25 February 2010

OMG. Do Thursday evenings get any more exciting than this??!!

I’ve just discovered that those canny wee devils at my favourite cupcake porn site, Crumbs and Doilies, have a competition running in conjunction with Ollie & Nic to win not only a box of cakes, but a gorgeous little shopper bag…

You have till 14th March to enter.

Knock yourself out I say.
I'll tell you what, the blinking time is just shifting along these days... one minute it was the festive season (which I'm sure I forgot to report on...), then it was My Husband's 40th birthday (which I'm sure I forgot to report on...), then it was Valentine's Day (which I'm sure I forgot to report on...) and bang - we are in March.

What I can tell you though, is that The Brightest Star in the Sky has had me hooked for a week, and despite my desperate dragging it out attempts, I finished it this morning on the way to an appointment in Southampton.

You know what? I didn't get what that bold letter thingymagig was you know, until almost right at the very end... and whilst I only cried the once (a miracle for me with a Marian in my hands) they were right good fat cleansing tears that left me feeling calm and happy.

She has a knack does Ms Keyes. A gift, a knack, whatever you want to call it. But she writes like a dream, creates believable characters, makes you laugh as well as cry and draws you deep into the story till you can't bear to put her books down to go to work, go to bed or go to the dinner table.

66 Star Street is a converted house with 4 flats, and this story intertwines the lives of all the inhabitants - soon to be 40 Katie and her workaholic boyfriend Conall, angry taxi driver Lydia and her Polish flatmates, telephone psychic Jemima and her gardening son Fionn and married couple Maeve and Matt.

And yes, whilst some may argue that so much "life" would never happen in such a small space, and such a small amount of time - I don't care what those people say. They can go to hell on a spacehopper as far as I'm concerned.

By hook or by crook you should get yourself to a shop this weekend and buy yourself a big gold hardback edition of this book, stop off at the supermarket on the way home for a couple of sticky buns and a nice bottle of something pink and fizzy, then whack your slanket on, turn off the phone and the TV, turn up the heating and curl up on the sofa with Marian till Monday. Enjoy.

2 February 2010


Good old New Work. A rather spiffing competition is currently running on our website to win a fabulous weekend to New York, including flights with Air France and three nights at the Hotel on Rivington…. I can’t enter, damn and blast it, but YOU can. Go on. You know you want to!