Monday, August 28, 2006

Hello Edinburgh. Goodbye beard.

I paid a flying visit, by train, to the Edinburgh Festival, to see my god daughter Alex in The Positive Hour by April de Angelis. The play was brilliant. Alex was brilliant. Edinburgh was brilliant. Sorry to sound like the 'brilliant' character in the Fast Show, but it was.

Anyhow, it was well worth the 9 hours there and back on the train. Thank God I reserved my seats.

I had a brief trip to the book festival with Alex's mum. Our main objective was to have a coffee, which we achieved. 'You'll be here next year, signing books.' That'd be nice wouldn't it. Though by the sounds of it, I could have stood in for some of the authors who couldn't be bothered to show. (I noticed Jake Arnott's name scratched from one board.)

I was bearded in Edinburgh. Been growing one for a few weeks now. Yesterday I shaved my neck, to try and tidy it up. The kids hated it though. And Claire's friend Caitlin thought it made my very tiny head look even tinier. Rachel seemed slightly freaked out by it. 'You look like somebody else,' she said.

So this morning it came off. I must say, I feel a lot better without it. It was another distraction too. All that chin stroking and searching for titbits when I should have been writing.

Sorry, no plug today. Maybe shaving the beard off sapped my plugging powers.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I shouldn't worry about the "tiny head" stuff! Us women have had that stacked against us for years. Then some researcher came along and said there's no correlation between the size of the human brain and its capabilities.

But as for hair and that ancient Samson and Delilah story, I can't comment. I just hope you're not feeling "weak" after that shave Mr M!

Personally I subscribe to Oscar Wilde's theory on the creation of habit when it comes to "festival no shows" and everything else come to that:

"To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

For one occasion I let them off; on the second I start to wonder about their true motivations!

Richard Cooper said...

The whiskers look fine. Go ahead and scare more children. What good are kids if you can't frighten them from time to time?

mattfwcurran.com Web Admin said...

I thought you looked alright, actually. But then I am one of the "bearded brigade".

Never scared any children though...

...I don't think.

Roger Morris said...

Thanks Richard, Matt and Tom. (Two out of three commenters are bearded?) Well, now that I've shaved it off I want to grow it again. Maybe it's growing a beard that interests me, rather than having a beard. Maybe it is a metaphor. It seems to indicate commitment issues, at least regards facial hair.

Froosh Bamboo said...

I also like the beard. There; if that doesn't make you grow it back I don't know what will.

I'd like a beard but as I'm a girl it would be a bit inappropriate I suppose. And scary for children, if not highly educative.

Roger Morris said...

Don't worry, I started growing my next one straight away.

do you see many bearded squirrels, froosh?

Julia Buckley said...

I agree - quite liked the beard actually. Definitely a writerly look!