 |
| Me and my new mate, Robin the robin from the Hoodwinked trail. |
So, it's the night before "Christmas" and tomorrow we fly to the States. I'm feeling a mixture of excited, terrified and that it isn't really happening. But, the bag is packed, the first stops are planned and this blog is being written. How did it come to this?
It's been I while since I last wrote as there was the Playground festival to run at Nottingham Playhouse and the Hoodwinked sculpture trail to launch, but I've also been plotting things for my trip, including heading to the FDR Library on Tuesday next week to see the original letters Lord Mayor Francis Carney sent to Eleanor to set up the scholarship. I'll also be visiting 826 NYC and the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store as well! I'm booked in with a motley crew of family and friends in Washington, Chicago, Alton-St Louis and Chattanooga and have a bag packed full of Robin Hood hats, Nottingham books and rubber "ay up" ducks. I'm ready as I'll ever be - I even got new shoes.
I wanted to just take this moment to offer a few thank yous for those who have helped. Thank you to Russ, Rachel and Sheridan at the Roosevelt for supporting me and answering my stupid questions and to all the past scholars who have been so giving in their time and advice. Thanks to Cllr David Mellen for his support around the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and meeting them in Pigeon Forge. Thanks to Sandy, Matt and Leanne at Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature for their hooking me up with John in Iowa. Thanks to Prof. Andrew Harrison for his wise words on DH Lawrence and the anecdote about his cow, Susan (Lawrence's, not Andrew's). Thank you to my Crowdfund backers - I'm really excited about sending you your post cards and buying your 826 gifts. Thank you to Nottingham Playhouse and Hoodwinked for serendipitously working exactly to my dates for the trip! Thanks to future hosts and friends in the UK who have hooked me up with possible places to bunk up. And, thanks to Cáit for coming with me for the first week and without whom I wouldn't have been able to do any of this!
Now, it's 23:18 and I need to head to bed - we're on the train to the airport at 5:20 tomorrow morning! Next missive from NYC!