A Lot of Richards

It's always good to welcome a new follower on board, and I was thrilled today to pick up a comment for 'Poulet Nous' from a new reader called Richard. And now there are three gents called Richard who are good enough to drop by occasionally and read my work. However, I do want to point out that being called Richard is not a prerequisite for reading my blogs; in fact I actively encourage a wide variety of names, for I think diversity in the blog-reading community should be encouraged, don't you?

Oddly enough, during the last year I did start to write a long short-story involving 4 characters all called Richard but identified by various shortened nick-name forms. As you imagine, there was a fair amount of mistaken identity involved in the plot a la Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' and 'Twelfth Night', but it never got properly off the ground, coz Shakespeare I ain't. Weird, though, isn't it? Like a Richard blog magnet has been triggered by the power of creative writing.

So now I'm off to pen a little number called 'A Life of Luxury and Indulgence, With a Nissan Figaro Thrown in for Good Measure.' No, sorry, only joking...ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

You'll have to excuse my wild ramblings. I was awoken last night at 3.30 a.m with a bit of a delicate tummy and do you think I could get back to sleep? Could I cocoa. I gave up in the end and came downstairs to read, but needless to say I am now struggling to keep my eyes open. Ridiculous. But I've managed to knock out another chapter of 'Poulet Nous' and do a bit of Christmas shopping via the interwebbly, to boot.

And whilst I'm on the subject of reading, here is what I'm working my way through at the mo. In tandem, because I am a girl and I can multi-task, I am reading 'Julie and Julia' by Julie Powell and 'My Life in France' by the American housewife/chef, Julia Child. Now, when I went to see the film, which was very entertaining, I liked the Julie blogger character and didn't like the Julia chef character despite her being played by Meryl Streep who is one of my all time favourite actresses. And now I am reading the two books together, I am reversing my opinion of both characters. You see, the persuasive power of media is mighty, is it not? Perhaps I should watch the film again and see if I swap back and am more fickle than I realise.

And waiting in the wings are 'The Girl on the Landing,' by Paul Torday and 'The Other Queen,' by Philippa Gregory. I'm not sure how the Philippa Gregory has evaded my attention until now because I'm an avid reader of her work and have been ever since she published the Wideacre trilogy in the Eighties, but I have the book now, courtesy of Andy's close attention to my birthday wish list. And I am a very big fan of Paul Torday and gain hope from the fact he remained unpublished until his fifties, but now there is no stopping him!

Back to 'Poulet Nous' now. I'm sorry the chapters are appearing out of sync i.e base over apex, but I'm sure, if you're reading, you'll work out the order by my cunning use of sequential chapter numbering!

In the words of Julia Child - Bonne Appetit!