Planning for the Nile trip and e-book formatting

In addition to the current days tasks for a variety of parties, including Mr Straus with further ideas and inspirations for design modifications required to his branding, there were three elements of interest today.

The first was the complex decision making leading to the decision for me to accompany Miss T on a Nile trip to Egypt's antiquities. The country had been featuring in the news during its revolution during the earlier part of this year, with concern about security and safety therefore being uppermost in my mind. I consulted with my Insurance Brokers to ensure that we could get appropriate travel and health cover for the trip later in the year. This was complicated by the fact that a prophylactic medication that I take, which retains me in the good health that I enjoy, meant that the medical health insurance element resulted in a higher premium for me (still providing an overall premium a good 15 to 20% below that from other sources!). Once the steps were put in place, it was then possible to book the tickets with the reputable travel company Thompson.

The second point was an idiosyncrasy arising from payment. I had paid with a credit card. The sum, despite the heavy discount, was not inconsiderable and I wished to transfer funds from my bank to the credit card. In all other instances, I make payments over the internet to other accounts. However, I could not transfer monies from my bank account to my credit card! Ah, the impenetrable and inscrutible financial services – no dount there will be a charge involved in the final solution to my problem.

The third element of interest was a discussion with fellow author and interested party in e-book publication, Ms Ekblom. We had an interesting exchange of information on the use of software such as Sigil for the editing of the formatting in the underlying HTML language of texts and the subsequent formatting in Calibre. Ms Ekblom had an eagle eye as a proof reader that complemented my knowledge on the formatting language as we shared a common view of a screen through the medium of Skype internet telephony.

A pleasant diversion was the arrival of the empty picture frames for my Cambridge Open Studios exhibition. Miss T was instrumental in carefully opening the frames and then mounting selected pictures, after I had signed them. It now remains for me to arrange the printing of four outstanding images and also painting two images using the newly acquired art of Chinese Brush Painting.

Ms Riches, our publicity officer for COS, also contacted me over lunchtime via Skype and we exchanged text comments whilst listening to a short interview on the Peterborough Open Studios of circa 40 artists. COS was also mentioned and we were pleased that this year we were starting public awareness of Cambridge Open Studios early.

Varied tasks, photographic show and missed total lunar eclipse.

A very varied day that included a disappointment,  quick modification of a business card design, book chapters to be reviewed, an Icelandic project and planning of a press release!

The evening included a meeting of the Milton Photographic Club, where members congressed for a show and tell of a selection of images. The idea was to review images that could be used for a presentation at the Milton Summer Fair.

Sadly, I missed the total lunar eclipse this evening, primarily due to the cloud cover. However there is the consolation that there will be another on 10th December of this year, though it will not be visible from the UK, as it occurs early to mid afternoon.

The next partial solar eclipse for the UK will be 20th May 2012.

Elusive client and the consolation of brownies

Chasing an elusive German client with regards to UK visits commitment without success. This contrasted with a positive call from a previous visitor to this island who was enquiring about assistance with another visit and related publicity.

Enjoyed a surprise visit by Mr Little, a trainer in the art of surveying and the technologies involved (see article on “From international boundaries to broomsticks”). I prevailed upon him to stay for dinner.

Evening taken up with a three hour meeting of the Management Team of the Cambridge Open Studios, to assess our progress to date against our objectives and budget. All was working surprisingly well, prior to the actual event of 178 studios opening their doors to the public in July. The marathon event was made more enjoyable by the brownies and drinks provided by our hostess, Ms Lichterman.

Teaching book formatting and volcanically delayed Australian flights

Just a short note for the day.

Painted a quick Bamboo picture and made it a note to accompany some Cambridge Open Studios booklets, which were delivered to Mr Harper and his colleagues at BBC Cambridgeshire.

I drove onwards for a marathom meeting with Ms Lowry, to assist in setting up her computer and documents for her book. The objective was to make life simpler at this stage and enable a speedier formatting and publishing of her book.

Back home, Miss T used her computing skills to design postcards and greetings cards for my Cambridge Open Studio that I then ordered online.

Have progressed the writing of my own book on producing and publishing an e-book using available free software.

Chile's Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago and is now disrupting flights in Australia.

Syria continues its repressive suppression of dissent, causing refugees to flee to the border with Turkey.

Meetings and traditional sausages

Yesterday's The Inspired Group meeting had generated a new idea that continued fermenting in the hours before sleep. Almost the first task of the day was to encapsulate the idea and its ramifications into a document that was then sent off for consideration, in confidence, by both Mr Wishart and a further contact. The internet conspired against me by failing temporarily, thus delaying my departure for the weekly Huntingdonshire Business Network meeting.

Fortunately, my journey to Huntingdon was without incident, though I noted with some concern, the sudden cessation of flow and the rapidly growing queues on the other carriageway once past the Godmanchester exit. Arriving at the HBN venue of the Indoor Bowls Club, I was delighted to see Ms J Buck, a ray of light amongst business people through her radiant smile, dynamism and dedication to her successful Aloe Vera business. Just passing by, I was fortunate to see her before she departed for another meeting.

