September 2009

Well, I must say that life feels very different now to three months ago when I posted my last update. I’d just delivered my manuscript then and was about to launch into editing it. Oh, little did I know back then what a long and arduous journey I was about to embark upon! I trimmed seventy five pages from it and touched up the bits that my editor had asked me touch up and I sent it back. A week later I got another set of editing notes. I sighed, I cracked on with it, two weeks later I sent it back, crossed my fingers and waited. Two weeks later I got ANOTHER set of editing notes. Eighteen pages of editing notes. I was paralysed for two weeks. Couldn't open the notes. Couldn’t even think about the notes. Then once I'd opened the notes I couldn't bear to open my manuscript. Then finally, with a week to go before our holiday in Ibiza, I took a deep breath and got on with it. That was a horrible week. Every time I walked past Jascha in his office I would poke my head around the door and hiss; ‘I. HATE. THESE. EDITS.’ then stalk off. But by 4pm on that Friday I’d finished, sent it off, went to Ibiza, tried to forget about it, failed, checked my e-mail every thirty minutes, and then, finally, on our last afternoon, while I sat in the early evening sun by the pool, I got a message from my editor saying that it was ... PERFECT. Oh, thank you God. So yes, it has been a NIGHTMARE, but I can't really complain about the fact that every now and then I have to work, you know, really hard, and get really stressed. I think it is probably in the job description somewhere. Plus the book is now definitely about a million times better than it was all those months ago when I first delivered it so hopefully it will be worth every minute of agony. The semi-official title for the book is AFTER THE PARTY, but that might change. And it’s due out in April. Now that the painful bit’s over, I can’t wait!
Aside from spending three months completely rewriting my book, I have also been busy enjoying one of the best summers ever. It's been a proper summer, hasn't it? With balmy nights and sunny days. I know there were grey patches, but taken as a whole, from beginning to end, I would call it a winner. My summer started with the June heat wave, lots of hanging out in our communal garden, sitting in beer gardens and splashing in the fountain at Swiss Cottage and I ended the heat wave on high note, going to see Blur at Hyde Park with my excellent friend, Sarah.

We kicked off the afternoon with cocktails in Mayfair, then pints in a pub just outside the park, then beer and wine in the park, then more beer and wine in the park, then some chips in a futile attempt to soak up some of the alcohol, and by the time the band took to the stage at around eight o’clock we were both drunk enough to elbow our way through the crowd and into the mosh pit. I have rarely felt as old (or indeed as female) as I did in those moments. I'd naively thought that because I was still relatively young back in the mid-nineties that the crowds would have been made up of golden oldies like myself. Far from it. Average age I'd have put at around twenty three. A man (sorry, boy) drunkenly trying to pee into an empty beer bottle missed completely (hardly surprising) and peed all over my feet. ‘You just peed on my feet,’ I said. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘So what?’
We only lasted a few moments in the front line and then hung back for the rest of the show but we were still very close to the front and the whole performance really was electrifying. It was a perfect balmy summer’s night with the sun setting slowly behind the crowd and I felt really emotional listening to the soundtrack of my late twenties, remembering what it felt like to be young and in love. It really was a highlight of my summer, a night I’ll never forget.

The summer, as ever, was birthday-tastic. Between the end of May and the end of July we celebrated the birthdays of my father (73), my mother-in-law (84), my sister (40), my brother-in-law (38), my other sister (36), my nephew (0!), myself (41), Amelie (6) and my niece (5). Phew!

Sisters! Sacha’s 40th birthday party June 2009	Amelie’s ‘school’ birthday party, Pizza Express, NW3, July 2009
“I made this!” Amelie enjoys the pizza she made earlier at her pizza-making party July 2009	No, I didn't make this Pizza Express, NW3 July 2009
But I did make this! And apparently it was quite good. Amelie’s ‘real’ birthday Home, July 2009	Amelie models her birthday present from my sister Tanya Home, July 2009

I also did a fair bit of hopping about, visiting friends and family in far flung places. We spent a night in Bristol at the beginning of August to see our new nephew, young Archie Samuel who was born on the 11th July. Seb (Jascha’s little brother) is a first time dad at forty and I have rarely seen a grown man quite as besotted as he is with his newborn. It is very sweet indeed.

