- I am delighted to be one of 17 debut authors short-listed for the Joan Hessayon prize – awarded by the Romantic Novelists Association for new writers who go through their New Writers’ Scheme. It means a trip into London on May 22nd when the winner will be announced. Of course it also means a new dress – come on, I might have to have my photo taken – I can surely justify a dress? And shoes?
- Dorset Knobs do exist. We thought our friends were having us on, but last weekend they proudly gave us a tin of Dorset Knobs. If I’m honest, we were slightly disappointed – stale bread in the shape of, well, a knob I suppose. There is also a Dorset Knob throwing competition, where you get to throw the little blighters. It’s on this weekend if you fancy it, but if you go make sure you wear a hard hat. I bet when they’re thrown they can make quite a missile.
- My son’s answers are right and the exam board’s answers are wrong. Of course that isn’t the case, but you try telling my very stubborn teenager that. He has his first GSCE in a couple of weeks and marking his practice papers is like negotiating world peace. I can only keep my fingers crossed for him – he’s either a genius or this exam will go horribly wrong…
- If you’re buying airline tickets on line, clearing your cookies may get you cheaper flights. My son learnt this at school, as apparently the company know you’re interested in the flights so they sneak the prices up a little. A very quick internet search shows conflicting information on this, but there is probably no harm in deleting them, just in case. And perhaps bringing yourself a mug of tea and some real cookies when you do your booking, because buying flights on-line, in my experience, is a tedious task. Matching times, dates, availability, price…yes, pass me a cookie.