Apologies for the gratuitous selfie, but I was feeling very pleased with myself on this particular evening. Not just that I'd been along to the Mass Book Launch at the Society of Childrens Books Writers and Illustratators conference in Winchester to celebrate along with lots of other lovely authors the publication of our books this year, but also (1) that I actually made it back to my bed and breakfast after the day of talks to get changed in the evening. I was staying in a village pub only a few miles outside Winchester, but what with the dark, the unfamiliar terrain, the country lanes and an uncrossable motorway, a journey that should have taken me ten minutes took more like an hour, and I was seriously considering sleeping in the car in a lay-bye or turning around and driving home to Cambridge before, at last, I escaped Hampshire's answer to the Bermuda Triangle and somehow stumbled upon the place again. (2) By now the two hours that I'd been lining up for something to eat, a little sit down, shower, hair wash, make-up etc, before going back to Winchester for the party, was little more than twenty frazzled minutes. So I was mighty thankful that against all odds a speedy attack of the curling wand on not entirely squeaky clean hair produced exactly the hair-do effect I was going for, and which I have consistently failed to achieve either before or since. I had to take a photo as evidence. Shame I didn't have time to remove the sky blue nail varnish, which was not colour co-ordinated with my outfit in any way. I played safe and took a taxi back into Winchester to avoid any further driving related incompetence, and had a lovely evening.
