Maybe Tomorrow

Well, it's finally that time. Tomorrow I go in for my operation and hopefully end sixteen months of pain and not knowing. This is my seventh admission during this time.

I have new jim jams, new slippers, new dressing gown.

I have New Moon to read (and a Robsessed bookmark from Claire P).

I have Cadbury's chocolate and popcorn.

Popcorn?

I went for my pre-op assessment yesterday only to be told that my consultant wants me to stay in until Monday as he wants to keep an eye on me due to my recent hospital admission. I was due to be in just overnight. So I will have to watch XFactor and XFactor results by myself. A girl needs something.

I am really lucky to have been able to go to a private hospital through the NHS. At twelve thirty tomorrow, I will be shown to my room...I have my own private facilities, my own tv etc. I am so looking forward to spending time on my own, having my own privacy and generally sleeping it off in peace and quiet. It sure beats spending two days on the NHS ward with the drying out alcoholic.

See you on the other side...

Thank You

I'm the sort of person that if someone is ill, I'll send them a card. If someone does me a favour, I'll get them a thank you card or a box of chocolates. Sometimes the favour cost less than what I paid for the thank you, if you catch my drift, but I just like to show my feelings, I suppose. I love to buy people things, to celebrate, to commiserate and, sometimes, just for the sheer hell of seeing someone smile.

So when someone thinks of me, and does something really nice for me, then I'm kinda speechless.

As you can't fail to know if you follow Claire P's blog www.clairesblogg.blogspot.com

or catch up with her on facebook, she is a little obsessed with a certain Robert Pattinson. Or should I say Robsessed. I've had a banter with her over the past few weeks and happened to post a comment on facebook about turning over page corners on books. Let me explain.

When I met some of the Novel Racers at their first ever meet last year in Manchester, I sat with two of them who were aghast when I said I didn't use a book mark, I turned over the page corner. Since their look of torment, I have never been able to turn over a page corner since. Hence I keep losing my place.

So the lovely Claire P, bought me this

Just like that!

I was so touched that someone I don't know, i.e as in I haven't met in person, would do that for me. I am still in awe of this thing we call the internet that allows me to make great friends over the waves, have a laugh and a banter with someone, who I feel that I know, even though, like I said, I have never met yet. And she goes and does this for me.

Thanks Claire, you are a star! And I do hope to meet you one day, I'm sure we'll have a lot to say ;)

Researching the hard way

So, the reason why I spent all day in bed with the lovely Mike Gayle was because I've been in hospital for the past three days. I'd been struggling for about a week, getting worse every day, but I've had pain for so long that I just took it on the chin - until it became unbearable. I had an infection, temperature of 38, blood pressure 160 over something or other so my doctor rushed me into the surgical assessment unit. Spend the first day having antibiotics fed intraveneuously, while they sorted out pain relief until my operation date (which I hadn't got and was looking more likely to be next year, end of January). I've had an injection to completely stop both ovaries working to ease the pain for now, which obviously has its drawbacks. But I hadn't got an operation date when I went in. I have the 5 December now....

And at at least my nightmare pain is now down to a dull ache, as long as I keep on popping the pills. I feel like a little of the old L-plate has returned. I can't wait to find the rest of her.

So, Mike Gayle, you were my saviour in there. The reasons why?

I was in a bay with four women, one who was three years older than me and even in my 'feeling like I'm 90' at the moment stage, she looked like she was 90. She was an alcoholic, and her behaviour just got worse and worse as she was missing her vodka. I have never witnessed anyone becoming nastier and nastier over the space of 24 hours, so now I know (she was trying to get out of the window at 2am, lucky we were on the ground floor).

One of the women was an ex professional boxer, had broken her nose six times, having trouble with her kidneys now but was in because she'd had an eptopic pregnancy (she had four kids under ten already and was only 29) but she was really nice. And as I was going home, a young woman from one of the most notorious families in the city came in. I'm glad I wasn't there when the rest of the family arrived, they are definitely a family from the Mitchell Estate, the book I've based my series on!

No wonder I write laugh a minute, cry a minute, crime a minute!

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them

Every one of them

Lucy Brown - In a word or few

I have the great pleasure of hosting a leg of Cally Taylor’s blog tour to launch her debut novel, Heaven Can Wait, which was published on 15 October 2009.