A few days later I took the girls on the train up to Norfolk for the day to help a friend celebrate her 40th birthday on the beach. We had lunch here and then walked across two miles of hard flat sand under a bright expanse of Norfolk sky towards the sea, a feint grey line on the horizon. There was a ladybird infestation on the beach (yes, really) which bothered NOBODY apart from both my children who spent the whole time we were there clinging on to me and screaming every time another ladybird landed on their laps. Meanwhile everybody else played cricket and went swimming in the icy North Sea waters. But still, ladybirds aside, it was a superb day out and reminded me how much I love north Norfolk and what a good idea day trips to the seaside are. I shall be doing more of them!

Beach-ward bound on the 9.15 from Kings Cross! August 2009	Amelie in the garden at the Victoria in Holkham August 2009
Apparently there is some sea somewhere up there, honestly, just keep heading east Amelie Holkham beach, August 2009	Worth the trek, homemade cupcakes and birthday girl Holkham beach, August 2009
Tousled Holkham beach, August 2009	Windswept Holkham beach, August 2009

The next trip was further north, two nights at my little sister's new house in Lincoln. Yes, a member of my family has MOVED OUT OF LONDON! I'm not sure I've got over the shook, even now. Tanya’s husband is from Preston and they've just set up a new business and it seemed a good time to move closer to his family but not too far from Tanya’s. We arrived literally the day after they moved in. Tanya, unlike myself, is an organisational wonder woman and when we got there all their flat pack furniture was already assembled, teaspoons were in drawers, DVD’s were in cabinets and pictures were hanging from walls. I think there might be some kind of world record to be had. We spent two lovely days exploring her new locale and then jumped back on a train to London where we met Jascha for tea in a gastropub in Primrose Hill, breathing a sigh of relief to be back in dear old London Town.

Oliver outside my sister's new house Lincoln, August 2009	Evie showing off some fancy footwork in garden of my sister's new house Lincoln, August 2009
Evie goes exploring Lincoln, August 2009	Evie and her cousin Joy having breakfast together. Dress code was: pink Lincoln, August 2009
Amelie and her cousin Mia in Tanya’s new local playground Lincoln, August 2009	Sacha, Joy and Mia Lincoln, August 2009

And then we went to IBIZA! My anticipation about this holiday was almost feverish, I was looking forward to it so much that there was every danger that it might have been an anti-climax. But, oh no, it was not. It was paradise, heaven, utopia. It was two weeks of pure bliss. We spent the first week with our friends Zolt and Katy and their little girl Anna in a big villa just inland from the south coast. We read, we cooked, we ate, we drank, we dined out, we went to the beach, we sunbathed, we swam, we slept, we laughed.

Amelie, in the pool, fifteen minutes after arriving at our villa Ibiza, August 2009	Amelie, Evie and Anna having lunch on the terrace Ibiza, August 2009
Playing merry-go-round on the promenade at Sta Eulalia Ibiza, August 2009	Me and Evie on the beach at Cala San Vicente Ibiza, August 2009
The girls doing ‘fairy dancing’ on the beach at Cala San Vicente Ibiza, August 2009	Evie about to take a sunset dip in the pool Ibiza, August 2009

Then Zolt and Katy headed for the coast to spend a week with Zolt’s family, and my sister and her family flew in and we took a villa in the middle of the island where we read, we cooked, we ate, we drank, we dined out, we went to the beach, we sunbathed, we swam, we slept, we laughed. When my sister and her family left the night before us I cried for forty five minutes because I was so sad that our holiday was ending. Silly old sod that I am.

Evie making herself at home in our ‘new’ villa Ibiza, August 2009	Evie and Mia Ibiza, August 2009
Cousins! Dinner at San Miquel Ibiza, August 2009	Spots and Stripes, Amelie and Mia Ibiza, August 2009
Oliver at Amarant Ibiza, August 2009	Mia at Amarant Ibiza, August 2009
All of us at Amarant Ibiza, August 2009	Last few moments in the pool Ibiza, September 2009

