Author Archives: Elaine Spires

Seriously Senior Moment

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Let’s start with the good news…. The Banjo will be available on Kindle very soon!!! Finally! Yes, I’m working towards a release date of FRIDAY 13TH MAY. I’m not superstitious, it’s okay. I will have the cover to show you next week and I am so excited!! Yippee!!

I have been very busy this week; much of my research for Singles At Sea has been completed and so it will be full steam ahead (see what I did there?) on that one, too. Yay!

Well, more good news is that the guys are racing ahead with the work on installing … Read the rest »

Our Queen and the Queen of Comedy

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Two Queens are in the news today.

One is Queen Elizabeth II, who is 90. Although I am a Republican, it would be churlish not to wish her “Happy Birthday ” on reaching such a milestone.  But her birthday is bitter-sweet for me and my family as she shared her birthday with OUR Queen; my mum, Lily Spires.

Although born on the same day, but one year apart – Mum was older and would have been 91 today – their lives couldn’t have been more different. No palaces or castles for Mum, who was the third of four children … Read the rest »

Peeping Tom

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Stepping into the shower the night before last, I realised I had a Peeping Tom at the bathroom window!!

Yes! There, looking at me through the mosquito netting was a frog! I was okay with him because I knew he couldn’t get to me. I’d have run screaming if there’d been any chance of him getting into the shower with me. I don’t mind the little tree frogs at all; in fact, I find them rather cute to look at, but anything bigger than them – yeuk! A frog got into the house a couple of years back – one … Read the rest »

I Was Very Brave

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For a while now I’ve had a few nasty little things appearing on my skin, the almost inevitable outcome of a fair, English skin spending a long time in sunny climes. Last August my GP sent me to Queen’s Hospital to see the dermatologist who organised a biopsy, which found it was a BCC, also known as a rodent ulcer, and said I’d be called to have it removed. By the time I left at the end of February, I was still waiting, a probable casualty of the series of junior doctor strikes.

Anyway, once here, I went to see … Read the rest »

Marcie Steele

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I am absolutely delighted that today’s guest is none other than romantic novelist Marcie Steele!
Marcie’s latest book, The Second Chance Shoe Shop is out today and you can read all about it and buy it at a click here: http://amzn.to/1UyNLXQ
It’s a delightfully romantic tale of love, friendship and putting your best foot forward, about young widow Sadie and Riley, who believes she’ll never find love again after her last break-up, work at Chandlers shoe shop, in the charming town of Hedworth. But when Chandlers is threatened with closure, the friends are confronted with the loss of not only … Read the rest »

Little B@$t@rds!!

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Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!!!!!!!!!

Around sunset last night I thought I’d give a couple of my palms a little drink. There had been no rain for a couple of days and ever since The Incident With The Gardener (in which he watched loads of my beautiful plants and trees die – what kind of gardener he be?) the ones that survived are still looking a bit sorry for themselves. So I went to the back of the house and put the hose on the first palm, only to suddenly feel as if my feet were being stabbed by a … Read the rest »

“Good Morning, Everyone!”

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The biggest ‘problem’ I’ve got here is not having a car. I used to have an old, but very nice, dark blue Hyundai, but it went to that great scrapyard in the sky a couple of years ago. Actually, someone bought it from there and did it up and put things right and now it’s a lovely car – but no longer mine! So, I get a lift wherever I can, hire a car for the odd day or go on the bus.
Today was such a day. I wanted to pay my electricity bill before Monday so that I’d … Read the rest »

A Month Already!

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Yes! I’ve been in Antigua for a month already! Unbelievable really! Four weeks and two days to be exact. It’s the age-old question, isn’t it? Does time speed up as you get older? It certainly seems to.

S left yesterday. It was good to have her here and also to do some ‘touristy’ things. Her eleven-day stay flew by, too. And now I’m knuckling down to get on with finishing The Banjo – I know you must all be thinking that Tolstoy took less time to write War and Peace 😉

I’m getting very impatient at the moment, too, about … Read the rest »

It’s Good Friday but Thursday’s Better

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Tuesday was a very sad day; there were two terrorist attacks in Brussels. And a very close friend of one of my oldest, dearest friends was seriously injured and is still in intensive care following life-saving surgery. Now I know this is a bit I danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales to quote the old Herbert Farjeon song, but it personalises the tragedy when someone you know of is involved. Almost immediately the apologists and appeasers started with their usual Islam is a religion of peace comments and reminding the … Read the rest »

The Earth Moved For Me

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On Saturday morning at about 7.20 I was lying in bed listening to Graham Norton when the bed started shaking. I need to point out here, that apart from Graham’s virtual presence I was all alone (sad, I know!) so this sudden, not to mention, unexpected, movement took me by surprise. I sat up rather quickly (that’s usually how I get my kicks nowadays) and could actually see the door-frame wobble. Earthquake!!

The whole thing was over in about ten seconds but it was quite disconcerting, especially as at first I’d thought it was only a tremor, only to be … Read the rest »