And Now The Weather, By Lothian Buses

Image: RichardWalter

The rain is back. Summer is over. I knew it was raining heavily because Lothian Buses were running late yesterday morning; the two often go hand in hand. I could feel the waves of precipitation soaking through my jacket, running down my head and under my shirt while I was waiting for the bus to show up. It was all so bloody typical.

The Papal visit next Thursday isn’t half causing disruption across Scotland. Road closures, diversions, company memos, restricted pedestrian movement, alterations to bird migration schedules, bee lines bent, ant hills shuttered, the list is endless. Even our departmental Pie and a Pint has had to be rescheduled (that’s my real complaint). How come we are able to ferry Her Majesty The Queen around the country without so much as a blip but when this guy comes to town we’re all second best and five million of us have to change our daily patterns?

If he was to publicly apologise for all the sexual abuse dished out at the hands of so many of his Priests on innocent children, then I might consider it to be all worth it. But he won’t so I don’t. Personally, I find the whole thing quite offensive; I mean do they really think we all want to kill the bloke and have to go to such lengths to keep us away from him? And if so, why then visit in the first place?

One problem in the wake of my writings on the book festival is that some days I start to struggle to keep up an interesting blog. Hopefully you’ll have found that last paragraph quite entertaining because you might find that what’s about to come is as boring as a snail on dope at a Radiohead gig.

I was researching Podcasting software over my lunch break and it turns out I already have the software I need! All I have to get is a decent mini-microphone like the one used on me during the book festival for my interview and then I’ll be set. I’ll be able to record, edit, mix and publish to my heart’s content. What’s that? You never heard my interview? Press the arrow button on the wee blue thingy below then to hear it—best to probably turn up your PC speakers about now, too.

http://boos.audioboo.fm/swf/fullsize_player.swf

It had stopped raining when I left work, which was good.

Back home I knew I had to get the next issue of the Ranfurly Review out onto the “cyber shelves” so I got to work on that as soon as I got home. I hurried it (it’s mostly done now other than the front cover) because I’ve also got myself really involved with the polishing of the GREENER IS THE GRASS novella. It’s sat about for too long now and it will be a boost and a half if I can put a tick on my GDR within the first month.

That aside, I also reviewed all my current short fiction for suitability for submission as well as starting to wade through the pile of poetry I wrote written between January 2009 and July 2010,. I’m editing as I go but also looking for themes and trends I can use to develop a new chapbook.

That done, I also had to prepare my contribution to the cancer charity anthology I was asked to be involved with. I’ve gt a couple of good ideas for that.

All in all, it turned into quite a busy day.

Peace out!