A Meetcute Meltdown!

On Friday, fellow author and best friend Jessica Redland and I headed off on a road trip. There are few things we relish more than jumping into a car and driving off on an adventure - usually to stay in a hotel, meet friends old or new, and attend some event or other.

This time we were travelling down to Elstree to the Meetcute Festival organised by author Andi Michael Forsythe. The festival was taking place on a glamping site, and there was the opportunity to stay in one of the glamping pods, but like many of the people we knew, Jessica and I had decided to stay in a Premier Inn.

At 8.45 that morning, The Husband drove me to a car park near the Humber Bridge, where Jessica was meeting me. Luggage loaded in the car, I waved goodbye to my poor, forlorn hubby, and set off on an adventure.

Before we went to Elstree, though, we were making a detour to Leicester, where we were meeting up with the Belmont Belles and Beaux and joining them for lunch. The Belles and Beaux are a group of RNA writers, organised by Lizzie Lamb, and they meet regularly throughout the year with a break for the summer. We were lucky to be invited to join them for lunch at their last meeting before the summer break, and were delighted to accept - particularly as our friend, Joy Wood, was also going to be attending as a guest.

It was great to catch up with old friends like Lizzie, Madalyn Morgan, Ros Rendle and Jane Parkes, and to meet my Facebook friends, Astrid Bennett Claas, Lilian Butterwick, and Patricia M Osborne (‘call me Tricia’). Astrid helped me with the German terms of endearment I needed in Loving spirits at the Vintage Teashop, so I was pleased to be able to give her a signed copy of the book as a thank you.

After lunch it was time to be on our way.

Now, it really wouldn't be one of our road trips if we didn't go a little astray, and somehow we managed to take the wrong turning and ended up entering London itself during rush hour! Yikes!

Jessica was very impressive and said lots of things like, "Oh flip" and "Dearie me" before getting us back on track. I have to admit I enjoyed the ride, and getting to see parts of London I never would otherwise. Have to say, though, there were some very rude and impatient drivers!

Anyway, we arrived at the hotel in good time and - after waiting until the thoughtful man at the desk found us rooms on the same floor (his suggestion, not ours!) - unpacked and changed before meeting up with our friends Jennifer Page and Melanie Taylor in the lobby. We had booked a table in a Turkish restaurant in nearby Potters Bar for tea - or dinner if you're that way inclined.

Now, I can’t say the food was five-star, and if we’d been sitting one table away we’d have been drenched by a leaking air conditioning unit, but the service was good and the restaurant (apart from the shower) was lovely, and we had a great chat and a nice evening, so it didn’t matter much.

While Jen and Mel skipped off to the bar in our hotel, it was an early night for me, and for Jessica, as we were both shattered. The next morning we were up bright and early. We skipped breakfast and drove to a local Tesco to get a sandwich and drinks to take with us to the festival.

Of course, it wasn’t that straightforward, and we did have to go round a roundabout as we’d missed the entrance, but that was the SatNav lady again. I don’t think she liked the London area much. I reckon she missed the north, and who can blame her?

Crikey, southern drivers beep their horns a lot! So impatient! And not just at us - they were blasting at each other left, right and centre. Even the supermarket car park had traffic lights. I’ve never seen such a thing! With apologies to all you lovely drivers in the London area, all I can say to the rest of you is, ‘Wow, chill out!’

Anyway, the supermarket was right next door to the BBC Elstree Studios which was exciting, but sadly there was no sign of anyone famous in Tesco's. I’ve not watched EastEnders in over a decade, but even so it didn’t stop me from hoping I’d spot a TV star in there buying a can of Coke or something. No such luck. Imagine if Alfie Moon had walked in!

Or one of the Chasers from The Chase. Or even Bradley Walsh himself - forever Graham from Doctor Who to me. Now, I really would have had to ask him for his autograph, being a dedicated Whovian, and what if he’d been buying haemorrhoid cream or hair dye? Maybe it’s for the best that he was a no-show.

We only meant to buy a sandwich and a drink, but they had an awful lot of nice things in there and we ended up buying quite a few snacks and drinks, thinking they’d have to last us all day. As it turned out, I never ate a single thing! I put a bottle and the sandwich in a bag to carry with me, and left everything else in the boot of Jessica’s car, meaning to collect it later that day.

My Meetcute goodie bag! Yes, I know it looks a bit the worse for wear now, but so do I!

Trouble is, it was so busy and so hot that I didn't bother, and by the time I got back to the hotel after the festival I didn’t fancy eating any of it. I’d got some breakfast pastries but when I finally opened them they were so warm it was like they’d just come out of the oven. My cheese and ham sandwich looked decidedly floppy and I decided it wasn’t worth the risk. As for the bottle of water - it was like holding a flask of tea! I had to pour it all down the sink. What a waste!

But the festival itself was amazing. Upon arrival we bumped into our Write Romantics pal, Jackie Ladbury, and lovely fellow Boldwood Books author, Kim Nash, before spotting our friends Jennifer and Melanie, and having a very brief chat with Ian Wilfred. Reader and blogger Fiona Jenkins came up to say hello, and presented us both with a gift of Romance incense sticks, which was a lovely surprise and very kind of her.

Fascinating talk where I learned that I know nothing - just call me Jon Snow!

Despite the exhausting heat we enjoyed a workshop on author branding by Claire Gardner, where we learned about defining ourselves and figuring out who we were and how we wanted to come across on social media, and I finally got to meet Heidi Swain!

After that, we headed to the Book Nook where I quickly met Liz Davies/Lilac Mills/Etti Summers, and Storm author Luisa A Jones, as well as Suzanne Snow.

