THE SAVOY.. THE SKIFFING BOYS

A TYPICAL THAMES SKIFF.... see The Skiffing Boys update below!



Went up to the Savoy Hotel in London yesterday for the annual Romantic Novelists Association awards luncheon.
Terribly glam as always with maybe a little less black than previous years.
Para-Athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was the speaker and award giver... she gave a brillant speech that was just right in tone and length for the occasion.
Rosie Thomas won the main award for IRIS AND RUBY and Nell Dixon the category romance award for MARRYING MAX.
And then the hardened among us headed, as usual, to the Coalhole pub on the corner to carry on.
This year I didn't stay in town overnight so I gave up earlier than usual. I gambled as usual on a last minute bargain room and timed it wrong. No way was I going to pay £150 for a shoebox in a none too desirable establishment! Luck of the draw, I had many bargains over the years so I can't complain.
London is so expensive though... I've had some info through from The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fl (stayed there once, super super luscious hotel) and I could have a room there in the summer for the same price. Silly silly.

Anyway, as usual I digress! While I waiting for a friend in the foyer I saw a familiar figure climb out of a limo and march purposefully in through the revolving doors and then away down the stairs.... Gordon Ramsay! Better looking in the flesh than on TV. Wondered if he's been called by the Savoy to dispose of the the troublesome vegetarians knowing his distaste for us!
Because I knew the majority of people arriving and because I recognised him without instantly realising who he was I was just a split second from saying hello and looking stupid. Hey ho.

WORD COUNT. Nothing to say right now but I am hanging my head in shame!

The skiffing boys went off this morning on their 'Three men in a Boat' (without a dog) re-creation on the Thames on a skiff. Sad to say husband Ian has already taken a dip in the river in a classic 'you've been framed' moment. One foot on the boat, one foot on the bank, the boat moved out.... splash! Don't think Trev and Phil were much help, they were still laughing a couple of hours later.
You see this is why I like BIG ships like the monstrous Caribbean cruise ships. The floating towns.... We're off on one of them later in the year. More info to follow. Even I couldn't push one of them away from the dock all by myself!
Clambering into small boats is fraught with danger. Don't think they'll be sleeping on it now they've seen it up close and experienced the size of it!
Never mind they have Ian's teepee with them.
So if you're strolling along the riverbank and spy Three Men in a Teepee making tea on a Gaz stove then stop and say HI for me.


Till next time.