So Big Ideas last night - first off, lots of thanks to martylog and nudejournal for turning up to provide moral support. It went well, I think. A big turnout - for which I can claim no credit whatsoever - and a diverse one. More women turned up than to previous sessions, a good spread of ages, and backgrounds too. I spent the post-event drinks having a v. interesting chat with Brenda (of Kenyan background), Nikki (of Nigerian background) and Peter (of Chinese background). I did my talk without boring everyone to death, only some of the "jokes" fell flat, lots of people had questions and contributions, and there was only one needlessly aggressive nutter, who left after he realised no one was interested in his ravings.

I was extremely nervous about doing it, and at one point a few weeks ago, had considered pulling out altogether. I've taught and done presentations before, but I've rarely talked to so many strangers about such a potentially contentious subject, and was relieved at how good-spirited everyone was. If you're interested in future Big Ideas sessions, there's a mailing list you can access by clicking the link above.

Now, I have something else to invite you to. My old friend Bob Kingham has organised some more of his London tours based on the work of Peter Ackroyd (this time his Thames book). The first is this Saturday:

"A walking tour from Westminster to Rotherhithe, taking in 10 pubs' worth of real ale and 170 million years of riverine history. Meet at 2 pm at St. Stephen's Tavern, 10 Bridge Street, London."

It's a mixture of Bob doing readings from the Ackroyd book - and he is a spectacular storyteller - and pints. What could be finer? Please let me know if you want to come, and I'll tell Bob to give him an idea of numbers. Don't worry if you think you won't know anyone - it's not just me and a bunch of my mates, previous tours have been made up of lots of fun and interesting people.

Finally, music news. I just can't stop listening to the Goldfrapp CD, Seventh Tree. I don't usually do hippy-dippy, but this is delicious. Also, perfectlyvague was right on the money again, this time about the new Guillemots CD. When I first heard it, I thought "Dude, WTF" or something, but now can't stop listening to it. It's ace.

Does anyone know of an inexpensive man with van operating in the south London area? (I'm not moving house or anything - just need to shift a mattress from my Dad's house to mine.)

For reasons I shan't go into here (they're not particularly mysterious or scandalous) I've just friends-locked my entire LJ.

I know a couple of people - Justin and Matt, particularly - who read it and aren't on LJ. If you want to continue, just sign up for a free LJ account and link to my LJ.