The Real Life Experience.
posted by Sarah Pinborough at 21:43Well, Happy New Year!
...admittedly a little late given that it's mid-Fed, but better late than never! So happy 2009 and may it be a good and safe one for all.
I have had a great start to the New Year. I went to North Carolina for a month to visit one of my best friends Liz Clapton. She's been teaching in Goldsboro over there for almost three years and after several 'almost visits' I finally got my act together and sorted out tickets etc. She'd been over here for Christmas to see her family and so we flew back together on the 20th December.
We started as we meant to go on - neither of us are great flyers (call me old-fashioned, but a huge metal box weighing several tonnes, 36,000 feet in the air and with me in it does not fill me with confidence) so by 8.30am we were embracing medicinal wine in a Heathrow pub and giggling like Edina and Patsy (I fear I was Edina...).
I continued on the wine adventure throughout the flight whereas poor Liz had to drive us home at the other end and so was forced to stop. This was reflected in our attitudes to the turbulence we hit - Liz gripped the armrests and went pale...I dribbled and said 'Weeeee!' like an excitable child. I think she was probably relieved when I finally went to sleep (passed out) for an hour or so and she could panic in peace.
We hit the ground running - the sun was shining (but if you ever visit North Carolina in January - don't trust that sun! T-shirt weather in the morning - Snowy blizzard by the afternoon!), and we shopped for the first day and then headed into Raleigh to hook up with the Fab (capital F) Alex Sokoloff and her Boyf Michael for New Year before going to Charlotte for the weekend.
We stayed with friends of Liz's and had a great time visiting...yes - lots of wineries (7 people in a pick-up - it was cosy, but we all knew each other well by the time the day was done!) and then going to The Cheesecake Factory - the BEST restaurant in the world - and eating and drinking loads and playing ridiculous board games into the night. Once back in Goldsboro, I met Liz's housemate and the cat and the dog and we settled into our ridiculous existence together.
I won't go into the details of the whole month cos I'd be here forever, but as you can tell I loved it. We got stuck on a mountain, made mojitos, I learned to drive on the other side of the road and didn't crash once, I held a .44 Magnum (NOT LOADED!), got stuck in a blizzard,and laughed a lot. And - I still managed to get some writing done.
What's my point? I'm a writer. And now that I'm not even a teacher any more, I spend a huge amount of my time existing in stories in my own head. I write. I go to the gym. I read. I write some more. And then of course there's the scourge of the work from home individual - I Facebook. God help me, I now Twitter. I spend a lot of time 'interacting' with people on-line and think its the same as sitting down and sharing a really bloody good laugh. But of course it isn't.
Fab 'best friend' and fellow MK resident Carole Matthews always tells me to make sure I do some living. It's where the ideas come from. And of course she's absolutely right. Writers need that inspiration. But what I have to remember is that me - Sarah the person, not the writer - need the living bit too. And that was what my month in NC reminded me.
So I'd like to thank (animals in brackets!): Tim & Shelley (and Daisy Mae), Claire & Chip (and Mushroom and Tater Tot), Geoff, Rachel & Liz (and Hanna & Savannah) for giving me the absolutely best holiday I've had in ages. You're all brill and you've made me realise that when my friends text and say 'Do you fancy...?' or 'Why don't we...?' that I should not reply with 'Um..I just want to finish this chapter.' or 'I need to go to the gym.' but just get out there and have fun with the people that make me laugh and cry and who don't have to text me status updates so that I know how they're doing.
Real Life's what it's all about after all, isn't it?
Sarah P xx
www.facebook.com/sarahpinborough
@sarahjpin
;-)
...admittedly a little late given that it's mid-Fed, but better late than never! So happy 2009 and may it be a good and safe one for all.
I have had a great start to the New Year. I went to North Carolina for a month to visit one of my best friends Liz Clapton. She's been teaching in Goldsboro over there for almost three years and after several 'almost visits' I finally got my act together and sorted out tickets etc. She'd been over here for Christmas to see her family and so we flew back together on the 20th December.
We started as we meant to go on - neither of us are great flyers (call me old-fashioned, but a huge metal box weighing several tonnes, 36,000 feet in the air and with me in it does not fill me with confidence) so by 8.30am we were embracing medicinal wine in a Heathrow pub and giggling like Edina and Patsy (I fear I was Edina...).
I continued on the wine adventure throughout the flight whereas poor Liz had to drive us home at the other end and so was forced to stop. This was reflected in our attitudes to the turbulence we hit - Liz gripped the armrests and went pale...I dribbled and said 'Weeeee!' like an excitable child. I think she was probably relieved when I finally went to sleep (passed out) for an hour or so and she could panic in peace.
We hit the ground running - the sun was shining (but if you ever visit North Carolina in January - don't trust that sun! T-shirt weather in the morning - Snowy blizzard by the afternoon!), and we shopped for the first day and then headed into Raleigh to hook up with the Fab (capital F) Alex Sokoloff and her Boyf Michael for New Year before going to Charlotte for the weekend.
We stayed with friends of Liz's and had a great time visiting...yes - lots of wineries (7 people in a pick-up - it was cosy, but we all knew each other well by the time the day was done!) and then going to The Cheesecake Factory - the BEST restaurant in the world - and eating and drinking loads and playing ridiculous board games into the night. Once back in Goldsboro, I met Liz's housemate and the cat and the dog and we settled into our ridiculous existence together.
I won't go into the details of the whole month cos I'd be here forever, but as you can tell I loved it. We got stuck on a mountain, made mojitos, I learned to drive on the other side of the road and didn't crash once, I held a .44 Magnum (NOT LOADED!), got stuck in a blizzard,and laughed a lot. And - I still managed to get some writing done.
What's my point? I'm a writer. And now that I'm not even a teacher any more, I spend a huge amount of my time existing in stories in my own head. I write. I go to the gym. I read. I write some more. And then of course there's the scourge of the work from home individual - I Facebook. God help me, I now Twitter. I spend a lot of time 'interacting' with people on-line and think its the same as sitting down and sharing a really bloody good laugh. But of course it isn't.
Fab 'best friend' and fellow MK resident Carole Matthews always tells me to make sure I do some living. It's where the ideas come from. And of course she's absolutely right. Writers need that inspiration. But what I have to remember is that me - Sarah the person, not the writer - need the living bit too. And that was what my month in NC reminded me.
So I'd like to thank (animals in brackets!): Tim & Shelley (and Daisy Mae), Claire & Chip (and Mushroom and Tater Tot), Geoff, Rachel & Liz (and Hanna & Savannah) for giving me the absolutely best holiday I've had in ages. You're all brill and you've made me realise that when my friends text and say 'Do you fancy...?' or 'Why don't we...?' that I should not reply with 'Um..I just want to finish this chapter.' or 'I need to go to the gym.' but just get out there and have fun with the people that make me laugh and cry and who don't have to text me status updates so that I know how they're doing.
Real Life's what it's all about after all, isn't it?
Sarah P xx
www.facebook.com/sarahpinborough
@sarahjpin
;-)
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