The Meerkat Muse: 15th of July, 2026
It’s the return of… The Meerkat Muse! The crowd goes wild! Or not…
The Twinge
Kicking off from the very end of the previous Muse, one thing I managed to do whilst waiting for my wife and daughter down A&E was to hurt my back. I’m not sure how, but I think the simple act of kneeling to check what was in a vending machine was enough to pull something. The pain conspired to make it hard for me to sleep, and on top of that, the cat decided he wanted out at some unholy hour. What with work the next day, I had to contend with the rudeness of the alarm, and the early task of dealing with the bins as well (Wednesdays are usually bin day in my neck of the woods).
From there, I stared down the barrel of another long day at work. Whilst I have a new colleague, so far our shift patterns have still led to a fair bit of lone-working. As ever, this is marked with long spells of seeing no one, punctuated by periods of awkward enquiries and groups of people, all at once.
As a case in point (and I suppose this could have squeaked into the previous Muse, if not for the chaotic events of the hospital), a guy came into the showroom determined to buy up displays and get deals. Something about him seemed brash, and he rubbed the wrong way with the wheeler-dealer attitude. The prices are the prices, they are not controlled by me, and that’s that. He wanted cheap stuff for a rental property. There are alternative retailers that would offer him far better options for that sort of thing, so please, don’t waste my time when I know our prices will be beyond what you want to pay.
There was also a guy who has dragged out the design process, requesting redesign after redesign, and it’s getting ridiculous now. Either commit or don’t. I’m tempted to suggest he needs to place a deposit against a quote before I agree to keep redesigning everything. I also can’t help but wonder if he’s getting the store to do all the work, then going elsewhere.
The Inevitable Law of Sod
Back on the 1st of July, England were facing DR Congo in the Round of 32 at the World Cup. Owing to the timezone difference, this game would kick off at 5pm UK time. My only hope of watching the first half was via my phone, since I’d be at work. The odds of it being busy so close to closing, and during an occasion where England would be playing, would surely be slim?
Of course not. It was only good fortune that saw the arrivals also leave within half an hour of the game’s start. In other circumstances, I have not been so lucky. I awaited with baited breath to see if anyone else would show up, and as sure as night follows day, barely a few minutes into the match, people wandered in.
I get it, we’re technically still open, but even if there wasn’t an England game on, we’re not far away from closing time, so spare me the awkwardness and do not delay my departure for home by showing up so late!
I also waited to see if England might actually put in a decent shift. The performances up to that point had been sterile, with only the occasional burst of quality. The risk of a disaster could not be entirely ignored.
In the end England scraped through 2-1. I’d actually hoped they’d go out, so we could be spared all this rubbish.
The End… or is it?
My (former) publisher has decided they no longer wish to continue our arrangement. All rights to my books have reverted to me. I won’t lie, this was initially a body blow, but it is what it is. There were always challenges to a trans-Atlantic relationship, and in the end, they had to make a call based on what was best for them. I wish to thank Jumpmaster Press for that initial opportunity and all their guidance.
As to what happens now, I am pursuing options. Do I return to self-publishing avenues, or seek out a new publisher? I’ve contacted some agencies, since having an agent greatly helps with representation. I’ve also contacted some publishers.
What I decided upon was to self-publish, in the name of keeping my existing work in the public eye, so to speak. I decided to use IngramSpark, which allows for a greater field of sharing than Amazon KDP alone. I will say this, IngramSpark is more fiddly to use, and could do with a much friendlier interface for formatting. In the meantime, The Awakening is back online, currently via Amazon, but it should filter to other locations soon.
The flipside to all this is that The Forest is now on hold. I won’t publish it until I have settled on the right avenue. Watch this space for more!
World Cup Woes – or Wonders?
With any international competition, there is always the chance that games will be aired at troublesome times. England’s Round of 16 clash with Mexico would kick off at 1am on Monday the 6th, an awkward occasion for fans back in England, not to mention workplaces and schools, who had to consider allowances for employees and students. Pubs were also in something of a scramble, hastily applying to open late, whilst law enforcement had to make some last-minute new arrangements too.
In the wake of all of that, would it prove worth it? Would England prevail against a Mexico side with a formidable home record? Well, somehow they did! I didn’t stay up to watch the game, what with having to be up early for work in the morning, but I checked the score upon waking up to learn that we’d won, 3-2, and somehow overcame a tricky banana skin tie at one of the most hostile venues in the football world. England were into the quarter-finals, where Norway, the slayers of five-time world champions Brazil, would wait.
Project Hail Mary
I need to write a proper review of this film, but my wife, daughter and I sat and watched it the other night. It was incredible, and full of hope, joy, bravery and love. It’s the sort of optimistic movie the world sorely needs, and if you don’t fall in love with Rocky, you ironically have a heart of stone.
