Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet I lit a candle in the Lady Chapel for you. Not for the first time. I have to run out and work now (work being a four letter word), but I'll quickly add a quote from Brideshead Revisited , which I hope will please you: "There was one part of the house I had not yet visited, and I went there now. The chapel showed no ill effects of its long neglect.; the art-nouveau paint was as fresh and bright as ever; the art-nouveau lamp burned once more before the altar. I said a prayer, an ancient, newly-learned form of words, and left, turning towards the camp; and as I walked back, and the cook-house bugle sounded ahead of me, I thought: 'The builders did not know the uses to which their work would descend; they made a new house with the stones of the old castle; year by year, generation after generation, they enriched and extended it; year by year the great harvest of timber in the park grew to ripeness; until, in sudden frost, came the age of Hooper; the place was des...

Dear Juliet Bit late, sorry. Spent too long getting stuff ready for my tax return, which was fascinating. Not. No emotional upheavals at work, thankfully. Unfortunately, it's all confidential... I'm still a bit wary of going too deep, particularly at half-past-two in the morning when I have to get up later on and light a candle for you. But perhaps that's the point. That I've been lighting a candle for you for over five years. That I didn't forget about you, or think you weren't good enough. I worried about you during the Covid pandemic, thought endlessly about what I would say if I got back into the arena in front of you in Telford, got a copy of A Place Among the Dead and really had to struggle with myself not to email you when I was on Hydra while L.A. burned... Yes, I did worry about you. I'd far rather you'd been walking up cool Greek streets of white stone than smelling smoke wafting through cypress trees in the Hollywood Hills. I wish you'd s...

Dear Juliet I have to work again tonight because they're all desperate as usual. Out into rural parts of Shropshire you probably couldn't even find with Google Maps (although you can have a look for Ryton and Albrighton if you wish!) and not back until 3.00 pm or so your time. I'll pop you a note then if it's all right, and fill in for now with details of my next London trip so you won't feel unduly discommoded at the time. I hope. It's actually two trips between 15th-19th June respectively. The first is for a book launch back at Granary Square , just north of King's Cross 15th-16th June. The second for the Society of Authors' summer party in Southwark Cathedral 18th-19th June. I'd booked the one, then decided to go for it and attend the second. London hotel prices are more lethal than Daleks on the rampage so I'll actually be back in Shifnal on the 17th. Yes, I know I'm probably not being very bright, but I didn't want to have to econo...

Dear Juliet Damp dawn gave way to the azure opalescence of a mid-May London day. I reluctantly swapped the rugby shirt for a blue cotton top and cream jeans, made my way to the Society of Authors in Bloomsbury and after Harriet Tyce 's talk, began trying to find ways of creating a photographic memento for you. Anna Ganley (SoA chief executive) gave me a good bit of help and here's the other result: With that, I headed back to my usual haunts on Charing Cross Road and I noticed a first edition of Donna Tartt's The Little Friend in Henry Pordes. I'm back in London 15th-19th June so, if it's still there, I can pick it up if you'd like me to. Yes, I used to love doing this sort of thing for you. Seriously considered going to a showing of The Producers at the Garrick Theatre, but decided it was just too nice a day to stay inside so I wandered round Leicester Square, saw Gene Kelly and bumped into this piece of street graffiti: Also got this shot of The Mousetrap f...

Dear Juliet You're just not going to believe this... Anyway, it was nice to see Heathrow again. Not a lot of people say that, but I suppose for me it's like visiting Spacedock and Dear Miss Landau  (DML) kickstarted a liking for aviation. My father also once told me that there's nothing, absolutely nothing , on Earth as exciting as an operational take-off and it all captures some essence of that time I stole the Enterprise ... I remember bringing her in on a wing and a prayer ... All for the best gal in all the world. Sorry, got a bit emotional there... So, first day in London and don't think I just forgot about you and enjoyed myself. It's like that bit of poetry on p. 148 of DML, the sort of thing sailors read in the long hours of the off-watches, thinking of the girl sitting by the shore while they themselves were far away at sea. I hung about Parliament Square for a while, seeing if I could get the British government to collapse for you, but I'm afraid it a...

Dear Juliet Wildly to paraphrase Oppenheimer, "I am come back, but I am not the destroyer of worlds..." A very quick check with AI confirms that the week 11th-15th May "has been one of the most severe peacetime political crises for an incumbent modern government in modern British history ... and stands as the most rapid loss of authority for a landslide majority government in the democratic era ... The combination of a massive parliamentary rebellion, high-profile Cabinet walkouts, and borrowing costs spiking to a 28-year high for 30-year gilts solidifies this week as a historically disastrous moment for British governance. " Can I cook or can't I? Maybe a few rebellious Democrats could club together for the airfare to bring me over so I can walk around in front of the White House for a couple of days? Who knows might happen? And I also had my bit of luck (more about that later), and I wish you could have been there. And for all I know, our glorious government ...