... and we're back! (again)

hello there faithful friends. it has been a while, but we are back on home soil. and i say (again) because we got back from the big trip a couple of weeks ago, we spent the past weekend in sydney. i know, i know. what's with all the travel, right?

the big trip, as you know, was around the world from the end of october last year to the start of february this year. we explored parts of the usa, canada, europe and south africa. you can catch up on what happened at my other blog, but i'll give you a run-down of the writerly things here:
- whilst in new york, we caught up with ron mclarty and his lovely wife, kate. we met them both at the 2005 melbourne writers festival, and they invited us over to their gorgeous pad for dinner one night. it was an excellent evening in which we met lots of interesting people, drank much wine and talked about everything. thank you ron and kate for a lovely evening!
- we went on a tour of bbc tv and i met a guy who used to work on the sketch show 'goodness gracious me'. not really writerly, but i gave a few business cards and like to now think of self as at one degree of separation from meera syal and sanjeev bhaskhar.
- not much else - apart from the fact that for most of the trip, i kept taking notes on an idea i think might develop into a manuscript. i'm working on that now.

they sydney trip this weekend was all about participating in a talk and a forum at the liverpool regional library for an event titled 'chutney generations'. it was all about indo-fijian diaspora and identity, and was very enjoyable. again i got to meet a lot of people who had read the book, and even got to sign a few copies. it was a great way to get back into it.

now i am hoping to settle down and get some writing done. we're staying with my mum and dad at the moment and yesterday i cleared the spare desk in the computer room. now, with lakshmi, ganesh and saraswati watching over me, i hope to get some words down. happy new year all, and see you later!