No rest for the wicked. And so tomorrow, first thing, to a Creative Loop meeting at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay to talk about the recent trip to Namibia, and then on to my old alma mater, Strathclyde University, for a one-day creative writing conference. On the bill, key speaker and an ex-classmate of mine, Louise [...]
Sometimes the work you get involved in is interesting, sometimes it isn’t. And sometimes it’s life-changing. As my friend and ex-colleague John Collins says herejohnco.co.uk/2011/05/22/thoughts-en-route-home/ the Namibian trip is among the latter type. And he’s got the photo to prove it. Wonder where things will go from here?
So here it is – news of last week’s visit to Namibia. Windhoek means the place where the winds meets, and we were glad of the breeze in the 80 degree heat, though to the Africans we met it was the dead of winter. That’s me on the balcony of a bar overlooking the city, [...]
No rest for the wicked. And so tomorrow, first thing, to a Creative Loop meeting at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay to talk about the recent trip to Namibia, and then on to my old alma mater, Strathclyde University, for a one-day creative writing conference.
On the bill, key speaker and an ex-classmate of mine, Louise Welsh (The Cutting Room, The Bullet Trick), poets nick E melville and Tracy Rosenberg and journalist Eamonn O’Neill on ‘the no-man’s-land between fiction and non-fiction’.
Fascinating stuff.
And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s all followed by the above evening of readings at the CCA. Plus wine, no doubt.
Oh well. All part of life’s rich tapestry. Note to self – remember to have fun.
Sometimes the work you get involved in is interesting, sometimes it isn’t. And sometimes it’s life-changing.
As my friend and ex-colleague John Collins says herejohnco.co.uk/2011/05/22/thoughts-en-route-home/
the Namibian trip is among the latter type. And he’s got the photo to prove it.
Wonder where things will go from here?
So here it is – news of last week’s visit to Namibia.
Windhoek means the place where the winds meets, and we were glad of the breeze in the 80 degree heat, though to the Africans we met it was the dead of winter.
That’s me on the balcony of a bar overlooking the city, with Mike Higgins of the NUJ, enjoying a much-needed liquid rest 24 hours after flying from Glasgow via Dubai and Johannesburg.
Meetings were held with the Namibian, the country’s leading newspaper, and with journalists and broadcasters of all types from right across the country. Busy, busy, busy – but there was time for a lunch. Or two.
(Me, Helliate Rushwaya, manager of the Creative Loop, and Mike relax among the trees in a local restaurant.)
No, there weren’t any lions in the main street. If you’re ever in Namibia, you might avoid asking that question of the locals. They get a bit sick of it. But one of the biggest game reserves in the world isn’t far away, and if you want, and you have the proper licenses, you probably can go shooting there.
Somebody must, because we ate Eland one night. And my good friend and ex-colleague, John Collins, single-handedly invented the Oryx supper – antelope and chips – a Scottish twist on African cuisine.
Meetings, meetings, meetings – but we did manage into a bar occasionally.
This is Mike, me and Helliate entering a hostelry to catch up with all those notes and ideas you accumulate when you’re working hard. As you can see, the visit was going so well that it was all Helliate could do to refrain from breaking into a dance.
Actually, she didn’t refrain from it.
A wonderful visit to the most amazing place I’ve ever been. And, all joking aside, a really successful trip.
Never a dull moment – and now, after just one week back from the wilds of the Scottish Highlands, I’m off to somewhere even wilder. To wit, Namibia, by the roaring Atlantic in South East Africa.
I’m setting off tomorrow on a full expenses-paid trip with media producers to Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, travelling via Dubai and Johannesburg on a 24 hour trip that takes me from the north to the south of the world.
While there, we’ll visit the University of Namibia and leading Namibian TV and radio broadcast stations. And we’ll produce a live broadcast between Africa and Scotland.
A full visit with loads to see and do, lots of catching up with ex-colleagues and lots of jet-lag to get over. But I’m looking forward to what is going to be the trip of a lifetime, though hopefully not the last one if the partnerships we’re proposing come off.
So I hope you’ll let me off if I don’t contribute to this blog for a while. But when I come back, there’ll be plenty of news – because the launch of my novel is imminent!
