Saturday, April 24, 2010

Blanket Octopus


Information here. It has no ink, so the blanket is to make it look bigger and deter predators.

Packing was always complicated in Schrödinger's house...




Friday, April 23, 2010

Current Favourite Sentences

'Find my jewels, Yashim. Find them soon - or I swear I'll never lend you another novel as long as I live!'

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Antequera

This weekend, we went to Antequera, home of the world freestyle top spinning champion. We went as guests of SELIN: it was a business trip, to meet other editors, publicise the publishing house, and sell some books. Marian went on Thursday morning; I had to teach, so I went down on Saturday. On Saturday, Antequera was sodden.

Therefore we didn't open our stall in the morning. The other objectives, of publicising the publishing house and meeting other editors, could both be carried out under shelter and with beer, so we concentrated on them until after lunch.

But by five o'clock, the sun had come out and we were able to start selling books.

We were doing quite well; the number of people walking down the Paseo Real was steadily increasing; the various literary events in the tent at the bottom of the alley were drawing a crowd. The women and children of Antequera were taking the air, looking at all the literature on offer. Business was booming. Then, some complete tool decided that the best way to use his three-minute open mike slot would be to recite an explicit yet surprisingly dull poem about fellatio. The crowds thinned, and we didn't sell many more books after that.

But, you know, Dunkirk spirit. We did OK. It was nice to meet other editors, some of whom bought our books, some of whose books we bought: a bit like everyone taking in everyone else's washing, but there you go. The sun shone for us all Sunday morning.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Comrades!



Although I'm not entirely sure why The Bologna Process is the work of the devil, apart from the fact that it sounds like a Frederick Forsyth novel, it is good to see the traditional student pastimes of activism, radical politics and (ahem) missing classes are still alive and well.

Charmingly Mad Public Sculpture


Although the rest of the exhibition is fairly conventional, the joyously upside-down elephant is not.