Back into the Thick of Things....

My holiday in the Netherlands was as good as it gets - that is, it lasted for as long as it lasted. Finally, I had time to think and write. Lovely meandering about the country lanes and cycleways on my bike. It's the perfect country for that kind of thing. 

But now I'm revving up, motorbike style, for poetry readings, storytelling events, weddings, namings and funerals and just about everything that is thrown my way. I'm still cycling. I live in a rural area, so I can escape for a few moments into peaceful backwaters and enjoy the wheat harvest.
Nowhere have I seen poppies and cornflowers like this though. This field left me gasping. I nearly fell off my bike! I'm sorry to say English potholes are having that effect now. How sad we haven't the infrastructure that the Netherlands seems to be able to produce and maintain.

Do come along to this reading at my favourite bookshop if you're in the vicinity. George Szirtes is a tremendous poet and it is a great privilege to be reading with him. Sadly, Sarah Maitland Parks can't make it now, but we have the wonderful Louise Larchbourne standing in at the last minute. This is a tiny bookshop, so get there early for a comfortable seat. It's bound to be packed.