Updates

Just a quick post to fill you in on how things have been going here at The Octogon. I was camping in Shropshire last weekend so missed my usual slot here on the web, and it seemed like a good time to regroup some thoughts.

We have had some gorgeous weather here in England, warm and sunny. Perfect weather for camping. My lovely friend and her cool sis, who both live in Nottingham, invited me camping to test out their new Bell Tent that they want to take to Bestival in August. We chose Shropshire on my recommendation because it is kind of between Nottingham and Liverpool, and one of the most beautiful and less well known counties in England. I had not visited for about 15 years but used to go quite a lot because it is the place where my favourite author came from...Mary Webb (Precious Bane, Gone to Earth etc). All of her novels were set in the county during the 18th and 19th centuries and you can visit lots of the natural locations that appear in the books. It is one of my favourite places and I have lots of special memories there.

Coincidentally, we were staying near Ludlow and the Ludlow festival was on and we got tickets to see Othello at Ludlow castle on Saturday night. It was brilliant, a real treat. I didn't know what to expect at all. Of course the weather was fantastic, and Ludlow is a lovely old medieval town. The play was full and everyone was dotted about, lounging on the grass inside the walls, having picnics and drinking wine and Pimms in the evening sunshine. The performance took place within the castle walls itself. The set was impressive and the production was really good, very exciting all the way through with excellent performances and direction. A lovely summers evening thing to do and a great location. We have already mentioned going again next year, and we know it has quite a following. The play is not the only thing happening at the festival...click the link above to see for yourself. It was a great weekend.

I am still reading The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I am about a quarter of the way through. Some parts are interesting, then others drag a bit and my concentration wanes so it is slow progress at the mo. I need a good session with it to pick up the motivation again.

Lastly, over at Book Club Girl there is a link to an interesting article in the LA Times about Book Bloggers and their relationship with publishers which I wanted to mention. Click the link to take a look.

Thats where I am at for now. Hope the sun is out where you are!