I needed a small suitcase on wheels to move my books to the book room at the conference. I started by buying a little suitcase to store my heavy books. I bought it second hand. What else could go in with the books for next year or the year after, my next conference?
Storage Suitcase Contents
1 In addition to having heavy books, I have also stapled handout papers in see-through folders.
2 The travel directions are always useful.
3 This time I have added the business cards, each card marked with the year. I have held them together in an elastic band.
4 I have last year's notebook, half filled, with the year on the cover. The empty half will do for my next conference.
I have everything ready from the most recent annual Writers' conference ready for next year in my small wheeled suitcase. What if I don't know where everything is, next year? Today I attached the label to the suitcase showing the contents. I shall take a photo of the suitcase and email it to myself.
Next year, or the year after, I will be able to note the names of people I previously met. I will be able to recall the books they wrote, or the talks they gave.
Committee Names
I will be up-to-date on that year's committee. I will know whether it was their first year or a repeat.
Book Buyers Recorded
I should also remember who bought one of my books. I want to greet them amicably. I can offer them a follow-up book.
By taking a photo of myself signing the book, with the buyer, I can keep a record.
Past Notes
Will I ever read all those past notes? Probably not. I might not be able to read my hand-writing.
Why wasn't I typing on my laptop, or writing notes on my mobile phone? The main conference hall had everybody sitting around round tables. Unfortunately, most of the rooms had neither tables not trays attached to chairs.
The Speakers mostly offered to send slides to participants.
Notes For Next Year At Writers Summer School Swanwick
Variable Cuisine
What was the food like? A rollercoaster. Some meals were wonderful and some were terrible. I was happy with chicken and potato. Once two types of potato.
Then my chicken was red in the middle, like others had been. Friends, even enemies, on my table insisted that I send it back.
The best meals were those on the first and last nights. The Saturday dinner when we arrived seemed to have meat and potatoes and vegetables and so did Sunday lunch. Then the evening meal seemed to be salad. From then on it was a summer menu with one meal main salad and nothing substantial. However, the last night's dinner was wonderful. I opted for the fish with Thai sauce, which was green and tasted of lime, maybe slight coconut or lemongrass. Fabulous. Fabulous flavours.
I have been trying to reproduce it. I have been looking at recipes and ingredients. Thai chicken? Lemon sauce? Lime? Sweet and sour with lime?
The nearest I have got to it at other restaurants was lemon chicken at the Royal China in . But that was lemon, not lime, and not green.
Their cakes at tea time were great. The biscuits were not as good as previous years. At morning break time, plain biscuits. the gluten free biscuits had more crunch and chocolate.
Service, likewise was varied. Lovely ladies tired to help, offer more, bring food from the cafeteria to the table for the elderly or incapacitated. Others angrily insisted that vegetarian options were only for vegetarians. The cheese on the buffet ran out, so I assumed it was finished. Later when I went back for dessert, I saw that a refill had arrived, but only after a crowd of people hanging around, creating a traffic jam queue like a food ball crowd, and giving up. Choice of two desserts. Only two. Mostly both good. Often one was fruit. Sometimes rather gelatine like.
On the third day I found porridge. At breakfast time on the day before last I discovered that porridge was available on request every day, from the kitchen. You just had to ask. Even though I've been going there for twenty years, you forget when you haven't been back for a year. The system changes. Communication is not their strong point.
The girls on the front desk are very friendly and helpful.
Drinks
The drinks machines were wonderful. I opted for cappuccino but lost interest. However, on the full day two, the Monday, I discovered that powdered chocolate was in a glass container beside the machine. Never mind the machine with no cocoa option. Never mind the lack of chocolate biscuits for everyone. I had my chocolate fix.
For me the highlight of the conference was the opportunity to act in the five minute play. Some of the plays had few characters. One was a monologue. Because our play had seven characters I got to meet a lot more people. It was a comedy. I needed a comedy.
With all that food, lots of it, we needed some exercise.
Lakeside Walk
This year no cows were visible. However, a friend of mine claimed to have seen goats up close in an adjoining field. I did not see goats up close, but we had a pleasant walk around the lake, and the gardens.
Books Bought
I have been reading three signed books I bought at Swanwick.
1 The Full English by Melanie Branton.
2 The Chemist by A A Dhand.
3 A Blonde Bengali Wife by Anne Hamilton.
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