Thursday, September 11

More people need to turn up, but what can you do – except offer congenial company in a convivial setting?
Dick Stevenson, David Merewether and Penny Tweedie provided continuity. Penny had tales of encounters with bears in the Rockies and also told horror stories of external hard drives packing up (particularly Lacie), at huge expense. Andy Marshall brought along a copy of his book about smoking, Stopping's Easy, which several of us read as Shopping's Easy, which he now has painted on the side of his van to publicise the book. It was a pleasure to see Meejahub's Gaynor Edwards and Jezz Tims, who hadn't realised quite how far Benenden was from Tunbridge Wells. Jezz recommended Group 8 in Edenbridge for Mac support (about £120 a year), while Gaynor, who has Spanish connections, offered to try to come up with ways of promoting my latest novel. Antonia Coleman, a local silversmith, cheered us up for a while, making us think we should add a "Jewellers" category to the Groucho People list.

• There was a good Meejahub turnout at Thorins wine bar in Tunbridge Wells the previous evening. About 30 turned up, all much better dressed than the Groucho slouches. This was mostly a new media crowd and not the place to say: “I can do you a thousand words for two hundred quid.” Brighton is the centre of New Media in Britain these days, and the BBC are sending scouts there to recruit. One of its driving forces is a website, Wired Sussex. This leads me to look for a Wired Kent: such a site does exist, hidden behind South East Media Network, a poorer cousin.
• A job vacancy from Groucho's Neil Nixon:
Writer/Photographer wanted – Dartford
We're looking for a writer/photographer for an innovative project based in Dartford. A BTEC National Media group – aged 16-19 – are producing print on demand books using photographs and words. The photography class is scheduled from 9–10.30am on Wednesday mornings and needs a tutor with some appreciation of how pictures and words might work together. Technically speaking the demands aren't massive, using digital cameras and general editing packages to produce images good enough to drop into books. However, we do need someone capable of explaining how equipment works and helping students to research information on elements like focal length and pieces of photographic equipment; even though the students may never venture beyond basic digital images in their own work. Rates circa £28-00 per hour. If this is you, contact nlnxn@aol.com marking the e-mail 'Writer/photographer.'