The Spoons That Are My Ears!

I left a sour message on my blog this morning, because I'm currently feeling very sour, but it wasn't the right thing to do, so I've decided to edit out the sourest bits and just leave in the bits that are less sour, or not sour at all...

(1) I mentioned that on Thursday night I went to see Satori in the Uplands Tavern. They played a good gig but my main purpose was to hand Anthony Lewis a copy of Postscripts #7, the magazine in which his cartoons appear (adorning my 'False Dawn of Parrots' story). I also wanted to remind him about the cartoons he still owed me for another story ('The Gala of Implausible Songs'). The following day I met him at the university and to my delight he drew the required cartoons right in front of me. So now my Sereia de Curitiba book is truly finished and all the pieces are finally in place!

(2) I announced that I won the poetry slam final last Saturday night... What I didn't mention was that the two guest poets were among the best I've seen: Nathan Penlington, who combined poetry with magic tricks and jokes; and Rhian Edwards, who delivered a supremely confident and assured performance and turned out to be a good musician as well.

(3) I complained about my lack of money and retold the anecdote that H.P. Lovecraft was often so poor that he had to choose each day between blowing his daily budget on a tin of beans or a stamp to post a letter he had written to one of his friends. His usual choice was a stamp... Then I imparted the less than fascinating information that I haven't posted a letter in the old fashioned way for years and that my daily choice is usually between Bombay Mix or fruit. True alas, but I've stopped buying books, which helps!