I just ran about two miles to get to old street tube in time for my train. Googlemaps on my iPhone said the walk would take 15 mins. I did it in like 5, and these shoes have a little heel on them too.
Had a super night at the Shoreditch House literary salon. The lovely Clare Wigfall read a brilliant and unfinished short story – will have to wait patiently for her next collection to see how it ends. Alex Preston read from his novel The Bleeding City, and then legend Diana Athill talked about her career and the heartbreaking process of choosing only 300 books from her collection to take to her new home in Highgate. Damian Barr, charismatic host, led Q&A sessions with all the writers while sipping a red cocktail. The audience was so beautiful that I suspect they may have been hired extras.
There were free gin and tonics on arrival, and then pizza in the interval. Someone spilled something down my back, and I still haven’t dared look to see what it was.
Afterwards, Sols and nachos in the fine company of Emma Young, Joe Pickering and Grant Gillespie. Now tea on the train and catching my breath. There’s a man on the seat opposite with no shoes and a baby.
Ah the literary life – things spilled on your back. Odd men on the train. Pizza and gin. Love it.
Clare W is great – have met her a couple of times.