I do like a nice cafe to proof-read in, especially if there’s nice tea, and if it isn’t too crowded. Day Seventeen of freelance writing found me the cafe at Herstmonceux Observatory – which is a bit like a small version of London’s Science Museum, only in West Sussex. The cafe isn’t like that, the Observatory is. The cafe is like most non-London museum cafes in this country. To me there’s a British-ness about the wipe clean tables, the squeaky chairs, the passive-aggressive clientèle, the teenage staff, the ice cream freezer and drinks cabinet, the biscuits on the counter and the fluorescent-coloured signs saying ‘ham toasties’. It’s hard to describe. Maybe it’s the way we approach it stoically, and eat our scrambled egg on toast on soggy toast as if it were penance for something – we’re not quite sure what.
So we’re back from Bournemouth. I was at Herstmonceux because my son was at ‘Be an Astronaut Day’, which turned out to be ‘Be an Astronaut Morning’ but was still apparently lots of fun, and included making astronaut wee out of squash. We waited for him in the cafe, and both of us were working. I proof-read my drama text book. So yes, it was another example of me trying to fit my writing around other things – agreed. Another example of me not working on my novel. But I’ve started to wonder if I will always have to fit my writing around other things. And I will always write in more than one genre. If that’s the case, then I do know two things: