This weekend is a big birthday for my husband. I have to be kind to him because it’ll be mine next year and he’ll be able to turn anything rude I say back on me.
To celebrate, we’re off to Bletchley Park, the place they cracked the Engima code. Nick and I last went 16 years ago. Our eldest couldn’t speak, let alone understand he was looking at one of the first computers. None of the other children were born. Now we’re hoping everybody’s fascinated and I’m preparing to feel surpassed. I suspect my eleven-year-old, in week 3 of senior school knows what you do with an iterative loop. By 6th form, I knew the single line of program required to make a VDU flash magenta and green. (On the other hand, I also knew how to use a knife and fork!)
My poor female protagonist has more to do in her own story than she had this time last week. I now have a list of scenes to be written from scratch or revised. Amazing how much better I feel just because I’ve written a list.
Must go and see those machines.
sophie beal 