Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?

Up to Buckingham Palace, to get soaked with the Queen!

According to the Daily Mail, the rainfall in London on 7th July, 2009, was the heaviest since records began. Something like an inch of rain fell in just under ten minutes. The guests, at Buckingham Palace for The Queen's Royal Garden Party, experienced one-off weather conditions including a bible-black sky, whipping gales, thunder, lightning, tropical downpours and hail the size of marbles. As the thousands of guests fled to the people's marquee, the royal lawns filled up with water. The wind was so furious, it blew the rain 12 feet into the marquee itself, wetting the well-dressed assembled.

And the funny thing is, my Master and Mistress were there! At one point, someone said they thought it was the beginning of the end of the world. Somewhat melodramatic, perhaps, but all that was needed was a plague of rats...to convince the non-believers.

As you can see from the daily mail photos above, many guests fled during a break in the floods towards Buckingham Palace, only for the skies to open once again and drenching everyone whether they had an umbrella or not. He and She were in that melee.

Eventually, the Garden Party was abandoned, though the band played on for a long time, and He and She were allowed into the Palace through the Diplomats' and VIPs entrance, where they rubbed wet shoulders with the great and the good: foreign royals and dignitaries, Ladies and Earls and Dukes, Barons and Baronesses. You see - nature has a habit of making everyone equal, even if it is only for half an hour. When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman? As the medieval rebel, John Ball once said.

Having said that, the Queen looked resplendent in green, before the heavens opened. Prince Philip looked shorter than he does on TV. Prince Andrew seemed preoccupied and hungry. The Yeomen of the Guard (not supposed to call them beeefeaters) marched to and fro...the plebeians gathered in a big circle to watch the royals have tea. All very odd, if you ask me. Though the sandwiches and cake sounded very nice.

To crown proceedings, he and She walked in their soaked shoes back to Victoria Station which was closed because of flooding. They stood in water for another hour, then queued in the station for another hour.

But was it all worth it? You bet! There has never been a Royal Garden Party quite like this before at Buckingham Palace, and it is unlikely to happen quite like this again either.

God Save the Village Green, as Ray Davies might say.

Woof,

Tom

Remember: dogs and overheated cars do not go

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090702/tuk-police-dogs-die-in-hot-parked-car-6323e80.html

Do not leave your dog, pet or otherwise, in an overheated car this summer. It really doesn't take long for a dog to die from heat exhaustion and dehydyration, let alone the hideous anxiety leading up to these...so, please, please, be careful with your dogs (or any other animal on scorching days like these).

Tom

What the fuss is all about

A Portrait of the Arsonist as a Young Man by AndrewMcGuinness

Well, it has all been quite exciting, re: a Portrait of the Arsonist.
I'm receiving lots of emails about the novel - some of them know my Master, others are strangers - all saying how enjoyable and different the book is. Someone wrote to me the other day saying that although the novel deals with some very big life issues and complex characters and themes, it only took her two days to complete the book, and she was takingit on holiday with her to read it again, to fully appreciate the ending! She had come across the book on Scribd (see above), had read the opening 50+ pages, then ordered a "real" i.e. hard copy on-line. I'm no size queen, she wrote, but it's a big book, in all the ways...

Thanks, "Miss Anonymouse" whoever you are. Very kind of you, and I'll try to pass it on to my Master today (for some reason, every time I try to tell Him something, He tells me to ssshhh).

Woof,
Tom

Birthdays and funerals

Well, it has been a strange week, all in all, and I'm not even talking about the unexpected death of pop icon, Michael Jackson. My Master attended the funeral of an uncle who died way too young. May he rest in peace now. They played Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water at the service, which was one of His favourite songs.

Only a few days before, my Master was gadding about in Muswell Hill, attending a friend's 50th Birthday Party. It was a fantastic night: marquee, music, huge amounts of food and wine. He met lots of brilliant, talented people too, including a famous BBC TV Breakfast News presenter. Oh, it must be hard mixing with the great and the good so often. Rumour has it that He and She will meet the Queen next month, at Buckingham Palace! Really, I'm not kidding. I don't think they are going to be knighted or anything though.

Until later,

xx,
Tom

Master and the Sugababes

Well, here's the recent article about my Master and His debut novel in the Kentish Gazette. Today's publication. In my opinion, it's a very interesting piece but the photo is not really a good likeness (He'll be pleased to know I've said).. He will also be pleased to know that He shares this week's newspaper coverage with Orlando Bloom (World Famous -and Canterbury- Film Star), and the Sugababes (who will be performing live at Canterbury next week!)

Woof woof,

Tom

How the reading event went...

Pretty well, so I've been told. My Master met two very interesting writers who were also giving a reading from their novels: Roopa Farooki and Amanda Smyth. Roopa writes cosmopolitan, multicultural, family-based stories not unlike Zadie Smith. Her latest book is called How the World Looks to Me ; Amanda has just written a book set in Trinidad-Tobago called Black Rock. Her novel has been endorsed by the legendary Ali Smith and apparently resembles Jean Rhys's style (blimey, there are a lot of Smiths in this blog entry!).



Anyway, check out Roopa's website for more details: http://www.roopafarooki.com/



And Serpent's Tail for Amanda:http://www.serpentstail.com/author_bio?id=10602

One of the practical things my Master discovered whilst talking with these two great writers was that they can both "touch-type"! Andrew, alas, is more old-fashioned i.e. He writes everything in long hand, then painfully index-finger types!

The event was a triumph - the students studying for their MA in Prose Fiction at Canterbury Christ Church University were engaged, and engaging. One student in particular asked a very interesting question about a Portrait of the Arsonist: Does Ben Tippet represent what's wrong with our 21st century world? Or words to that effect.

Answer this question in no more than than 100 words and win a soon-to-be "classic" Portait of the Arsonist as a Young Man full-sized giant poster, signed by me and Him.

Tom

A lean, mean publishing machine...

This isn't shameless self-promotion...(well it kind of is and isn't)just wanted to let you know that my Master's publisher is offering a great deal to anyone who buys a book from their website:

http://www.bluechrome.co.uk/store/shop/

Buy from bluechrome and they promise to send you another bluechrome book entirely FREE. There's also something to do with stamps or postal orders...but I think it's the free book that's the real carrot in this beneficial exchange...and no stick either. If that makes sense? Though I very much like both sticks and carrots. Diced, whole, thrown, makes no difference.

Seriously though, it's fantastic to see a brave indie publisher coming out of the corner of the boxing ring with their gloves wiped down and held high after taking some serious body blows in previous rounds. Ding-ding round 48! Not Bugner, but Ali.

I don't know what's happening to me this morning...old cliches abounding! Must be all the excitement from my Master getting in last night fresh from his interviews with BBC Kent in the evening, preceded by The Kentish Gazette in the afternoon. Charming, interesting interviewers, my Master says. So thank you to Richard and Dan (c/o BBC) and Alex from the Gazette. Richard and Dan are natural -born comedians, and Alex is an expert in many languages, including Russian. So there.

Features from these two interviews will be published/aired over the coming few weeks. Maybe even next week for the Gazette...watch this space...

Tom