• Last time Paddington Bear appeared on an advert it was for Marmite. What was that all about? everyone knows that Paddington likes marmalade sandwiches. The advert wasn’t even ironic – it wasn’t even post-ironic!

    Paddington is now to promote Robertson’s Golden Shred Marmalade. Hooray! This is as it should be. I felt it was almost sacrilegious making him eat Marmite, when there was lovely marmalade out there to be eaten.

    Personally I like home made marmalade. My lovely wife and I share the job each year. I love chopping and she hates it. One year she put all the peel in the food processor and whizzed it to little bits. That was a sad year. Every year since, we have about three sessions at marmalade making in which I slightly obsessively, cut the rind nice and thin in longs slivery slices. Mmmm! delicious. There is nothing quite like it.

    My Mum wouldn’t let me come away without a little jar of her own home-made seville.

    I still have a golly badge somewhere and I think we have a golly teaspoon and a toast rack somewhere too. Politically incorrect but very collectible. I believe you will be able to collect Paddington badges. Great idea. I think most Gloden Shred marmalade used to be eaten so the eatrs could collect the gollys.

  • I had a great day at Cefn Primary School today. I’m there as part of the RAISE project, improving writing skills though oracy. I’m staying the whole week here visiting a different school each day. In all, I’m visiting 17 schools in Rhondda, Cynon, Taf.

    Where am I? I’m staying just outside Aberdere, which is in the Cynon Valley in South Wales. There’s a pretty view of the lights at night at the cottage I’m staying in. It’s lovely and warm, I’ve got tv and internet so I’m happy. There’s a mountain right above me, so I’ll probably have a walk up it tomorrow.

    I’ve been reading my stories and explaining where the ideas come from. Then I ask the children for their own ideas for the characters. I’m amazed how every group comes up with completely different ideas. I do a lot of pulling and pushing, once a direction appears, in the hope of coming up with a basic plot that the children can then work on themselves.

    The project is helping me too, actually. Talking about the ideas from a writing point of view clarifies my ideas about the stories and characters. Talking about them, I’ve come up with a few ideas myself, and have to try and remember them and get them written down after school, before I forget.

  • Last time I visited Hamworthy Library it was squatting in the old school gym. and having to move the bookcases every night for the Judo Club, while the new one was being built.

    Yesterday was the official opening of the new library and I’d been asked to come and read some stories. When I arrived, the place was crammed and buzzing. I’m sure the organisers were thrilled with the response. Wallace and Grommit were keeping everybody happy.

    It was very noisy! I was between the facepainting and the bookmark making stands. Being lunchtime. my audience kept wandering off but quite a few returned too! We did some lovely Ricky Rocket drawings, and then I was interviewed by Maree Perkins, a journalism student who was filming and taking note of everything. She seemed very passionate about Journalism and we had a short chat about where it’s all going online. She’s very keen on preserving free online access to newspapers but, sadly, like everyone else, she had no idea how she was supposed to be paid for it! You can read her blog post about the day here.

    Thanks everyone for an amazing opening day and good luck for the future.