Literally A Fabulous Day

Sat with Mr David Llewellyn having a chinwag (which was also an interview, I don’t do formal really) over a coffee sat in the sun on Old Compton Street we both felt that ‘this was the life’ that a) we deserved and b) people probably think that authors and journalists have. You know, you don’t do much; you have masses of money coming in and so you can swan about doing the odd casual interview, maybe throw in some reading and sunbathing as David had been before, or just catch some rays by a pool on a roof as I did in the afternoon and then attend the odd party. If only, dream on. Yes we were both having one of those days; it’s not a reality sadly.

Today has been a very literary day though and I do love one of those. I was up to do some more of my Bent deadline quite early, which is not very like me I finally believe the jetlag is wearing off. I then went to meet David for an interview (I am determined to get more literature into Bent, my editor may have scrapped my Stella Duffy article previously, however I am not giving in again) on my way there I tried to get a copy of his latest novel ‘Everything is Sinister’ plug, plug. Well I wasn’t allowed one, not until Polari, which I was attending anyways so it was fine. I couldn’t believe a book shop wouldn’t sell me a book, Mr B would have laughed at my reaction of dumb founded despair… I did buy it later!

Coffee (and interview) with David was a delight. A really decent guy, genuine and very funny, made my job a bloody doddle. Very interesting discussions on books and torchwood were had by all; well by me anyways I may have bored him to death. Look out for his feature in next months Bent. As mentioned above I then proceeded to head for the pool and a serious bout of sunbathing. Am currently reading Will Self’s ‘The Book of Dave’ (why did I think Will Self was gay?) and it’s a bit of a good ‘en but a blinking difficult ‘en too! So tried to look very well read in my Speedo’s and shades.

Met Spanners at Westminster to go to the worst album launch ever, and it was for a serious artist too, I have now truly come to the decision that if a launch isn’t good in the first 30mins it’s not going to get much better. With this in mind we left for Polari, which was where I wanted to be anyways. The delightful Paul and Dom were there and made Spanners feel very welcome. David’s reading was extremely witty and a fab night was had by all… it always is at Polari.

Oh and I finally got to meet Clayton and put a face to the name. David and I had popped into Dirty White Boy earlier to say hello and left a note with Jorge as he was out! He arrived after David had done his reading and was as lovely in real life as you read him online or in the London Paper. So all in all a very literary day and altogether a fabulous one.

Now off to bed with Dave and the Mokney, who would have thought you had to learn a new language to read a book?