Tom Lloyd

Meh, it’s pretty much as dull back here in the office as I remember, I’m really not cut out for office life! Still, ten days in France doing really not all that much has been pretty good I reckon, despite the total-relaxation plan being slightly derailed by a pair of screaming four-month-olds! Well, ok, they weren’t screaming all the time, but combine them and the fact that for some reason the Dordogne has been plagued by horseflies, several of my relaxation activities were made somewhat harder: Reading isn’t as easy when there’s a screaming baby in the room, playing tennis is somewhat harder when you’re slapping horseflies constantly and occasionally hitting yourself with the racquet when you slap with the wrong hand, and swimming is certainly less fun when you can’t surface without having evil bitey things attack!

On the good news side, I had an interview at Macmillan that seemed to go well on Friday – don’t particularly want the job because I get the impression it’d be a pretty hectic job (and by hectic I mean that there are 2 people in the contracts department for the whole of Pan Macmillan, so I’d be the junior partner and with huge amounts on my plate, something that becomes less palatable when you’ve got a novel to write in your spare time) but it might help with the conversation I’m planning with my boss about her paying me the same and me working less (you’re right, I might not sell it in quite that way). All thoughts welcome – at the moment all I have is engaging in a ninja-style raid on her house and photographing her in compromising situations with the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, just as a reminder before negotiations begin that nowhere is secure against my powers. As yet still in the conception stage however.

On another plus side, I can now pick up a baby without being terrified of dropping the fragile squirming thing – trust me, this is an improvement on pre-Cabin owning life.