On Wednesday I visited Widnes, near Liverpool, for an event called “An audience with an Author” in the sport’s hall at the Viking’s Rugby League Stadium. Widnes is a very Viking name, so I started off talking about Viking Vik, which seemed very suitable. Some of the audience looked as if they coulld have just stepped of a longship. Their families have probably lived locally ever since the Vikings came the first time!

The hall had quite a low roof with acoustic tiles so the sound was quite good. The afternoon session was double booked so I had to share the hall with the OAP table tennis club! We were behind a curtain at the boxing club end of the hall. The tickety-tock of the table tennis balls turned out to be not too much of a distraction after all – bizarre, but quite soothing. We hid the automatic boxing punchbag man behind one of my banners as we thought it would either scare the children or mesmerise them. I didn’t get a go on him, but I imagine if you punch him in the right place, an electronic voice says, “Owww!”

Thanks everyone for a great day.