Fasten your seatbelt  Detterling. You're in for a bumpy night...

OVERHEARD IN HARRIS & HOOLE...

(An occasional feature)

27th October

Absolutely wonderful weather in Uxbridge this afternoon. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. I met up with Mary Winterbourne, Tony of the Big Saloon and Sugarboy Nando in Harris &  Hoole. Wonderful chocolate eclairs and freshly roasted coffee and the wonderful weather lifted my spirits to no end. The following conversation could be overheard:

Mary Winterbourne: We haven't seen much of each other over the summer. Holidays and family events seem to have stopped us meeting up.

Gene: Yes Mary.  I trust all is going well with each of us. I am still basking in the glow of the publication of Granny Barkes Fell in Woolworths. In fact I am trying to get the publishers, Rattlesnake Press, to publish a collection of Johnny Bluenote's portraits. Johnny Bluenote's illustrations contributed a lot to the success of Granny Barkes Fell in Woolworths. 

Tony of the Big Saloon:  We all have noted how Detterling has sloped off from your blog with his tail between his legs.

Gene: Yes Tony. He had no answer to Swashbuckling Mulligan's brilliant satire did he? However, I wish to now go easy on Detters. After all he is eighty - a very old man. I think the publication of Granny Barkes affected him a lot. I think it caused him to look back on his life and see what a failure he has been. He compares this with his friend Gene: Gene who has been a great success as a teacher and is now a critically acclaimed writer.

And I guess that Swashbuckling Mulligan's satire, which showed him up as a fake, phony and hypocrite, was the final straw. He figured the only way was to get out of there mucho pronto.

Mary Winterbourne: Certainly Swashbuckling Mulligan's satire was devastating. I remember reading it late one evening - at almost exactly the time it was posted. Before I had read halfway through it I said to myself, " Wow! Fasten your seatbelt  Detterling. You're in for a bumpy night."

Gene: For my next publication I was hoping to publish my one-act play Nancyboys Ahoy. Unfortunately I just can't find my original manuscript. However, I have a feature entitled A Delia Divertimento coming up on this blog. It will be presented in serial form, in periodic instalments. 

Mary Winterbourne:  I'm sure it will be written with the ineffable delicacy and lightness of touch that characterises all your writing Gene.

Sugarboy Nando: Any news about the publication of Detterling's memoirs?

Loud laughter from all.

GENE