{"id":3959,"date":"2016-06-28T21:31:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T02:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/?p=3959"},"modified":"2016-06-28T21:31:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T02:31:17","slug":"back-from-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/?p=3959","title":{"rendered":"Back from the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although how much longer it will\u00a0remain\u00a0<\/em>the UK is anyone’s guess.<\/p>\n

THE DAY<\/p>\n

Nice time in Britain. \u00a0Got some writing done on the plane over and a touch more while there, but we were busy traveling out of London most days (saw Windsor, Winchester, Salisbury, Chartwell, and St. Albans). \u00a0We only spent two days in London proper; that first day, we stumbled around like zombies (though we did see a fantastic exhibit at the British Museum on two Egyptian cities discovered submerged in the Mediterranean and another glorious exhibit on Scottish painters at the Queen’s Gallery). \u00a0The other day was a Tuesday where we went to the new Tate (one word: rubbish) and then wandered back across the Millennium Bridge toward St. Paul’s. \u00a0Can you believe that I’ve been to London four or five times and STILL haven’t seen the inside of this cathedral? \u00a0Well, I didn’t get a chance this time either because the husband had a meeting with the folks of Genome England. \u00a0So it was off to the Museum of London (nice exhibit on artifacts from Shakespeare’s time) and tea while he did his thing. \u00a0Then we all met up again, went out for a beer and then dinner where we talked all sorts of things, including Brexit which hadn’t happened yet. \u00a0The two guys I met thought Brexit didn’t have a prayer; the young woman thought it did–and she turned out to be right. \u00a0Actually, we left the day of the vote. \u00a0The cynical part of me thinks,\u00a0Drat, if I’d stayed a little longer, think of how much more bang I’d have gotten for my buck<\/em>. \u00a0But I really think this is a mistake on so very many levels, and if the average Briton thinks he’ll be better off–well, he’s got another thing coming. \u00a0An economist-friend of mine thinks social programs are going to be hammered.<\/p>\n

Coming back wasn’t awful in the time-difference sense, though it was soul-crushing: the heat, the place, the whole package. \u00a0Setting the house to rights took a day and a half; Sunday, I frittered. \u00a0Monday, I’d planned to start up on the book again only to be sidetracked by a medical thing. \u00a0(It’s since turned out to be nothing, but my whole day did get blasted to hell.) \u00a0So, started in today; had to overcome some major insecurity and a nasty little voice in my head telling me that I’m really no good at writing at all.<\/p>\n

WRITING OUT LOUD
\nStay\u00a0Dead\u00a0(started 5\/05; Days 1-4, false start)<\/p>\n

Day 1: 1000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 23-26: 9450
\nDay 2: 1200 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 27: (novella) 2000
\nDay 3: 1800 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 28: 2500
\nDay 4: 1350 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 29-32: 8850
\nDay 5: 1000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 33: 3400
\nDay 6: 2000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0LONDON HIATUS (13 days)
\nDay 7-10: ~4500 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 34: 3000
\nDay 11-12: ~5000
\nDay 13: 1600
\nDay 14: 2300
\nDay 15-17: 4450
\nDay 18-19: 4500
\nDay 20-22: 5220<\/p>\n

Blog Post: 800
\n***
\nWhat I’m Watching:
\nHere, I’d gone to all this trouble and downloaded a bunch of WHO only to end up watching in-flight movies. \u00a0Saw\u00a010 Cloverfield Lane\u00a0<\/em>which was FABULOUS on the way out (the rest of the time I wrote and read.<\/p>\n

On the flight back, saw\u00a013 Hours<\/em>, which was surprisingly effective despite the jingoism. \u00a0Also watched\u00a0The 33<\/em> which was also pretty good.<\/p>\n

Now that I’m back, I’ve finished\u00a0Humans\u00a0<\/em>(excellent) and watched the pilot for\u00a0The Last Tycoon<\/em>. \u00a0Of all the Amazon pilots, it was the only one that grabbed me; it’s a Fitzgerald book I’ve not read and pretty interesting. \u00a0Let’s hope they make a series out of it.<\/p>\n

Also catching up on\u00a0Motive. \u00a0<\/em>I think there’s one more episode to go for this season.
\n***
\nWhat I’m Reading:
\nGot about two-thirds of the way through\u00a0End of Watch<\/em>, and I’m sorry, but I’m so flipping bored I can’t continue. \u00a0I thought\u00a0Finders Keepers\u00a0<\/em>was only so-so and frankly, the Bill Hodges character didn’t need to be in the mix at all; he was an afterthought. \u00a0EoW\u00a0<\/em>is just flat-out boring, predictable, and repetitive, and I’m like…King, I KNOW you can do better than this<\/em>. \u00a0So I put the book aside and picked up another few books in London.<\/p>\n

Finished Peter\u00a0James’s\u00a0The House on Cold Hill\u00a0<\/em>which was . . . fitfully entertaining. \u00a0I thought the book was mostly filler (honestly, did it matter what the guy listened to on the radio or had for lunch–over and over again?), with the only page-turning parts coming at the very end (which I also saw coming a mile away). \u00a0Still, not\u00a0horrible<\/em> and I didn’t chuck the book.<\/p>\n

Also started\u00a0The Shining Girls\u00a0<\/em>by Lauren Beukes. \u00a0It’s . . . okay. \u00a0Not horrible, not great. \u00a0It’s interesting enough that I’ll stick with it awhile and see. \u00a0Also started it on audio to speed things up a bit.
\n***
\nWhat I’m Listening to:
\nAs above,\u00a0The Shining Girls\u00a0<\/em>but also\u00a0Extreme Prey<\/em>, though I put it aside to dive into SGs (though not because it’s\u00a0bad<\/em>; it’s just that the subject matter isn’t close enough to what I’m writing that I want to risk messing up my head).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although how much longer it will\u00a0remain\u00a0the UK is anyone’s guess. THE DAY Nice time in Britain. \u00a0Got some writing done on the plane over and a touch more while there, but we were busy traveling out of London most days…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3959"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3961,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3959\/revisions\/3961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}