And now we’re back in the real world and Amelie is back at school and I am about to start a new book and the mornings are chill and crisp and I have seven pounds to lose and it is dark when I put my children to bed. And next summer is a long, long, long, long time away. But my friend Gabi’s 40th birthday party on Saturday night took the edge off my September blues, for one night, at least. It was 80’s themed and when my cheap nylon mail order Cindy Lauper dress failed to arrive in time I had to improvise and ended up going as a kind of Madonna type affair. I spent half the night oblivious to the fact that my ‘beauty spot’ had smudged across my top lip and looked more like a Hitler ‘tache until somebody very kindly pointed it to me. Gabi and some friends put together an 80’s tribute band for the night and they were fantastic, I have some remarkably talented friends!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that on Tuesday last week I went to number 10 Downing Street – yes, again – for a tea party to celebrate the launch of another Sarah Brown anthology that I contributed to, this one about Grandparents. It's out next week in hardback. Anyway, blasé as I now am about being invited to parties at number 10 Downing Street, I completely forgot about it until the day and then dashed off in leggings and an old smock top without even glancing in the mirror. I love going into Downing Street, in front of all those tourists, through the security hut, past the waiting TV crews and the policeman on the door. For those five minutes I feel like I'm someone very important indeed. I didn't recognise a soul and sat on an armchair eating fairy cakes and sandwiches until my friend Shyama Perera finally arrived with her mother in tow and we circled the party trying to work out who everyone was by matching them up with the contributors’ index in the book. But after an hour I thought, gosh, I'm bored, so I left. Isn't that awful? Bored at Downing Street? Especially as I am pretty certain it is the last time I will ever be invited there. I have a sneaking suspicion that Sarah Brown will no longer be in residence by the time the next anthology comes out...
As for the girls, they are still surprising me and amazing me every single day. Amelie is determined to go on Britain’s Got Talent and is having her first after-school choir class today as I told her that if you want to go on a talent show you have to actually be able to sing. I can't wait to hear how she gets on! She had a mixed summer holiday. She found the first few weeks quite tricky as she refused to go to the crèche at my health club where she usually goes as it was ‘too boring’ so we experimented with a council run play scheme up the road. Amelie and the play scheme did not get along. Cue regular daily calls from the manager for us to come and take her home and emergency bookings at the crèche at the health club! It was all quite stressful and no one was happier than Amelie when we left for Ibiza and two whole weeks of fun and family.

Amelie and Evie being very creative with a cardboard box Home, May 2009	Amelie in facepaint (courtesy of me!) at our annual communal garden party July 2009
Amelie Ibiza, August 2009	Amelie Ibiza, August 2009
Amelie Ibiza, August 2009	Amelie Ibiza, August 2009

Evie is just something else entirely. She shows no signs whatsoever of being two and a bit and looks and behaves exactly like a three year old, occasionally even a four year old. Her grasp of language and the way the world works is remarkably mature. And although she can be shockingly rude (only yesterday she called me a ‘silly old woman’!) she is mainly charm personified, handing out kisses to anyone who asks, waving at passers-by, engaging people in polite conversation like a child from the 1930’s and singing, almost constantly, often in amusing ‘comedy’ voices. I think she makes me laugh more than anyone I know.

Evie caught in flagrante with an admirer Esarn Kheaw restaurant, W12 June 2009	Evie in facepaint (courtesy of Amelie!) at our annual communal garden party July 2009
Evie and her granny Temple Cloud, Bristol July 2009	Evie Lincoln, August 2009
Evie, Sta Eulalia Ibiza, August 2009	Evie Ibiza, August 2009

Well, it is now raining outside, it has been for over two hours. The sky is grey and I am cold. Next time I write it will be Christmas and hopefully by then I’ll have come to terms with the fact that it is NO LONGER SUMMER, but for now I am feeling really rather miffed about it. Also coming up next quarter there will be a half-term jaunt to Devon, six adults, eight children and a beautiful white house on a beach, a book event in Guildford with Adele Parks, Jenny Colgan and Jill Mansell – please come, it’ll be such fun! – and in November I will be giving out prizes at an awards ceremony at my old college which is one of those freakishly unexpected things you get asked to do as writer – if someone had told my eighteen year art student self that one day I'd be asked to come back to present awards, well, I’d have laughed, uproariously, from the toes of my pixie boots to the tips of my peroxide back-combed hair!
Have a great few months, thanks as ever to those of you who've left the fantastic messages in my guestbook and those who've bought my books and I’ll see you back here in December.

Lots and lots of love,

Lisa xxxx

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Previous updates:

• June 2009
• March 2009
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• Lisa's Big US Tour
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