When I met Cally, I was on a train to Manchester for my first meet with the Novel Racers, a virtual writing community that we both belong to. I had seen her photo on her blog so knew who to look out for. Up and down the carriages I went. I ended up ringing her on the train and telling her to meet me on the buffet cart. I was so embarrassed. But when we sat down, there was none of that awkward silence, when you meet someone for the first time. Before we came up for air we had gone from Stoke to Manchester…

I thought it would be different to do this blog post from the point of view of Cally’s main character. So over to you, Lucy Brown…


1 Have you ever been so in love that you’ve gone off chocolate?

God, yes! The first time I saw Dan, strolling casually across Manchester Uni Student’s Union, I was chatting to a friend and munching on a bar of Galaxy chocolate. Something about Dan made my stomach flip over and I froze mid-sentence. I couldn’t stop staring at him. I put the bar of chocolate down on the table and never picked it back up (I did pick up my pint though!)

2 How would your Mum/Dad/parents describe you?

They’d probably say I was loving, kind and a bit of a klutz because I was always knocking into things and/or breaking them when I was a kid. When Dad found out how I’d died he just shook his head and said, “Only you, Lucy. Only you.”

3 X Factor or Strictly?

X Factor, definitely! I love karaoke and once threatened to audition for the X Factor. Dan didn’t try and dissuade me. He recorded me singing in the shower instead and played it back to me later. I never did send off my application.

4 Do you believe in life after death?

Absolutely! It’s not what you expect, I’ll say that much!

5 Adventure holiday or beach bum?

Definitely a beach bum. Dan’s more of an adventure holiday kind of guy but we’d normally compromise and go on a beach holiday where I could lie on the sand and read books and he could windsurf or whatever.

6 How old are you? What has been your best age yet and why?

I’m twenty-eight. My best age was twenty-one. I was at university, Dan and I were madly in love, and my parents were still alive.

7 Madonna or Beyonce?

Madonna, definitely! I’ve loved her since I was tiny. She’s fab. You know I was talking about karaoke before? Well “Crazy for You” is my song. I dressed up as Madonna for the Computer Blitz fancy dress party too – that was one weird day!

8 What is your most embarrassing moment ever?

Farting in front of Dan on our first date! Don’t make me tell you the story, it’s too embarrassing.

9 Book or magazine?

Oooh, difficult question. I love celebrity magazines like Heat and Now but you can’t beat a good book. Can I say magazines for commuting to work and books for curling up with?

10 Were you teacher’s pet at school or the class clown?

I wasn’t either really. I did my best at school but I got told off for laughing, a lot!

11 Fried breakfast or healthy option?

Nothing beats a fried breakfast. I had some good fried breakfasts with Brian and Claire in the cafe round the corner from the house of wannabe ghosts – they’re perfect for mopping up a hangover (and I had a few of those!)

12 Who is more important? Family or friends?

That’s tough! It’s almost as bad as making me choose between my parents and Dan! When I was younger I thought friends were more important but now I’d say family because I’ve discovered that sometimes your friends don’t always have your best interests at heart. Oh but that’s unfair, that’s just one of my friends. Others, like Jess and Archie, are lovely and would do anything for me. Could I have both please?

13 Have you ever won a competition?

I won an Easter Egg competition at school when I was seven. We had to paint boiled eggs and I turned mine into a rabbit and won a big Cadbury’s egg. Does that count?

14 A pint of lager or a large glass of wine?

Wine all the way! I used to drink lager at Uni (it was cheap) but I’m more of a large glass of dry white wine girl now.

15 Do you keep your birthday cards or throw them away?

I keep them, I’m a terrible hoarder. Every now and then I have a clear-out but, as Dan always points out, it’s not so much a clear-out as moving all my crap out of the bedroom and into the attic!

16 Flat shoes or killer heels?

Both! Flat shoes for commuting around London and killer heels for a night out!

17 Which do you enjoy the most? Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve?

I’ve been to some amazing New Year’s Eve parties but I’d have to choose Christmas Eve. Dan and I would curl up on the sofa with a big box of chocolates, a vat of mulled wine and watch something Christmassy like “It’s a Wonderful Life”, then we’d give each other one present at midnight (keeping the rest for Christmas Day) and fall into bed.

18 Finally, can you give us the low down on Cally Taylor?

Who? Never heard of her. Is she on the X Factor?

Go out and buy it...I demand you to.

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