Days Are Flying By

Where have three weeks gone? Huh? Who can tell me? I can’t believe I’ve only got three days left before I leave Antigua. I have this sort of panicky feeling that I’m running out of time.

I’ve promised myself some beach time tomorrow, after I’ve been to APUA offices, that is. I am dreading the thought of that. Usually I deal with this wonderful woman, Ms Goodwin, but she’s not in the office at the moment and I’ve been told I have to go into the offices in person to deal with my problem, which is, I admit, totally of my own making. You see, I have a HUGE water bill for last month. It was very dry and my gardener, in his quest to make the garden look lovely for my arrival, overdid the watering and landed me with a $950 EC bill. (That’s £250 in old money!). I’d spoken to Ms Goodwin and arranged to settle it in two payments, $400 immediately – to avoid disconnection – and the rest next month. So – on Tuesday evening – after a long afternoon’s filming of which more in a moment – I went online to pay the bill. Now, there was a prior drama to this involving my online banking and my ATM card. On Saturday I’d tried to withdraw money from an ATM here only for it to keep on telling me my card was ‘Invalid’. Then, on Sunday, I tried to log into my ABI mobile banking account only for it to tell me that the login and/or password, which are stored on my iPad, were ‘invalid’. So, on Monday morning, Heather picked me up extra early so that I could go to ABI before the shoot and sort

Maisie and Em

it out. Well, what a performance that was! When I was finally seen by someone, she asked me if the ATM had been out of money. How should I know? It’s not MY ATM! It kept telling me ‘Card Invalid’. Then she suggested I was probably inserting it wrong! I ask you! How can you insert a bank card ‘wrong’? Anyway – we were able to sort out my mobile banking by me changing the password, but she wasn’t able to tell me why my login and/or password hadn’t been accepted in the first place.

But I digress…

So, on Tuesday evening, I went on-line and paid my electricity bill, a mere $60 EC. I was just about to pay the water bill, when the phone rang. So I dealt with that and then went back online and clicked on ‘PAY’ and confirmed $400 EC and………then realised I was still in the electricity account!! So, my electricity account is now in credit for $400 and my water hasn’t been paid. So, tomorrow, I’ll take some sandwiches and a flask and go and sit in line to try to sort it out. As I say, nobody’s fault but my own! And then, I’ll go to the beach.

Saturday I’m spending some time in the morning with a talented young lady I’m mentoring as part of her prize in the Wadadli Pen Competition, run by Joanne Hillhouse and then in the evening it’s my An Audience With at Best of Books, in St John’s. Sunday brings the final shoot for Maisie and Em and I sincerely hope we run to time as I have a plane to catch that evening!! And today I’m having lunch with my lovely friend B, and supper tonight with another friend and neighbour S, who takes care of Avocado Cottage while I’m not here. And I MIGHT have a dinner date tomorrow night. You know what Caribbean men are like for committing!

I think one of the reasons time’s passed so quickly is because V was here for a week and I did all those touristy things. Then the French Open started and I’ve been watching that. Don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow – Rafa and Murray meet in the semi-final. Oh dear! I know I should support Murray but…there’s something about Rafa! And I’m on the very last story of my HOLIDAY READS, which come out on Kindle in two weeks time. Here is the cover – you like? I’m very pleased with it; once again the work of the wonderful Lisa Moreno at Vanilla Gecko.

Filming The Amazing Adventures of Maisie and Em Pilot Episode has been…well…amazing! Yesterday we filmed the scenes I’m not in. The director didn’t mind the writer being on set! I think it was very generous of me to give my co-actress more scenes than me! 😉 I don’t know why I ever chose to work with Heather Doram! She’s brilliant, a thorough professional and the camera loves her! But all joking aside, she gives a fabulous performance and it very easy to work alongside and this means that our characters have great rapport. Filming in Redcliffe St was a hoot, especially where we improvised a bit and she man-handled me down the steps. I can’t wait to see the finished product. And Sunday is the big church scene. If you’re reading this in Antigua, please come along to Gilbert’s Memorial Church, Glanvilles, for 12 noon ‘dressed for church’.

I hope you’ve all seen SARA GIBBS’ Hot Holidays! guest spot – absolutely fabulous read.

Please can I apologise for the layout of the photos in this blogpost? I’m not very good with IT and the iPad has a mind of its own today!

And next time I write to you, Dear Reader, I will probably be back in UK…