London Lady

Not exactly a London Lady, but I did go down on Friday for a meeting of children's writers on Saturday. I spent Friday evening at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where there is always something to marvel at. They had the most beautiful exhibition of botanical drawings. It astonishes me that anyone can observe and reproduce a flower so perfectly, and makes me look at the real thing all over again.

And there was some Victorian book illustration by Walter Crane, who was the Big New Thing in his day. He introduced new concepts, like learning to read in very simple little steps and providing charmingly illustrated books for small children. He wanted to make early learning fun, even when that was a pretty odd idea.

Saturday was an excellent day in the company of other children's authors and illustrators, led by, among others, Helena Pielichaty (football books for girls), Tony Bradman (has been around for ever, written everything, and is inspiring), and Anne Cassidy (teen crime fiction), with a brilliant final address by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions, Framed.)

The only downside (and it wasn't much of a downside, more of a down edge, really) was that there was a lot of disruption on the tube (underground railway) all weekend. Leaving the conference, I reached Victoria Station shortly after 4.30. Why did it suddenly get so busy? Why were the trains and the platforms crammed and the tannoy saying something about maybe having to close the station?

Oh. Arsenal playing at home. Late kick-off, 5.30 at the Emirates Stadium. If you're not in Britain and don't understand that, it means that if you can get on and off the train without suffocating it's a good day.

It was a good day.