London

I went to London two weeks ago for the first time in about six years. This is a bit bizarre given that London was the centre of my universe until I was at least twenty-five, but somehow circumstances conspired against my visiting, so I was very curious to see what had changed in that time.

In some ways, quite a lot. Transport seems better now than the last time I was there. The Oyster cards which allow you on and off the stations actually work, as do the barriers. I remember last time getting caught by a barrier as I was walking through. It hurt.

Covent Garden has become horrible, except for little pockets which are still quite interesting or have interesting shops. Drury Lane for instance has suddenly sprouted loads of ballet and dance shops which it never had before. What disappointed me was the number of coffee shops. Why does every single street have a Starbucks, Costa Coffee and a Pret à Manger? It makes the place so dull. And something that shocked me was the number of people sleeping on these streets. I remember that from the worst days of Thatcherism ... but I suppose that makes sense. Cameron is of the same ilk.

But what I really loved was the friendliness of the people. Everywhere I went and everyone I met was polite and considerate. And I wasn't just in 'nice' areas, I travelled on buses through south London, went to pubs which had been in the middle of riots two years ago and mixed with people from a wide range of cultures. It was like being on a manners wellness holiday after Munich where asking a person to move their bag on the train so you can sit down is treated as tantamount to insulting their mother.

So, I really enjoyed it, and I shall try and go back again soon. Moreover I found a great venue for a scene in the novel, at some stage.

Writing has been held up by all sorts of external activities, but I'm taking some holiday in May, so I want to get three chapters out before June.

Down with porn!

Interesting article in The Guardian newspaper today which reflects very much my own distaste with the pornification of our society. Here's the link and I really recommend everyone to read it here:

You can see how I integrate my views about the topic in Chapter 6 - The trouble with Franz under Good Stuff on the right.

Chapter 9 - The Hermit

 Finally the chapter where I get to talk about Tante Ilse’s interest in Tarot! As you will see in the chapter, the cards Celia’s laid to answer her questions were quite instructive and plausible. I actually pulled them at random from a Tarot pack, I did not select them for their plausibility. They did however reflect vague ideas that I have been having about why Ned should be in Croatia, rather than in a cemetery in England. I can’t explain Tarot, but my experience is that it throws up interesting possibilities.

I had great difficulties starting Chapter 9. I started three times and had to stop after the first two attempts because they weren’t right.  Here’s version 1:

‘Colin, I tell you it was Ned. I saw Ned. Not somebody who looks like Ned, not somebody who reminded me of Ned. It was Ned! Max … will you turn that bloody noise down!’ The doodles on the pad of paper that Celia always drew when talking on the phone became increasingly spiky.

I used some of this in the final text, but I felt it was too confusing as a beginning. So in the next version, I got Franz out of bed:

Straight after arriving home early on Saturday morning, Celia woke Franz and told him.

‘Ned?’

I quite liked this, but finally decided it was too bare and also confusing. In the final version I decided to put more emphasis on the domestic context

When Franz woke up and went into the kitchen early on Saturday morning he found Celia sitting at the table looking through a pile of old newspaper clippings and photographs.

This was the beginning I finally chose. I hope you can live with it.

The story so far:

Celia Thomas has returned home to Munich from a trip to Zagreb. Late the previous night she believes she saw her brother Ned, who was supposed to have been killed in Bosnia in 1995. But will anybody believe her story?

Chapter 9 - The Hermit can now be found under good stuff

Chapter 8 - Tomi

King Tonislav of Croatia 925-928

Chapter 8 introduces Tomislav Lederer, an interesting but ambiguous figure. I find these characters interesting to write about. There is a fine line between good and bad activities in most cases. Very few people (and there are some) behave badly on purpose. We nearly always believe that there is a moral justification for our actions, however appalling other people find them. I'm not sure how Tomi will turn out, let's see as the story progresses.

The story so far: Dr Celia Thomas is researching a mysterious chapel on behalf of Colonel Ivan Kaiec, a wealthy Croatian business man with political ambitions. After her meeting with the Colonel in Zagreb (see chapter 7), Celia has time to explore the city before she takes the night train back to Munich...

Chapter 8 can now be found under 'Good Stuff' on the right.

Chapter 7 - The Chapel in Istria

Chapter 7 goes live at last!

It was supposed to be longer but I realised I was trying to squeeze too much activity into too small a space, so I stopped at a natural break and the next chapter will  be a continuation of Celia's adventures in Zagreb.

The story so far for newcomers:

Dr Celia Thomas is an art restorer who works in Munich. She has been commissioned to investigate the walls of a 15th century chapel in Croatia, belonging to Ivan Kaiec, a wealthy Croatian businessman. He believes there could be paintings hidden behind plaster dating back to the 15th or 16th century. But is he right?

Chapter 7 can now be found under 'Good Stuff' on the right

Fresco research

 Chapter 7 is on the way but has necessitated a lot of research in advance. The funny thing is that most of this research will never actually appear in the final material, but I feel I need to know some of this stuff in order to make the actions of the characters believable.

So what have I been looking at and why?

Mostly I've been trying to find out more about the work of a restorer, as that is what Celia - the book's central character - will be doing in this chapter. I wanted to find out in particular about frescoes and how you would find out if underneath a layer of plaster there might be something interesting. This led me to some interesting places. First of all Famagusta in Cyprus, where the University of Nanyang in Singapore has been funding the restoration of some frescoes: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-snm3kWK4tk 

I then wanted information about the kind of equipment that might be useful for analysis purposes. Ever heard of a 'Laser scanning vibrometer'? I hadn't either and I have to say it sounds vaguely rude. However the google ads that pop up have not become any more unsuitable than they were before, so their algorithms see nothing wrong with it. 

http://www.ndt.net/article/v04n12/tomasini/tomasini.htm 

Finally, I wanted to learn how I could take plaster off a wall. I'm not sure that Celia would think this the best way, but I love this YouTube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KroAfHVx4zo 

Anyway, as I said, chapter 7 is on its way, but is currently only half finished. It should be ready on Friday. Come and have a look then.

Chapter 5 - The visitor from Croatia

Danse Macabre -

St Mary of the Rock, Beram

 Here, finally, is chapter 5. I apologise for the amount of time this took but for some reason I found it hard. I had to do quite a lot of research about the work of picture restorers and try to establish what could be a realistic object for Celia to have to work on. 

However, with this chapter the plot is slowly starting to gain contour. So far there has been a lot of scene setting but here we are beginning to  approach the heart of the story which is quite exciting. This means that my next chapter will be chapter 7, where Celia will be in Croatia for the first time and starts to think that her brother may be alive after all. Hmmh!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 5 and please send me comments. I look forward to them.
For new readers - the story so far:
Celia Thomas works as a fine art restorer in Munich. Sixteen years previously her brother Ned Atkinson - a journalist - was killed during the fighting in Bosnia Herzegovina. Celia has no reason to believe that this was anything other than a dreadful accident but there is in fact more to his death than meets the eye. 
In this chapter Celia is asked by her boss to meet a wealthy Croatian businessman who wants her help.

Chapter 5  can now be found in 'Good Stuff' on the right.