Been a while, I know.  I can't get the hang of this blogging nonsense, where you speak even if you have nothing to say.  I promise never to do that.  So here's an entry about ephemera and inconsequentiality. 

I passed my f*&!ing UK driver's test!  Hurrah!  I've been driving for twenty years, so naturally I failed twice.  My last one was particularly infuriating, where my examiner (what kind of girl under 30 decides to be a driving test examiner, by the by?) watched me drive perfectly for 40 minutes and then failed me for going slightly up a low curb after going around an illegally parked car on a hairpin turn.  (This story gets more detailed every time I tell it; "and there was a dwarf there, threatening us with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter".)

I really couldn't drive better than I did there, so I just sort of gave up, relaxed, and what do you know?  Passed on my third try with only three minor faults.  SAILED through.  Beware drivers of Kent.

Regular readers (thank you, both of you) have asked specifically to know, as an author, what books I'm reading.  Happy to oblige.  I most recently finished M J Hyland's Carry Me Down, which is excellent and builds very well (though see if you buy Mr Roche when you read it).  Currently a third of the way through Norman Rush's very, very dense Mortals.  715 pages of teeny, tiny print.  Rewarding so far, though.  I'll keep you posted.