<fangirl squeal>

a rare thing is a saturday off for scarlet, and a rare thing too is a saturday blip from me! also rare: good footballing news on a saturday (or any day): but the toon are third in the table after a 3-0 win, woohoo! not even the arrival of the thieving wee sod to steal birdseed could dent the afternoon.

then this evening i went to my first festival thingy: stuart macbride & allan guthrie at the book festival. no offence to AG, whose novels i have read one or two of and enjoyed and who said some interesting things, but this pairing was seriously uneven - not only were most of the audience questions directed to SM, but the first reading (and to an extent the second) were skewed in SM's direction by dint of their content, and his sheer force of personality was hogging the stage despite his best efforts. next year, get yer own stage, macbride!

i then did my usual fangirl thing of standing in the signing Q, trying to think of something mildly interesting and not too adoring to say and failing miserably by the time i got the table... however - perhaps because of much practice - SM was very nice and friendly and happy to listen to my brief witterings and scribbled a wee personal message in my book (this isn't my book - when i saw the sketch i was envious!). he came across as the kind of bloke you could sit in the pub and yack on with for hours without realising it was hours - i reckon he makes a good mate to those lucky enough to know him.

i wished at this point i had some blipcards, as after taking a few photos ('i promise i won't flash'/raised eyebrows/'er, camera flash!'/grin) i ended up writing my blip address on my ticket and passing it over to him. no idea if he's looking in (probly not) but on the offchance: i'm the Louise whose name is far from ordinary. and yeah, i bet you thought this was going to be a slightly fuller portrait, but the hands of a writer are the fascinating part (seeing as how i can't photograph the brain). and hey, you're in good company: these are the hands of the mighty val mcdermid from last year's book festival :-)

more power to your elbow, sir - and i hope you had a good time in vegas ;-)