Still have hair

Someone asked me today if I was tearing my hair out. No, actually, my hair has grown long and lush - so much so that the regular waitress in the caff that constitutes my daily 'exercise hour' asked if it was the natural colour (yes, er, it's grey) and admired it for longer than was seemly.

But as you can see, the stress is showing just slightly in my features. Luckily most of my work is done by phone and email so no one can see what state I'm in. Except you.

The good news is that everything is on course for the York Lesbian Arts Festival next week. In the tradition of Virgoan event organisers everywhere, I keep writing notes on Post-its and then transcribing them into notebooks and then typing them up into computer files and then copying those on to To-do lists and then printing them off and annotating them. (Is there another way?)

The festival bus service is booked, the venues are paid for, the sandwiches are ordered for the concert performers, the toilets are being re-labelled for ladies... But just when I think everything is covered, someone who has done these things before says something like, 'What's the electricity supply for the outdoor concert?' and I think 'ELECTRICITY??'

But no, it's all on course. Really. It's fine. Just fine...

Do come.

Helen x

www.ylaf.org.uk

Yikes, is that the date?

It would seem that not only have I failed to post a blog for a month or... erm... two, I've also not exactly done everything that needs doing for the festival. Which is in three weeks. Yikes. On the bright side, I have finished the souvenir programme and it's quite nice. I have updated the website and that's quite nice too. So does that increase the chances that the festival will also be quite nice? Hope so.

If you are reading this thinking, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to the festival but I haven't booked yet,' then may I make a suggestion? Book. I know dykes are notorious for leaving things to the last minute - having babies is a case in point - but wouldn't you rather know that you had tickets and a place to stay and all that kind of thing? Wouldn't it make you feel warm and secure?

Of course, lots of people have booked already. Hundreds if not thousands (note to self: learn to read spreadsheets) but we could always do with some more.

To tempt you, here is a snippet of a new poem I am writing specially to perform at YLAF in my 'Queen of Doggerel' persona when I will be MC'ing an open-mic session. It was inspired by our friend Mary W getting a job as a change manager in the civil service.

CHANGE MANAGER
I am the change manager, the manager of change,
I take the ten pence pieces and I put them within range
I take the fifty pences and I make them up to pounds
I shake the copper in the tin and then record the sounds.

Good, eh? See, some people say I'm pushing the book festival in an over-literary direction and I don't like to think that's true but then I look at the high-brow nature of something like Change Manager and I think, they may have a point.

Laters, girls!
Helen x
www.ylaf.org.uk