Today's topics ranged from promoting tourism in Huntingdonshire, over the best e-book reader, including feedback and impressions of yesterday's TIG meeting. I hit a technical hitch trying to convert a document with a colour image into mobi e-book format for Ms Ekblom; a task I tackled in the evening, finding that failure appeared to be the paucity of text in the initial attempt as subsequent trials with additional text functioned perfectly.

After HBN, on to Over for Tutorcloud. Mrs Farndale had brought along the business cards printed according to my design, which had turned out well. Joined by Mr Beal and Ms Heeneman, we progressed through the procedural mechanisms underlying the continued development of the matchmaking site.

I spent some time afterwards in conversation with Mr Beal and minor troubleshooting of the Cambridge Open Studios blog functionality.

On the way home, I stopped off at the Rose farm in Swavesey to purchase sausages from the last batch of pork to be prepared before Autumn, coming away with Lincolnshire and Old English pork sausages to freeze at home.

Volcanic activity appears to the the rage as there were news pictures of increasing lava activity in Hawaii. A detailed article in the Berliner Morgenpost http://www.morgenpost.de/web-wissen/article1668413/Lueckenlose-Indizienkette-weist-zu-Bio-Sprossen.html on the E. coli outbreak reports that the accumulated evidence from epidemiological studies poitns to the bean sprout producer in Bienenbuettel, Lowe Saxony. Infection clusters and photographic evidence of meals in pictures taken by restaurant visitors all contributed to the evidence.

Our region of East Anglia has been officially declared to be in a drought, though there was no threat to water supplies as yet.

Newly published book, QR quilts and inspirational talks

Finalised the data for my Icelandic client and sent of an optimised long list of contacts in readiness for the impending telephone research.

Received a copy of Malcolm Mc Arthur's book that I had published with his dedication today. It was so satisfying to see the final product completed. Ka Sefofane (by aeroplane) the story of Flying Mission was a surprisingly heavy book (600g) yet with a spine of only 18mm in Royal size. The quality silk finish paper and laminated gloss cover giving full justice to the story that Malcolm McArthur, OBE, FRCS(Eng), the founder of the Flying Mission had painstakingly written over the past year. The difference between this, an offset printed book, and digital printing being apparent. This was the ninth book I had published:

1. Journey into Solitude by Ann Petre
2. Nimrod; A Memoir of Mischief and Mishap by Peter Newman Brooks
3. Dear Ruth; A Lament for bygone Africa by Pamela Cotton
4. The Lost Priory; A Cambridge Story by Ann Hales-Tooke
5. All Saints' Landbeach: The story of a fen-edge church by Ray Gambell
6. The Milton Chronicle 1771 - 1901 by R S Tonks
7. And Only the Seagulls are Laughing by Norman Setchell
8. The Ukraine Carpathians: Europe's last great wilderness by Alexander Stemp
9. Ka Sefofane: The story of Flying Mission by Malcolm J. McArthur

Mr Wishart and I had arranged for him to collect me so that we could drive together into Cambridge to the William Art Gallery in Gwydir Street to view an exhibition of quilts, one of which was in the form of the QR code of the artist, Nancy Fève! The remaining quilts were actually more astonishing in their detail, with an excellent combination of fine needlework and patterning matched to the selection of fabrics. Mr Wishart and I engaged in conversation with a number of artists and visitors to the gallery, one of whom would also be going on to the evening's business event at Scotsdales.

We continued on to Scotsdales for The Inspired Group meeting, featuring presentations by Magpas and the inspirational Marcus Orlovsky (see separate articles beginning at http://www.hbn.org.uk/node/2847). This event resulted in a new idea which I discussed with Mr Wishart, who in turn had had his own.

Back home, I wrote late into the night, finishing with this article!

Ms Lowry and the Eurythmics

A fresher day than yesterday,with clouds scurrying overhead and threatening the occasional shower. I hurried to the Cafe Diem in the Milton Country Park to meet with Ms Lowry, with whom I had become acquainted at the Huntingdonshire Speakers at the beginning of May. The occasion was an initial exchange of information with regards to book publishing.

We sat on the terrace overlooking the ruffled lake with the wind rushing through the nearby willows, sipping our teas. I had read a short extract from her planned introduction to her book, currently being reworked after editing and found it immediately interesting. Our tentative initial conversation developed as we discussed the books content (to be revealed at a later date perhaps) and explored potential synergies. Indeed, what had initially been intended as a potentially brief conversation continued for several hours until the call of my desk and other work led to departure.

That evening we were also graced with the presence of Miss Shaw, a longtime friend of Miss T, who stayed for a family viewing of the third Harry Potter film, “The Prisoner of Azkaban”.

However, the other delight of the day was the arrival of the music DVD “Eurythmics Greatest Hits”. It formed the background music track of the afternoon and late evening, with the chameleon features of Ms Lennox and manic Mr Stewart underlining the music and reminding me why the alto voice of Ms Lennox, with its incredible range and volume was such a joy to hear when her songs were originally released. “Here Comes the Rain Again” was a solace on gloomy days; “Gloria”, a haunting air; “Women are doing it themselves” an exuberant celebration enhanced by the presence of Ms Franklin. I am ending the evening with the wonderful “Its all right, baby's coming back”.