discovered that one of my friends is a Druze. I find this fascinating. I don't know much about the religion but I know that reincarnation is one of the principles. I think they believe there is a finite number of souls that need to be reused. I keep meeting people from minority faiths. The ex-boyfriend of my sweetpea is a baha'i. Why are eastern religions so much more interesting than western ones?

My misery continues unabated, but at least I've finally decided what I intend to do with the rest of my life. It's a radical change and I've just taken the first big step.

Meanwhile, three of my better stories are (or will be) available online here:

http://annatambour.net/RhysHughes1.htm

I'm a sucker for this romantic kind of stuff. Which reminds me: two of my 'Mermaid Variation' stories have just been accepted by Pete Crowther of PS Publishing for a future issue of his POSTSCRIPTS anthology. Apparently I'm going to make the cover again! Yippee! Pete Crowther is a good editor and his publishing firm is a rare beast -- it pays good rates in advance. Not to mention the quality of the production of the material he issues. Contrast that with the publisher of my PERCOLATED STARS novel. I've been waiting more than three years for payment for that...

Money is something much on my mind lately. India is still calling me but now my sweetpea has run off with another man, I'm less sure about the wisdom of going now. Plus I need more money (for reasons I won't go into here)... I've got a part time job at the local college but there aren't enough hours. I think I might be working two festivals in the summer though: Wychwood and The Glade. More on that when I know more myself!