Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet I thought I had three calls today and they've doubled my shift to six, so this'll be a short (but not last) post. I'll see how my paypacket looks on October 20th, then decide whether I can reach Seattle... Did also notice a new neurodivergent talent agency based in Somerset House last night, and I think I'll drop them a hopeless email about both books if that's all right with you? I'll only mention Macnab , the original Dear Miss Landau and maybe the Dru Quartet. It's probably the usual cross-confluence of divergent factors, semi-pollinated by Sarah's rueful comment and the incredibly unnecessary recreation of Sense and Sensibility when its 1995 predecessor seems, by all accounts, to have been quite conspicuously incomparable . Okay, that's forty million quid completely wasted, when Dear Miss Landau would probably still cost no more than a cosy ten mill... Okay, got to run. I hope you have a nice day... Love, James

Dear Juliet I said to Keith I might go over to Seattle between 22nd March-2nd April 2027. I could drop in on him in Chicago and successfully take the Empire Builder across the top of America to the Emerald City this time. Honestly, makes me feel like Green Lantern... What a pity you couldn't just hop the train... Sorry. Evil thought. Anyway, it's far from settled. Whatever happens, please be assured that I'll be really sad I can't visit you, will think about you all the time and will take plenty of photographs for you. I'll probably find a layby to cry in, too. Here's a few in the meantime: Maybe this is where Gatsby's green light might be found, "in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." Perhaps, as I said in an earlier post , perhaps Gatsby was wrong. Perhaps one fine morning we will no longer be so ceaselessly borne back into the past. Perhaps we will run faster, stretch our arms o...

Dear Juliet Well, I've spent nearly six months saying you yourself are worthwhile, that you're not a transaction and I'd give it all up ( Dear Miss Landau and the Dru Quartet) for you. And it's all true. I still like writing to you, and you mean the world to me. But okay, I've picked up that Paramount may be upping sticks and moving. I did and do suspect that Sarah Michelle Gellar may be much more gutted than she's admitting about the Buffy sequel stomp on the glorious 14th (three years work with Chloé Zhao straight down the drain, apparently) and I've just seen her little tête-à-tête with David Boreanaz at the Emmys. I've got quite good at looking behind the Hollywood mask, seeing the barest flicker of an eyelid which even the most professional performer cannot quite hide, which shows how they're really feeling. So I'm sitting here feeling a little bemused, but that's it. I've made my offer , I'll help you anyway (no transaction)...

Dear Juliet Like Glen Campbell said, I guess you need a small vacation though it don't look like rain ... Yeah, the Point's still there. I went back but never forgot you. Dru couldn't leave Xander because the streets of Avalon still bore the prints of his stride: "His house was still home to his scent and the streets of Avalon still bore the prints of his stride. She couldn’t leave - couldn’t leave him  - while there was still the faintest trace of him there." So it was with me. Sure, I managed. Got on my feet like it didn't matter and walked on down to the Point. It did matter. I remember getting off the Number Five bus. Chevron filling station ahead, Carmel Mission behind, Carmelite monastery high on the hill. And if there was a bell tolling, I didn't hear. The road to the Point and, beyond, Avalon and L.A. was bright and clear; and the dust bore the prints of my stride. And with every stride, I thought of you. My dear Miss Landau. I wouldn't have be...

Dear Juliet Yes, sanctuary's still here (noticed you read it again), just let me know a few days in advance. Try and relax about that. Well, first of all today I had a good morning at Open Door although there weren't that many people, and lit a candle for you and Seattle afterwards: You two are top right. I'm on the job tonight (no carers again) and then on the phone to my cousin Keith in Chicago, whose birthday it is. So, life goes on but my thought for the day is how we handle pressure and whether any subconscious self-destructive tendencies still linger? In the case of my own autistic brain, it's like a sort of spreadsheet which tells me the difference between right and wrong and mostly keeps me on the straight and narrow. That and the fact that, with a focussed Asperger's brain, I'll look at things logically first and emotionally second . Being able to accept terrible facts straight-off can be a help, and I'd recommend it. I just don't have that neur...

Dear Juliet Just in case, I'd better mention I put a plan together. I don't know if it'll work, but it exists and I'll try to check it. That's all I'll say. I'm on Timshel Territory once again and it's your life. Okay, I had my last ultrasound today and my last appointment at New Cross is on 20th October. I might go back to London last week of September and I might also have to go to Seattle next April. Now, a helpful thought. "In sixty years I've left a lot of tracks,"  Steinbeck said in 1962. And so, I suppose, has Dear Miss Landau . The thing is, I don't keep quiet about Seattle because I'm trying to be silly or secret or juvenile or clever. I keep quiet about it because I was asked to do so, and because it is a sacred obligation. In fact, it's in the same vein as an informal absolution. A bit like this . There could have been, there could still be, a Dear Miss Landau II, or even III. There are a lot of tracks, or threads, a...