Meet the New Boss
Last Monday I got to formally meet my new manager. He seems pleasant enough, and hopefully now we’re a team of three again, we can build good working relationships and make progress as a showroom. His interests include Nintendo and Formula 1, so there is a nice overlap!
The Case of Complete Panic!
My wife took my daughter to the cinema the other day, and whilst she was sorting out the tickets, she messaged me to say she was going to call me, and that something was wrong. This vague message sent me into a spiral. What was wrong? Was it something relating to our daughter, who has had that scary recent health scare? Was my wife nursing some kind of problem?! Needless to say, the nature of this was terrifying to me.
It turned out that my daughter had lost her mobile phone. Now, I will grant this is not great news, but in comparison to what it could have been, it was something of a relief! Please do not panic me via phrasing! I don’t need the stress!
What make it all more awkward is that these messages were coming through just as people were wandering into the shop. It’s Sod’s Law to see no one, and then clusters of people at the worst possible time. It drives me insane, right at a point where I don’t need it!
22 Years
Last week marked 22 years since I met my wife. It also occurred to me that I have now been with her for half my life. That’s pretty crazy.
To mark this occasion we ventured into London (I must confess to growing weary of going back and forth into London) to see Beetlejuice the Musical. In a further confession, the late start and late finish of this (a 7.30 start, and a run-time of two hours and forty minutes, plus the journey home, meant realistically not getting home till nearly midnight) was not something I savoured. It didn’t help that we spent all day in London, in searing heat.
Still, the show was great. It was chaotic and hilarious, and yet had some very heartfelt moments too. I’d highly reccommend it, but the ads warn under-16s need to be accompanied by an adult, and that’s a well-earned piece of advice!
Prior to settling in to watch this explosive and entertaining affair, our little family unit did a bit of exploring too. The usual suspects of Forbidden Planet and a particular anime shop my daughter likes were visited upon. We also had lunch at a rather nice little Italian place, just outside Forbidden Planet. It was a nice way to mark 22 years of togetherness!
Some pics from a busy day:
The Case of Tyre-Kickers
What’s something that anyone working in retail sales can do without? Time wasters. What did last Saturday see a lot of? Time wasters. One family in particular has been in several times now, and they never commit to anything. At the weekend they left several tiles laying around, having pulled apart our displays. I cannot stand that. They lingered in the showroom for ages, which is paralysing. You feel like you’re taking a risk if you need to pee, in case they choose that moment to start asking questions. In fact, it’s virtually a guarantee that they’ll choose the most awkward moment to ask questions. It’s aggravating, to put it mildly.
Saturday was far too ‘peopley’ for my liking. There are days where I desire no human interaction. Why is it that on those days, it feels like buses are delivering people straight to the showroom door?!
The Amazon Con
Twice within a matter of days, I’ve had phone calls from people purporting to be from Amazon. Their calls have queried alleged large orders placed on my account, specifically for iPhones.
I haven’t placed any such orders.
The bottom line is that these calls are scams. They are aiming to somehow harvest my account details, and use them for who-knows-what. When such a call came in on Saturday, I simply hung up. I was too tired from the trip to London to concern myself with desperate bids to extort me.
The Three Lions
Saturday evening – 10 pm to be precise – brought with it England versus Norway, for a place in the World Cup semi-finals. Would England fall to the slayers of Brazil? Or would Kane and Bellingham inspire England to move into the last four?
Would I finish off the small beer keg I bought whilst watching the game?
Well, the keg was largely drained. England were driving me to drink. They fell behind and equalised in the first half, and subsequently looked laboured under the hot Miami sun in the second half. Norway certainly seemed to have the better of the game. An extra-time winner from Jude Bellingham (who had also equalised for England) sent the Three Lions into a semi-final clash with Argentina. Manager Thomas Tuchel was rightly angry with his team for the way they played.
A great deal of improvement would be required if England were to reach the final, especially since we’d be facing a Messi-inspired Argentina.
The Very Long Day
On Sunday I had a a three-room design appointment, which was quite time-consuming and also rather draining. On Monday I experienced the same thing, but to a far greater degree. One customer occupied my time from 10.30 to 4.45. I ended up foregoing my lunch (somehow this elder lady also did not desire lunch). The whole experience may lead to some big orders, but honestly, the whole process was extremely draining by the end. I am utterly out of love with it all, and could have done with a less design-intensive couple of days.
One day my local bookstore will hire me, I know it. Freedom is a step away!
A Sense of Weariness
As this Muse draws to its end, I feel very, very tired. I feel sort of drained. The first half of July has been a bit too busy for my liking, and I feel like I’m shifting into the realm of ‘Old Man Meerkat’. I don’t especially want to go anywhere on my days off work; peaceful, quiet days are what I desire, and need. There has simply been too much going on for me to have enthusiasm for being busy. Whether the Fates will grant me peace is another matter entirely.
The world will keep on grinding away, and it sort of feels like it’s grinding away at me. Ah well, all I can do is my best, and see what happens. Until next time!
‘Kat Comments