strawberries 8 July 2009
I was at the launch of a first novel tonight and it reminded me all over again how special that event is for anyone who follows the writerly path. A first book is the one you get to spend most time on in as much as it’s the one in your head for longest. Then it’s onto the treadmill and although you (hope to) get better all the time there is never quite that same sense of having taken on the world and (somehow) won. And so the lovely Amy Huberman, for it was she, a wonderful Irish actress, has joined the ranks. I wonder if she’ll ever have to face what Lorraine Kelly did on a book tour once. Apparently a lad queued up holding a large box and the publicist got a bit worried, as indeed one might. Turns out this guy had made a bucket list (things to do before you die?) and circa number 6 was to feed Lorraine Kelly strawberries and cream…which he did…and she was a tremendous sport about it (the attendant photographers were delighted also with the photo op) but what strikes me is how RANDOM such a thing is to have on your bucket list in the first place. Mine might include seeing the Grand Canyon but anything like the strawberries and cream moment? – oh, hang on, as long as George Clooney has a pulse there is a definite threat that he’ll be on a list of mine and it’ll involve something I would very much enjoy – fair enough so…I get it, Mr Strawberries and Cream and Lorraine Kelly…
