Have you been out today?

In other news: though it's somewhat against the spirit of this blog given its title, I'm off to the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival for a chunk of this coming week. I was, I confess, rather surprised (but delighted) to be asked. I don't know much about what to expect beyond "probably quite warm" and "good hospitality". I shall try to remember to take some photos and actually write about it on this here blog. (Really, truly. I can't go on just posting up old sketchbook pages all the time, that's no good to anyone, is it?)

If nothing else I hope to be able to report definitively on which of the hotel's three swimming pools I like the best.

I have no expectation of ever getting the chance to take this kind of treatment for granted so I fully intend to make the most of it while I can.

Closer to home (but still an enticingly long train journey away - and I do love an enticingly long train journey), I shall be appearing at the Hay Festival on May 31st. I have two events in the one day, I believe: one about Good Dog, Bad Dog, and one about A Boy and a Bear in a Boat.

Should be fun. Possibly for me, maybe for whatever audiences I attract, hopefully for both.