• Saturday 03 September 2005

did i miss a week or something?
It seems like only yesterday that I updated this blog, but it appears that almost an entire fortnight has passed me by since I last checked in to the great digital sever in hyperspace.
As reported last time, though, it's good news as this means I've been finishing up the post-production on the soon-to-hit-the-shops Strangehaven #18 and Strangehaven: Conspiracies trade paperback. That means irritating things like liasing with distributors and printers, and mail-merging subscription labels (incidentally, Mr. Gates, the record filter in the latest version of MS Word doesn't bloody work).

a gathering of the tribe
Another huge chunk of the past days have been spent organising a day to play host to the annual Millidge clan gathering. It's something I've rather deftly avoided having to do over the past few years, thanks to urgent publishing deadlines and having the builders in and suchlike. But there was to be no more avoidance and Mandy and I duly stepped up to the plate.
It's an event instigated by my two elder sisters, Pam and Brenda, following the death of my mother, Joyce, some eight years ago, in an effort to keep the immediate family in contact with each other. After attending my Aunt Doll's funeral a couple of weeks ago, it can be that families only gather at weddings, christenings and, with increasing frequency as you get older, funerals, so it seems a proper thing to do.
Thankfully, it was another beautiful summer's day (of which there have been many, despite the rather patchy weather in general) and my two sisters, brother David, their spouses and Mandy and I all sat in the garden at Abiogenesis Towers, eating and drinking until it got dark and we all started getting bitten by mosquitoes.
The food was fantastic, delivered by Waitrose fresh that morning, and Mandy and I played the perfect hosts. But of course, it wasn't quite that simple.
A few days before, our puppy bulldog Babs came into her first season - keeping the house clean and tidy with two dogs in the house is not easy anyway, without the random daubing of canine menstrual liquids - and the day prior to the arrival of our guests progressed to being "on heat." Meaning that, even our castrated whippet founds Babs entirely irresistible and the young lovers had to be kept apart at all times. They did however, find ample opportunity to entertain my folks on many occasions during the day.
Two days prior to the gathering I myself added to the general stress levels of the house by opting to enjoy an entire day in bed, thanks to a full-blown migraine (the intensity of which I have managed to avoid for a couple of years now), throwing up on the hour, every hour, sleeping and talking gibberish in between. Which meant that I had to squeeze in two days' worth of essential preparation (like polishing the inside of the toaster and rolling the lawn to approximate the Union flag) into one day. Only the 176-page blueline for Strangehaven: Conspiracies turned up via Fed Ex first thing in the morning, all which had to be proofed and approved immediately.
Actually, it could have been worse. Arriving home with garden furniture borrowed for the day from Mandy's parents the evening before the Millidge get-together, it was apparent that three-quarters of the neighbourhood were without electricity. The street lamps were out and so was every house up to and including our next-door neighbour's. All thanks to some emergency work at the top of our road. Luckily we were OK, but blood runs cold when you think that the fridge and cookers might be rendered non-functional for the duration. The street lamps were still dark when Mandy and went to be that night.

• The week before last's bittersweet memories

the last fortnight's fun ...

movies
The Girl Next Door [2004]
Secret Window [2004]
Blow [2001]
Suzie Gold [2004]

novel
Voice of the Fire [Alan Moore]

comic
Ferro City #1 [Image]

footie
Spurs 0 v Chelsea 2
Chelsea 4 v WBA 0

cricket
The Fourth Ashes Test
England v Australia [Trent Bridge]

blog archive
week ending :
21 August 2005
14 August 2005
07 August 2005
31 July 2005
24 July 2005
17 July 2005
10 July 2005