Lunch with Adele

Yes, yesterday I went off to Manchester -- about a forty minute train-ride -- shopped a bit -- had a bit of a ramble round the wonderful Central Library, where I have spent many happy hours in the past making use of their amazingly good collection of nineteenth-century books and journals -- and then met Adele Geras for lunch. And here we are, in a great japanese noodle-bar restaurant by the name of Tampopo, in Albert Square. I don't think the photo does Adele justice and she kindly says it doesn't do me justice, but I don't think we look too bad for a couple of ladies not in the first flush of youth. The nice and pretty waitress who took the picture said she was going to get the "hunky chef" (her words) in as well, but alas he is only just visible and his hunkiness or lack of it not apparent. We did have fun. We have corresponded by email quite a bit of late, but never met before -- but of course by means of blogs and emails and reading each others' books we felt we knew each other already. There was lots to talk about, including some experiences in common -- boarding school in Sussex, Oxford, early acting careers, daughters called Sophie... Both of us also are vegetarian, so Tampopo was a good choice -- it's not vegetarian but has lots of non-meat on the menu. I had some delicious noodles with peppers and leeks and Adele had a rice dish whose name sounded very much like Cow Pie but clearly wasn't, especially as it began with a Q. And then of course we had pudding -- ginger creme brulee for her, passion-fruit syllabub for me. We drank fizzy water, and toasted dovegreyreader in celebration of her new book deal. Time flew, and we suddenly realised that we were the last ones in the restaurant, so scurried off, me to my train and Adele to her bus. She has kindly said she will let me come and do an interview with her, which I will of course post on here. On the train home I read most of her delightful book Voyage -- the story of a ship full of emigrants going to New York in 1904 -- about which I will write very soon. And finally, here is a  nice picture of Adele .