Are We There Yet?

I’m sure I’m not the only one who uttered these words as a child from the back seat of the car on long journeys? Words repeated by my own offspring when they were young children. They just seemed an appropriate caption to the photograph of me with Quin, our son’s dog as we headed to Brighton last Tuesday… more on that later.

But they also have a different meaning in my blog this month. In January, I met up with an old friend from my dancing days and her husband who Chris and I hadn’t seen for years. It was so nice to reconnect and make tentative plans for our next meet up. I received a message from my friend on Easter Sunday to say that her husband had passed away. To say I was shocked doesn’t come close to my actual feelings. What it did do was alter my plans for spending all day Easter Monday at my writing desk in an attempt to meet my next book deadline. Instead, I messaged my own children and invited them over to spend the afternoon and evening with us feasting on lasagne and chocolate Easter eggs. So ‘are we there yet’ is also a reminder that life itself is a journey which we should make time to enjoy rather than rushing for the finish line. My next book will get finished but, thanks to a very tolerant and understanding editor it will be a couple of weeks later than planned. My thoughts are with anyone who is going through the same devastating experience as my friend.

On to some rather happier news now. My son proposed to his girlfriend whilst they were away on holiday, and I’m delighted to report that she said ‘yes’! They were in the Maldives, a trip which had been postponed for a year due to the pandemic so a perfect romantic setting.

The initial plan had been to pop the question on a sunset cruise, but the thought of the gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring slipping from his grasp and disappearing into the depths of the ocean helped him decide on a candlelit beach dinner setting instead. I know not all mothers get on with their prospective daughter-in-law but that is certainly not true of us. In fact, with or without an engagement and/or wedding ring on her finger she is already a much-loved member of our family. As is Quin, their dog.

I think I might have mentioned that we were pet sitting both Wilfie (their cat) and Quin while they were on holiday. It actually went much smoother than we had anticipated, and I think they may have left as better friends than when they arrived!

We were asked to pet sit Quin again last Tuesday, which happened to be the tenth anniversary of the confirmation that I have Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. We have celebrated each 26^th April since that day in 2012 as another year that I’ve survived and mostly with a day trip to Brighton as we did on the first anniversary. The last two years it hasn’t been possible because of the pandemic so we decided to go anyway and take Quin with us. It meant we couldn’t go on the Palace Pier as we normally would, but neither of us was too fussed to be honest.

Quin was as good as gold apart from eating a shell while we were walking on the beach and his day out must have worn him out as he was extremely well behaved when we all gathered at The Seahorse restaurant near Guildford for a family dinner in the evening. I’m hoping there will be many more celebrations on 26^th April in the years ahead.

Actually, mentioning the Palace Pier in Brighton (there’s a certain irony in the name as Brighton and my team, Crystal Palace are fierce rivals on the football pitch) it’s reminded me that it’s only a fortnight since my son, Dan and I made the trip to Wembley to watch Palace take on Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. Sadly, we lost despite the tremendous support of the fans AKA the ‘red n blue army’! Although I was sad not to reach the final, there was one good thing about it… let me explain.

Earlier this year, my friend Denise who I’ve known for almost forty years since we were in The Price is Right together (she is on the far left of this photo and I’m far right) said they were going on holiday to Barbados and hinted that we might like to join them. We’d already booked our recent holiday to Mauritius but, as we hadn’t been abroad for over two years and it had been quite a two years health-wise, we decided to go. The thing is, I never gave a thought to the FA Cup Final date as Palace have been knocked out in the early stages for the past few years. Imagine my horror when I realised that IF Palace beat Chelsea we would be away…. except, we wouldn’t have been because I would have changed the flights – I’m not joking.

Much as I love my friend, there is no way I would have missed the chance to cheer them on in an FA Cup Final. Here’s the really funny bit though, Denise’s boyfriend, Steve is a Chelsea fan! He is happy to watch from a distance, at least that’s what Denise has told him!

So, we’ll be going back to Barbados the setting for some scenes in If He Really Loved Me, the second book in the Liberty Sands trilogy. And while on the subject of my books, I’m delighted to say that Little Girl Missing, book 1 in the Rachel Hart crime thriller series has been chosen to be part of the Kindle Monthly Deal for May so is currently under half price.

I had the opportunity to talk about all my books and my path to publication at The Birchington Literary Festival yesterday. It was great to catch up with my former QVC colleague, now BBC Radio Kent presenter Anna Cookson and another fellow author, Eleanor Ray.

My ‘In Conversation With’ was hosted by Karen Beynon who made the whole experience, my first as a guest speaker at a literary festival, very relaxed.

It was also lovely to chat to book lovers, particularly Sally who got herself five of my books… she’s going to be kept busy for a while.

Well, the prize for this month’s competition is a gorgeous Matthew Williamson notebook and your choice of one of my novels (please state which you’d like if you’re randomly selected as the winner when you enter).

I was at Birchington Literary Festival near Margate yesterday.

Which county is Birchington in?

1. Surrey
2. Essex
3. Kent  

Leave your answer in a comment below before midnight next Monday 9^th May, and I’ll notify the winner and hopefully get the books posted off before I go away – UK only I’m afraid.

Just before I finish, Chris and I decided to pay a visit to Margate, a couple of miles from Birchington for a walk by the beach before heading home. Chris had spent a summer season at The Winter Gardens as a member of comedian, Jim Davidson’s backing band around forty years ago. Funnily enough, Chris and two of the other band members rented a bungalow in Birchington for duration and we had a little drive past on the way into Margate for old times’ sake.

Although we both remembered the approximate location of The Winter Gardens, we couldn’t see it from the road, so we parked up and went in search. I kind of wish we hadn’t. How could this theatre have been allowed to fall into such disrepair? I hope someone with deep pockets will buy it and restore it to its former glory before another piece of history is lost forever.

That’s all from me for now

Much love

Julia xx