Very bookish. Had a stall at the Hastings Book Festival Book Fair on Saturday, and did a WI book talk in Eastbourne on Monday. The two novels are currently selling slowly but steadily, and Battleaxe is surprised and pleased by how many people obviously enjoy them. Do read if you have not already done so! It has not been all books though – last week we had our old friends Sue and Alex from Birmingham staying. Unfortunately the weather was dodgy. Now getting geared up for our upcoming holiday in Sicily – but oh dear. We are due to fly into Catania, and Mount Etna is busy erupting. The airport was closed for a long period in August, but then reopened and I thought we’d be OK, but now the volcano is at it again… Then, would you believe, workers in Italy are very prone to striking at the moment – protesting about Mrs Meloni’s government… anyway, here’s Battleaxe at the Book Fair…
People said the Book Fair was fairly quiet, but the stall attracted plenty of interest. I take a lot of trouble to create a ‘poisoned cake’ as a prop. A M&S sponge with icing drizzled over and two knitting needles, like the cover of ‘Death, Deceit and Cake.’ Trouble is, I can never get the icing quite right – it is always a bit thin. But people love the cake…
As well as my books, there was plenty of poetry on the stall – from friends Alex Josephy and Judith Shaw, as well as our Stanza group anthology. Alex, a true gem, came to drop off her books first thing but then stayed to help me until about 12.30… it was great to have her company. Philosopher had disappeared to something in Rye. Quite a jolly time was had by all, chatting to other bookish people and selling the odd book. Had drop-ins from WI friends too, which was nice. Say it as I shouldn’t, more of my books were sold than from other similar stalls – the woman behind us only sold one book. Here are a couple more pics…
Yesterday’s effort was a little different. The Harbour WI is one of the biggest WIs in our region, currently with 85 members. They meet at the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club. Many, many ladies (and yes, they were ladies.., not women) were gathered in a huge room, but spread out – I say spread, because they all sat in little groups at tables…
I thought I’d manage without a microphone. I much prefer prowling about and gesturing etc., but people said they couldn’t hear… and then the PA system was not working properly, so ended up with a hand-held mic on a short wire, trapping me right in the middle of the room, and had to keep turning round and round. Then the mic only worked if you practically swallowed it. More than a a bit technically challenging. Moreover, Battleaxe has always been a left-field sort of WI person, and certainly no sort of lady. Being me has led to all sorts of WI scrapes in the past… I fear in yesterday’s company it all showed… Ah well… I got a few laughs. So be it, I sold quite a few books.
Back to the holiday. Here is Etna erupting, viewed from Giardini Naxos, below Taormina, where we are due to spend our first week. I would dearly love to see an erupting volcano – when we went to Sorrento I spent ages peering hopefully at Vesuvius, hoping to see a wisp of steam, but Etna is in a different league. We have booked a day trip at vast cost to go as far up it as currently possible, but at this rate that will be off. I just hope the damn mountain just shuts up long enough for us to at least fly into Catania… As of now, the airport is supposedly re-opening once again, but for how long? Our flight might be fine, it might be cancelled altogether, or it might be diverted – probably to Palermo. And then the transport strikes—grrr. We are supposed to spend the second half of our holiday on the other side of the island, in first Cefalu, then Palermo. I had initially booked a train to Cefalu, but trains are on strike when we need to travel, so have had to book a private transfer, at even vaster cost… Philosopher and I have debated what to do interminably… so far, am hanging on in there with the bookings, but holiday is starting to feel more trouble than its is worth.
It was lovely to see our old friends. They wanted to go to see the ‘Comrades in Art’ exhibition at the Towner, which we saw a few weeks ago with other friends. It was so good we were happy to go again, and it didn’t disappoint on second viewing. There is so much to see, and it feels so scarily relevant and prescient. Here is the link to the blog post I wrote then – won’t repeat myself. We had lunch up at the Beachy Head Inn – had planned to go walking on the cliffs but it was peeing with rain – the first really wet day we have had. Of course, the rain was welcome, but perhaps not quite then… had to content ourselves with a damp cup of coffee at Birling Gap.
