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I'm just back from a book tour of the UK where I met lots of extremely nice people and several very friendly squirrels. If you're ever feeling a bit short of friends, you could do worse than have a cup of tea with anyone who's available at Withins School, Bolton As well as being friendly and kind, they're patient souls. They were very patient with me. I was a bit over-excited at times because while I was there my new book, Toad Away, was being printed in Australia. Several times while I was meant to be giving talks on Boy Overboard, my thoughts drifted and I was heard to murmur things like 'I bet they're trimming the pages about now,' and 'They'll probably be squirting the glue after lunch,' and 'I hope they've spelt my name right on the cover.' Even though the folks in Britain won't see their edition of Toad Away until the middle of next year, at no stage did they get irritated and whack me with a kipper. Their strongest reaction was a wistful grumble. 'Lucky Aussies,' a couple of them said. 'Having Toad Away in their shops and libraries from 27th October when we won't even be getting Teacher's Pet until January. Let's emigrate to Australia.' But they're always going on like that, my English relatives. Another group of friendly, kind and patient souls I feel very warmly towards are the people at Puffin Books in London. Together with Jan and Ellie at Speaking Of Books, they organised my tour, chaperoned me, fed me, encouraged me when I was weary and sometimes, as a special treat, let me sleep. For that I will always be grateful. Must dash now. Toad Away has just arrived at the Penguin warehouse and my presence is needed. You know, to make sure they're stacking them neatly. Until next time, oo-roo and happy reading
7 October 2003 Back to the top of the page, or Back to the list of Past G'days, or Back to the latest G'day! |
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