Tuesday Oct 10th Manchester
Frustrating day. I was due to speak at a school in Macclesfield, on the subject of TAMEZIN , the teenage magazine written by and for girls (excellent project: TAMEZIN, 1 Chelsea Embankment London SW3 - send SAE for a sample copy). I had been told I would be met at my destination, so on arrival at Manchester Picadilly I expected to see some one....but no. After a longish wait, and getting anxious, I started making phone calls....it finally transpired that I had been expected to arrive at Macclesfield.....but my train had not even stopped there, and my (pre-arranged) ticket was for Manchester only......well, these things happen. What is really quite extraordinary is that the girl who had been sent to meet turned out to be the one person on earth who could cope......she gives courses in creative writing! So , having discovered the mix-up, and realising that I just wasn't going to make it, she simply went to the school and did a workshop for them!! The teacher, who had been very very cross at the disintegration of the afternoon - it had been prsented to the girls as a special feature, and the Tamezin team have been at this school before and it had all been a great success etc etc - was thrilled and all went well! When we finally met up, we were both able to laugh over it....extraordinary and ridiculous day.

So now I'm in Manchester, staying overnight but having achieved precisely nothing. Fortunately I have access to a computer so will simply get on with some work here. Have already tackled e-mails and I have a feature to write for an American paper which has been slowly collecting itself in my brain......