London - and lunch at the Prospect of Whitby

Well, London. A nasty wet day, but in all other respects a good one. I got down there at noon and met up with Mike outside King’s Cross station. From there it’s a very short walk to St Pancras, where we met up with Humfrey Hunter. No, I didn’t make that up. That’s his name, and he is now our agent. We both agreed that he seemed easy to talk to, and very keen indeed on our project. He’s also young, and relatively new: he’s been in business as a literary agent for six years or so. He’s still hungry. We’ve agreed that Mike and I will aim to get two sample chapters and a synopsis written for the end of May, when I take off to Norway. He will present it to selected publishers, and who knows? Maybe I’ll come back across the North Sea to find a deal set up.

After the meeting I took the Tube across the City to Aldgate and met up with my younger daughter. We splashed or way to Wapping, where we had a drink and a bite  in a 16th-century pub, reputedly the oldest one along the riverside. When I was a young man in London - we’re going back forty-plus years now - The Prospect of Whitby (http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub-food/prospect-of-whitby-wapping/pid-C8166) was a legendary resort. I always meant to get down there, but never did - so, better late than never. The picture at the top of the  page is taken from the beer garden - hurriedly, before I was swept away in a passing squall. Here’s another view across the river (Thames) towards Canary Wharf, from inside - where it was warm and dry. (Note the hangman’s noose to the right.)

Today I have been trying to get on top of this Twitter business and have discovered the marvellous https://bitly.com website, where you can get all those five-foot long URLs trimmed down to something neat and manageable that won’t gobble up the 140 character allowance in the twittersphere. I say I discovered it; no, my good friend and trail-blazer Linda Acaster (http://www.lindaacaster.com/) put me onto it. I have also learned - thanks again, Linda - how to schedule my tweets. And after absorbing that lot I am in need of rest and recuperation.

When I feel this way - overwhelmed by new information - I think back to schooldays, when we’d take in 40 minutes of Latin, then 40 of Physics, have a mid-morning break and go into Geography, followed by History; then lunch, followed by Maths, French and Music. How DID we do it?

Ah, youth… not that I’d give you tuppence for it now.