I had a busy day yesterday. I took the dreaded “red eye” 0647 train to Edinburgh for a day’s work, and then had a couple of interesting engagements in the evening.
First, due to a chance encounter at a recent Highland Literary Salon gathering, I was invited to the equivalent literary get-together in Edinburgh, which was an interesting experience. I’m not sure I suit “literary” circles, and feel slightly out of sync when people tell me about their highly intelligent literary pursuits and I respond in turn to the inevitable question by telling them about mullets. I also think I inadvertantly insulted a world-renowned author, so maybe it’s not for me.
Indeed, when I texted Niall, with whom I am staying down here, to say I’d be at a literary salon, he replied:
“A literary salon? You need to take a close look at the direction your life is heading.”
“I know,” I texted back. “I need to get into drugs or something.”
Following the salon I met Niall to get some food – The Last Drop, a nice and very typically Edinburgh pub on the Grassmarket with most eclectic music tastes (War of the Worlds to Nirvana via Gerry Rafferty & Bob Holness).
After that, I was on the phone to ABC radio in Perth, Australia, who recorded a short interview with me about Up The Creek Without a Mullet. It’s part of some recent publicity I’ve been doing now the book is available as an ebook, and if you happened to be listening to Wednesday’s breakfast show then you might have heard me.
It was quite a deja vu moment, though, because it was the same show – and indeed same presenter and producer – I spoke to five years ago when hunting mullets in Australia. If presenter Eoin Cameron is reading this, then apologies that he is rechristened Ian in my description of that 2005 interview towards the end of the book. Serves me right for making assumptions purely on what I hear: another for the typo list!
Another result of my efforts has been a short piece in the Sydney Morning Herald Diary today. That again was something I featured in five years ago when they picked up on the Bundaberg News-Mail’s front page from a day or so previously, and propelled me, very briefly, into a whirlwind of interviews and even a TV appearance – but of course you can read all about that in UTCWAM’s closing chapters.
I’ve tapped up quite a few contacts from five years ago, and so there are a few other radio and newspaper pieces “Down Under” in the pipeline. I’ll of course post details here as I know them. It’s nice but strange to be talking to the same individuals all these years later, suggesting I’m destined to feature in Aussie media precisely once every five years.
Stand by for 2015, I guess.
