Extra Light, Teen Pursuits, and Is Right Laaaaad...

Snow White cleaning the stench
of corruption. Perhaps.

Hey there, April! We're here! Were you ready for guests? OK if we make ourselves at home? Excellent. It's all change in the UK. We've just received an extra hour of daily sunlight, and there are a couple of  Bank Holidays in the offing. Exciting times. In wider seasonal news - and in the vaguest of terms - it's as if there's been a spring clean in some of the murkier crevices of the powers that be. You always hope that corrupt politicians are held to account at some point, but at times it's hard to believe. There's still a long way to go, but oh how satisfying to watch people being forced to confront the consequences of their actions.

Leeza McAuliffe Book One
is here! Catch up on her
antics before Book 2's out.

Writing News

This week, in the never-ending palaver of editing Leeza McAuliffe Book 2, I've been focusing on the dialogue of one particular character - Tom. Leeza's pal, Jake, has a grandad. He pops up now and then, is involved in some plots  and not others, and stays in the background most of the time. But we still hear what he says. I realised that the Tom I'd written towards the end of the book was totally different to the Tom at the start. As I read it back, some of the word choices I used sounded 'not something Tom would say.' I've also decided he needs to call Jake, lad, more often. (Not in the Scouse way - Is right laaaaaad - but in an older, Northern England man, way - Ey up lad. Kinda.) This week has been spent ironing all that out.

A Room With a View

Culture

Succession is back! Hurrah! Taskmaster is back! Huzzah! Both shows I hoovered up, binged, and repeated through the lockdown years. I've also been reliving my teens and working my way through some Merchant Ivory films. Specifically the adaptations of the E.M Forster novels, A Room With a View, Howard's End, and Maurice. What? Your teen years were different? It takes all sorts, I suppose. If I have one regret - which would be a waste of time to even contemplate - it's that in all my days of English Lit, I never studied E.M Forster. As I said, it takes all sorts. Either way, a few happy evenings have been spent wallowing in cinematic beauty.

Here's my pimped-up
hummus. The one I
make is from this recipe.
(FYI I use a fraction
of the olive oil.)

Food and Drink

What with the extra hour of daylight and a (sometimes) dry, bright, vibe outdoors, my food has gone all Mediterranean. Loads of cubed salad veggies, home made hummus, and pittas. There's even been talk of whacking on the BBQ. More 

news as we have it. 

Calderstones Park looking
stunning at 5.30pm.

Out and About

The extra hour may well signal the slow descent into sweltering hell but it's not all bad. I often feel like a walk after I've been sitting at my laptop for hours. In the winter, that's when it's dark. Without the security of straight male privilege in my back pocket, I have to gamble. Do I take a stroll or become a crime statistic? Over time, the odds aren't great so I tend to stay inside. But now? Now I get to walk in the park around the 5-6pm mark. It's glorious. My achy back is grateful.

So how are you using the extra hour of light? Frolicking in the meadows? Running amok? Cracking on as per? There are no wrong answers. You do you, and I'll see you back here next week.

Have a lovely week, folks.