Let's
get the apology out of the way first. In part this is associated with
the tumble but there were other inputs as well. These included a
stray nephew who asked if he could come and stay for a few nights –
he is an architect who practises as a Design Manager on construction
projects. He had come down from York to resolve a few problems on a
site in our part of the world. Thus our evenings have been taken up
chatting about old times (when he and his generation were small and
would stay with Marcia) and about his work. It was great fun having
him to stay but our usual schedules took a hammering with the result
that I did not respond to the comments on last week's blog. Sorry
about that.
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| Shot in Totnes outside Totnes Bookshop. Author and reader, I assume. |
The
tumble happened on Sunday when Marcia was walking to church. There
are a number of places where the kerbs are 'dropped' to road level in
order to make it easier for those in wheelchairs or using Zimmer
frames. Basically she tripped over the slope at the end of the
dropped section and fell rather heavily. With blood pouring out of
one hand, and feeling very sick, she decided to return home but one
of our neighbours saw her. Bless, her, she took Marcia into her
kitchen and carefully cleaned the wounds, applied anti-septic cream,
bandages and a good measure of tender loving care. Then she walked up
our lane with Marcia to ensure her safe arrival home. She was
extremely lucky: she could so easily have broken her wrist. As it was
both wrists and her right shoulder were badly bruised – still are
but now in the browny-yellowy stage, the angry purples having faded.
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| One of the nice things about Totnes is the total disregard most people have for cars. |
There
was no question of her typing on Monday so we spent the day going
into Totnes, where some part of the work in progress may or may not
be set, and then down to Dartmouth and along the coast to Torcross,
both of which are definite candidates.
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| Whenever we go to Dartmouth, I gravitate to the boats. Well, I would, I suppose. I have been doing that for as long as I can remember. |
The
wumble was associated with the contract for Postcards from the
Past and the Sea Garden with St Martin's Press in New
York. This is a fairly bulky document and the obvious way to send it
across the Atlantic for checking and signing is to do so
electronically. For some reason, which I still do not understand, we
often have problems opening these files from the US. This time, I
was able to open the it in read-only mode but not in edit-mode. Thus
there was no possibility of Marcia signing 'electronically' and my
sending the contract back as an attachment to an email – as we do
with all the European contracts. Back to snail mail but ...
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| An evening shot of the mouth of the River Dart taken a few weeks ago. |
In the
US the standard paper size is American foolscap. Here it is A4.
Furthermore, SMP call for six copies – each having twenty-four
pages. Apart from worrying about the destruction of the woodlands
required to produce all this paper there are the costs associated
with postage. Because of the difference in paper size, the way this
has happened in the past is that SMP sends the contract
electronically to Marcia’s agent’s agent in New York, Kathy
Anderson, who prints off the required six copies and posts them to
Dinah Wiener in London. Dinah then checks the contract and, if all is
well, posts all copies to us. Marcia signs them and we post
everything back to Kathy. All of these costs are, of course, charged
to Marcia.
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| This is looking down over Torcross from the hill behind. The narrow strip of pebble bank that divides the fresh water "ley" (pronounced "lee") from the sea along which the road runs is clearly visible. The village is just to the right of this picture. |
You
can see why we want to find an easier and cheaper way. Anyway, this
time we have taken a flyer. We can read the whole contract on the
screen and I was able to print off six copies of those sheets that
need Marcia's signature – on the wrong paper size, of course –
and I have posted them off to Kathy. Will this be acceptable to SMP?
I have no idea but I'll let you know next week – assuming we know
then – and I will also tell you about the complications created by
publishing zones.
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| Looking along Slapton Ley towards the village of Torcross. |
By the
way: if you don’t know what I mean by wumbled, it’s time to read
Echoes of the Dance.
This week our blog dog is a beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog - Oscar. Now, where have I heard that names before?
