Football to KING KONG

Arsene Wenger is manager of a football club and has this to say in Saturday's Times..."The common denominator of successful teams is that the players are intelligent. That does not always mean educated. They can analyse a a problem and find a solution. The common denominator of a top-level person is that they can objectively assess their performance. You speak to a player after the game and ask him to rate his performance and if he analyses well, you know he is the sort who will drive home thinking, 'I did this wrong, I did that wrong.' His assessment will be correct and, next time, he will rectify it. That player has a chance. The one who has a crap game and says he was fantastic, you worry for him. This is also true in life beyond football."

Well, how true that is. Rafa Nadal certainly qualifies but I'm not so sure about me! I hope I'm learning as I go, and I certainly look back on things I wrote a year or two ago and wish I could edit them again. I think I can look back objectively on a day's writing output and say if it is good, mediocre or bad. Usually I twiddle with it next day, and that always improves it. Well, nearly always! H'mmm, maybe I qualify.

However, I was much chuffed to receive a compliment about FAR AFTER GOLD last week and it really cheered me up:

"(The book) irresistably hooked me in. I think what I really adored about it was the way you really gave your characters realistically and believably ancient sensibilities and moral codes. You so rarely see this done well it was wonderful to read - thank you!"

I watched KING KONG on tv last night. At the point where the ape seizes the coloured man and looks as if he's going to bite his head off, I clicked the remote and gave up. It was an ugly film, nasty to watch and not redeemed, as far as I was concerned, by computer images and back projection. Clever doesn't always mean good.

The pic? Matfen Hall, where we sometimes go for a meal.