While Jessica got ready for her panel event, I attended some really interesting talks. Kirsty Greenwood was in conversation with Kim Nash, which was an event I’d really been looking forward to.

Ooh, Kirsty Greenwood with Kim Nash! Fabulous talk about breaking out with a non-debut.

Then it was Jessica’s turn. She was on a panel with Cressida McLaughlin and Heidi Swain, and they were interviewed by Kathleen Whyman. They were talking about writing multiple books in a year and it was very entertaining.

After that, Jessica went off to do a book signing and I stayed behind to watch Sarah Bennett, who was hosting a fun event with Leonie Mack, Donna Ashcroft, and Julie Caplin.

Great workshop where they practically planned a novel from start to finish with shout-outs from the audience!

While I was sitting on a sofa, waiting for that event to begin, someone said my name. I looked up and who should be standing there but K.T. Dady!    

She sat next to me and we had a good old chat and admired each other's accents, and congratulated ourselves on being able to understand each other. Karen is very southern. and I'm very northern!

She very kindly complimented me on my depiction of little cockney evacuee Florrie in the Ghosts of Rowan Vale series, but when I said "Ghosts" she had to ask me to translate, so I sort of said, "Gowsts" and she understood what I meant then! I think I say it more like "Gersts" and she told me she'll always pronounce it that way in future, haha!

After that, we headed outside into the sunshine and Karen went off to find her editor while I sought out Jessica, who’d just finished her book signing. We browsed the stalls and bought a few things (stickers actually - like I don’t have enough of those), then sat at a picnic table and applied more suncream and chatted to anyone who wandered over. We must have said hello and goodbye to Karen about four times! In the end we remembered to have a photo taken of the three of us together (I totally forgot to do that with everyone else I met - typical!) and Jessica took a selfie or three.

Do you like my Meet Cute cap? Rather fetching, I think, although you should have seen my hair when I got back to the hotel and took the bloody cap off! I looked like a seal.

Three amigos!

Then one of Jessica’s readers saw us and hurried over to take a photo for us, which was lovely of her. I do wish I’d remembered to get selfies with other people! What a wasted opportunity.

By late afternoon we were both flagging. Many people had already left or were getting ready to go, so we called it a day, too. If the heat hadn't been so relentless we'd definitely have stayed a lot longer, but as it was we headed back to the hotel and arranged to meet later for tea/dinner/supper.

After a cooling and utterly blissful cold shower, I got dressed and headed along to the hotel restaurant to meet Jessica, Jen, Melanie, and Sarah Bennett. We had a nice meal and a great discussion about the events of the day, and lots of other unexpected subjects that were definitely not about the festival, books, or writing. The time flew by, and we realised it was getting on for ten o’clock, so we finally said goodbye and headed back to our rooms to collapse into bed and sleep the night away.

Well, you'd think so wouldn’t you, but I actually woke up at three with terrible cramp in my legs for the second night running. I honestly think I was dehydrated. It was sooo painful! I hopped out of bed and hobbled around trying to get rid of it, in tears because it just wouldn’t go. I’ve had it in my calves before, but never in my lower shins above my ankles as well! Anyway, it thankfully passed after ten minutes or so. 

But by then, of course, I was wide awake and no matter how I tried I couldn't get back to sleep. At six o’clock I gave up and made myself a mug of coffee, then put BBC Breakfast on for an hour before getting up. I finished my packing, and went off to meet Jessica, dragging my suitcase behind me and wondering for the millionth time if I’d left anything behind. (I once left an iPhone charger plugged in to a socket in a hotel room. Gutted!)

We skipped breakfast again because we’d decided to call at a cafe on the way home for brunch. It was one we’d only found by accident on a previous trip, when (surprisingly) the SatNav sent us on a long detour, but we’d enjoyed the food there so thought we’d go there on purpose this time. We found it okay, but we were both a bit disappointed with the food this time around. Still, it was a welcome break as we still had a fairly long drive left.

We followed the directions and Jessica kept saying, ‘Why are we going south? Is this the right way?’ The SatNav lady kept insisting she knew what she was doing, but she lied. She sent us the wrong way completely, and we had to do yet another big loop, ending up back where we'd started. Honestly, it happens every single time! Both of us have apps on our phone so that our husbands can see where we are and we can see where they are, and we could just imagine them both watching our progress in bemusement. Sure enough, when I checked I’d had a text from The Husband, asking me where the heck we were going!

I always find these detours quite funny, but then I'm not the one driving. I have to say, Jessica handled the journey both ways very well - especially as she was driving her husband's car rather than her own, which is much bigger and is an automatic rather a manual.

I was so grateful to her for taking me on our road trip, and also for organising everything so beautifully. I mean, she even sent me a checklist of things I should pack! She knows how chaotic I am and she's still a Brown Owl at heart.

Thanks so much, Jessica. Here’s to our next road trip!

It’s The Husband’s birthday this week and would you believe that I’d ordered him a present from the Mighty ‘Zon, and when it came it wasn’t in any kind of box or bag. Unfortunately, when the delivery man knocked on the door, it was The Husband who answered, so the present was handed directly to him and he gazed down at it and knew exactly what it was and who it was for.

I felt awful but what could I do? I had a mini rant then shoved it next to the sofa. Anyway, when I got back home from our trip, I found it sitting on the coffee table, neatly wrapped in birthday wrapping paper. So not only does The Husband know what his birthday present is, but he even wrapped it himself, too!

Luckily, I have got him a sneaky surprise present and a birthday cake, so it’s not all bad. And anyway, I think he’s so overjoyed to have me home that he won’t even care.

Ahem.

Have a great week xx