19.4.08

Spring in Shropshire

Well the trampoline is up, Spring seems to be finally, really, here, and my suitcase is almost packed. Yes, I’m abandoning my family to fly off on a hedonistic week in Shropshire. Well, OK; then a week in Shropshire. I don’t really actually know where Shropshire is but I’m flying into Manchester and then getting a train for a couple of hours in the direction of Cardiff. I’m attending a highly-regarded fiction writing course where I will rub shoulders with, and hopefully glean creative writing tips from, prize-winning authors Patrick Neate and Louise Dean.
You see I wouldn’t desert my children, leaving them with nothing but their father, a lovely, conscientious au pair who can drive, pages of instructions and another page of in-case-of-things-not-working-out-according-to-the-instructions telephone numbers, two weeks worth of food AND emergency fish fingers just to go off in search of pleasure - in a place without Internet access or a mobile phone network. Er, not likely! Oh, no. I’m off to learn, write and share a bedroom with a stranger.
Yes, at this very moment there is somebody somewhere in the world whom I have yet to meet, who, come Monday night, will be sleeping alongside me, my earplugs and eye mask. Let’s just hope for my sake that I’m sleeping too.
The course instructions indicate the need for a torch and rain-proof footwear. Thank goodness for those aubergine Hunter wellies I bought. Hopefully I won’t need them but according to the BBC weather site, I might; it looks like Spring is a little bit wet in Shropshire (wherever that is).

12 comments:

slippingthroughtheworld said...

i am sooooo jealous jo. you'll have a great time. think of all the lovely, congeneal dinners at a long table...with wine! and being steeped in all that writing, i know, is fantastic. (i left my children too)

irene x

Group 8 said...

Wow, have a ball! Hope it does wonders for your writing.

Mel said...

That is so great. Time to indulge in something thats just about you! Pity you have to share a room with a stranger....ew. I would pay double just to have a quiet alone space!

I have never seen a trampoline with sides. Then again, SA has never been on the cutting edge of consumerism...

Unknown said...

Irene & WWR, Thank you - wine and doing wonders for my writing sounds like a great mix!
Five-browns - it's the first time I've gone away on my own since 2000so it IS a big deal although the kids don't seem bothered so probably only for me:-) I'd pay double for my own room too but it wasn't an option unfortunately :-( It's only because I really want to move forward with my writing that I'm forcing myself to endure the sleeping arrangement.
The net on the trampoline is for safety obviously, so they don't hop off and land on their heads on the ground. I'm majorly risk averse so will take any safety options offered although there was a kid in Sweden who got fatally tangled up in the safety net last year so maybe the risks aren't always what they seem. The weather is fab today(16C)and they're bouncing away joyously.

Victoria said...

Sounds very exciting! I hope you like your roomie.
Five-browns those types of trampolines are all the rage in Norway, at least if all my neighbors are any indication. pretty clever really.

Jo said...

Enjoy! Cant wait to hear about the room mate - maybe it will be male! LOL.

Unknown said...

Thanks Victoria & Joanne
I hope my room-mate likes ME - and let's not even think about the possibility that it might be male. aargh!
Jo

beaverboosh said...

The first time away since 2000 and you headed to effin Shropshire... good lord... it better be a fantabulastic writing course... we will expect to see a greater volume of fictional content in future blogs!

Unknown said...

BB
I can't blame you for being astounded by my choice of 'getaway'. My husband on the other hand has just come back from two nights away skiing without having to leave one line of instructions for childcare in his absence - I've certainly mucked up the old equality lark in my house.
The Mammy Martyr

Emerging Writer said...

How lovely, Arvon is it? I was there a few years ago. I shared too. It waas fine, nice actually. Heart to hearts in the dark and a great crowd of people. Have a great time

Unknown said...

Yes it's an Arvon course. Heart to hearts in the dark sound nice - I'm just worried about being a really, really light sleeper. Still, a few glasses of wine every night should sort that out :-)

Jane said...

Have a great time. Thanks for dropping by my blog.