Lots to Say Today

Went down to the wonderful Mr B's Bookshop in town yesterday evening to a session organised by Alex and Jude of Writing Events Bath  about "Using Social Media to find a Publisher". Not sure I am looking for a publisher (although always open to discussions!). I have been using social media to publicise this blog every day, so thought it would be interesting to go along and hear what was said. On the way upstairs, I was pleased  to see once again the wonderfully decorated wall of TinTin - mainly Red Rackham's Treasure (this one's for Greg!)

The session was run by Andy Hamilton (AKA "The Other Andy Hamilton), author of "Booze for Free" who describes himself on Twitter as a foraging/brewing teacher/write occasional broadcaster, and co-founder of self sufficientish.com. He ran a very enjoyable and informative session for an audience ranging from people who had no knowledge of Twitter and Facebook through to the more geeky.  We did writing exercises and heard how he got a publisher on the strength of the number of page-views for his blog. He very kindly posed for this blog with a glass of red wine during our break.

Thankfully it wasn't raining when I came out so I was able to wander back up the hill and enjoy Bath in twilight conditions.  I thought that the Circus looked stunning last night, but the iPhone doesn't always catch what I see…

You find out lots by strolling about. I had no idea when the Olympic Torch was coming through Bath, and now I know that I won't be in town to miss it. Instead we'll miss it from Greece, where we will be for all of May. Our house sitters are looking forward to enjoying this and other Bath events in May, so they will fly the flag on our behalf. Well, somebody has to help keep their economy afloat, and it is my duty as a recovering academic to pitch in!

You also notice bits of architecture and building decoration walking around at different times of day. I've walked past this door many times, but never noticed the pretty stained glass work before.

Nearly at the highest point of my walk - at the top of the steep path up from Perfect View. A great combination of street light, the last of the day, and brooding clouds.

Inspired by last night's session, I went on Twitter this morning to follow Andy and Alex & Jude.  Maybe it is because of that, but page-views of the blog have been running higher than the recent daily average. Let's see what happens when I publicise this post… This morning, when I came down to make breakfast, one of our neighbours' five Russian Blue cats was on the kitchen windowsill to greet me.

Spent some of the morning trying to figure out why the fridge in our camper van isn't working, but pretty soon reached the (admittedly slight) limits of my expertise in the matter. Have given in and arranged to have the fridge, stove and heater all serviced before we take off in June. Also spent some time thinking about what else we need to do before we go to Greece next Wednesday.  Starting to get really excited at the prospect of having four whole weeks there. This was better than looking out of the window at the drought rain. Gave in eventually, and put Bella's raincoat ready for our walk. Miraculously, when we got out of the door it stopped raining, and stayed that way all the time we were out. Walked past this bus stop, which is on one of Bath's new Showcase Bus Routes. Can't you tell?:-)

Not the most obvious place to put a traffic cone…

We walked up Perfect View and enjoyed the fading charms of some old tagging and graffiti.

The pallete for the sky was grey and grey - but very dramatic.

I guess the capture cars aren't as covert as they used to be before this notice went up. There was only one car parked on this street at the time, so I didn't know what to make of that!

This bollard has seen better days - all its reflectors have even fallen out.

Despite the soggy conditions, there has been a lot of grass mowing going on today - but selectively, for example around this telegraph pole, and along the edges of paths. 

The weather has also brought down lots more blossom.

But there  is still plenty left on these trees

Our clematis at the front of the house is starting to come into bloom. Let's hope we see our lilac come out before we fly away.

This day a year ago, it was our last day on Symi . Hard to believe that the time had flown by so quickly. We celebrated with a walk to Nimborio, seeing four dolphins swimming across the mouth of the harbour on the way. On the way back we stopped and enjoyed this view and talked about how we might change our lives with my impending retirement. We are still talking, but having all of May in Greece (rather than my annual descent into marking hell) is one obvious difference to last year!