Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet Thanks for reading my last blog so often. I was exhausted at the time of writing, might have been franker than usual... But it's all true anyway. I think I did see that lost story arc, and I recently (and very carefully) tidied up any grammatical errors in all four of the Dru novellas. In particular,  Spike & Dru : the Graveyard of Empires was moved back in time to the end of 2019 to account for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It does indeed feel like I'm the only person alive to have the restored print of Lawrence of Arabia , and that no one's interested in watching/reading it. Perhaps, like Lawrence, I was the only person who could see how we could metaphorically take Aqaba . However, no one wanted to listen to the ragged rascal who'd just walked out of the Nefud ... But a book (or books) is forever. The Yellow Brick Road is still open. It always was. If any of the remaining cast is interested, the only thing to do is have a full read-through ...

Dear Juliet Just watched that Golden Girls DVD, and it brought back memories of Point Lobos. Amidst everything else, I was able to see the show at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands for the first time in years and in a small way it really helped make the trip. Sadly, Betty White lived in Carmel, wanted to go back there from L.A. for her last days and couldn't manage it. You'll be all right. You'll make it. And if you're thinking of Buffy , although the odds are against us and the situation is grim, I'd say there is a way back if cast and fans club together. I'd just want to check the lost story arc cuts the mustard and stress the necessity of everyone speaking with one voice. The Fargo Farrago plus foreword sums everything up , and oddly enough the thing to remember is that there's no pressure. A book (or in this case, four novellas and a novel) is forever. Fifteen or sixteen years is nothing to it. I occasionally make the point that The Great Gatsby was a failu...

Dear Juliet Just a quick and silly one as I've just woken up! Don't worry, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere (except possibly Cleethorpes), I've cut the hedge and got the photos from the last couple of trips ready to go to this photo lab near Newcastle for printing... Try and find some old and interesting photos for you now... The Natchez in New Orleans, Elvis in El Paso... Girl at the Grand Canyon, Betty Boop on Route 66... Christmas in Needles, cute one of you! I just need to wake up now... Love, James

Dear Juliet I think maybe another wave of grief has come crashing down upon your shore. It'll be all right. I'm listening if you need me. Love, James

Dear Juliet Happy Fourth of July! Here and now, I'm staying off hard politics but, only a few short months ago, I was saying I'd never go Stateside again as Trump was unfairly tightening up ESTA rules: "But (assuming this is it), I'm not going to be jumping with joy not to be going back. Not at all. This will be the sour end of a sweet and soulful thirty-five year relationship between me and the States. One in which I crossed America by Greyhound bus from sea to shining sea, stole the Enterprise in order to meet a Hollywood princess on Sunset Boulevard, saw the view from the Twin Towers, the Empire State and the Willis Tower, walked along the Grand Canyon's rim and wrote like Jack Kerouac while I was on the road. And that was hardly the half of it. I got to like Americans, and to love some of them. I defended you to your detractors and respected your traditions. But I can't square the noble words of your First Amendment with the grubby authoritarianism of your...

Dear Juliet Two appointments today, and unlike the White Rabbit, I have no pocket watch to keep time at bay! So here's a selection of photographs from a visit to the Cecil Beaton exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery last December. Winter's chill had not fallen hard on London, the sky was blue, crisp and bright. I'd been to Henry Pordes and got an early edition of The Man With the Golden Gun , and over a tea and toastie at the Gallery's tearooms, heard that Beaton was the thing to see... He's chiefly famous for the Ascot scene in My Fair Lady , but also visited Hollywood and took shots of the stars:                                                                                                               ...