Monday. October 6

A party had reserved the big table for an evening meal, so we stood by the bar. That's okay; most of us are barflies anyway. The usual suspects were joined by Viv Watts, long-time sub on the Express, who brought the news that 86 subs are to be sacked by Dirty Des, who can't imagine what they actually do: his plan is for all journalists to tap their stories into a template, to fit, and the remaining handful of subs will simply stick a headline and standfirst on top. Viv is an extremely competent sub and would appreciate any job offers. She came with Chris Jolly, a film and video editor with huge experience.Penny Tweedie says that the company in Canada that can produce handsome picture books for £120 is PIKTO. "An even cheaper one," she says, "but not quite such high quality according to my colleague who has used both, is BLURB in San Francisco. If using this one he advises that one goes for option B3, which is apparently more professional."
David Merewether recounted a fruitful shoot the previous day in Salehurst (about which we will all know soon enough) and even began talking about moving there on account of its excellent pub.
And hey, why should I hide my light under a bushel? I just made the front page of the Wall Street Journal.