Demob happy

Troubadour went off electronically last night. Just as well, since my non-colour printer has decided to go on strike. It will limp through 30 or so pages then halt and say "no job printing" which is pretty insulting.

I have been working flat out to finish,so have not done much else. But I've learned a new skill - how to use Document Map - which is so fantastically useful I shall never write or submit in any other form.

I read four books published in the US by Penguin - Peeled by Joan Bauer, who is a great favourite of mine, Savvy, which is a first book by a new writer, and one called Antsy does time and another called Paper Towns. It was a relief to read something I didn't have to judge for a change! And I enjoyed all these.

Today I've bought some holiday reading - Dissolution by C.J. Sansom, who is an author Adele Geras is always urging me to try, Bill Bryson on Shakespeare, Anne Enright's The Gathering and A Florentine Death by the man who used to be head of police in Florence. (I should really be reading that one in Italian).

I heard Turangalila by Messaien in Birmingham, played by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Ivan Volkov. It was the day I finished Troubadour (though it's taken a further week to revise)so perfect. And a stunning performance, badly attended. It was our first trip to Birmingham's Symphony Hall and we were very impressed by the acoustics. There'll be another Turangalila at the proms and 2 more Messaien concerts there too.

I'm now really looking forward to the holiday - Siena, here I come!