Summer storms

Wow. Dark sky of hidden sunshine throwing out its rain. And the wind, determined not to be left out, blowing it into a sloping arrows. Love it. Stormy and wild and warm. Very sexy.

Mouse in the mouth

My sister was sitting opposite me. She had her mouth open wide. There was something black inside. Then it moved. It became clear. It was a mouse. A happy mouse, scampering around in her mouth. She was oblivious to it. And then it jumped out and ran off, perfectly happy. My sister didn't scream. Ordinarily she would, but this wasn't an ordinary occasion. It was a dream.

Brassed Off

Good title. I watched the film, 'Brassed Off' last night. I knew it was a good film, but it hit a chord last night, probably because of my mood this week. I wanted to watch something with depth but with an uplifting ending. And I wanted it real. So, 'Brassed Off' it was.

I actually think this should be compulsary viewing in schools instead of any old film near the end of term when films are shown because.....???? I'll leave that one. For now.

I'm from West Yorkshire and the film is set in a mining community in South Yorkshire. I'm not from a mining community, but I 'get' the Yorkshire traits in the characters. It's such a well-written film. Fantastic dialogue capturing the humour. As soon as the film started, I knew it was the right choice. I needed grounding this week and hearing the accents and this grim, familiar, funny humour immediately did that. The way of not giving compliments, or giving them in a way that is not obvious.

And then there is the reality of the miner's strikes and the closing of the pits and how that affects the community. And how important music is when all around is falling apart. In the 1930's big Hollywood musicals were popular because they were the opposite of the hardship of people's lives. Films, theatre, music, arts are the flip side of difficult times. The Colliery Band is what holds the men together when they are losing their jobs. So the bailiffs come and marriages crumble and anger and illness result from paying for striking and working with coal dust. This is our history. And people's lives. And the film works so well because it encompasses these things but with strong, believable characters and honest humour and of course, a little bit of love. Go see.

Love

At the pub after Writers' Group last night, Daliso said that he'd read, heard, found out somewhere that there are five ways people usually show love. We all have our different ways.
1) Words. We tell someone we love them, talk about it.
2) Actions. We do things for the one we love. Do the food shop, wash up...
3) Gifts. Flowers and jewellry and clothes and kittens...
4)Time. We spend time with our loved one. We don't rush off, we don't find something else to do, we're not all the time at work.
5) Touch. We brush our hand over their hair, face, arm, leg, hold hands, cuddle,kiss.

What do I do? What do you do? Daliso said we should try using them all. At once? Is that overkill or complete love? Will think about this. And my characters. What does it show about Lizzy if she does none of these? If Jez is action led? Andrew wants to be touch but his wife hates that? I'm talking about Erosion. So good to be working on this fully now, but also right now, it's the summer holidays and the needs of the many...

Music

I've been listening to Stacey Kent. Jazz sung in french. Sublime.

Big Drum Day, Chorley

As the afternoon wore on, the sun grew stronger and stronger, the sky turned blue and the crowd enjoyed the summer day of dance, drumming, eating, drinking, laughing, clapping, smiling, talking, lying around, meeting and finally leaving, happy and uplifted and thanking Grupo Sambafrique and the council organisers for a wonderful time. Just two photos here of many more.

Titles

'Meeting Coty' came so easily. The next book was going to be 'Leaving Coty' but the emphasis of the book has changed. It is complete in itself, so that title doesn't sound quite right. Or does it? Mmmm. I've had, 'Essence of Coty,' 'To Coty, With Love,' 'Splintered Glass,' 'Choosing Coty,' 'Trusting Coty' and others, many others...

Erosion was easy. The Monster Belt was. So was Jiddy Vardy. Why is this so difficult? I even had 'Loving Coty.'