Our guest speaker was writer Sean French (half of the thriller-writing
duo Nicci Gerrard + Sean French = Nikki French. He gave a reading of their new novel UNTIL IT’S OVER (whose heroine is a bike messenger). The meeting was chaired skillfully by Anne Boston who is seen on the right with Sean French.
Sean had worked as a journalist in London and always cycled to work. He described how his encounter with a car door on the way to work had a poositive thought before he hit the tarmac: “here’s material for my this week’s column”. Recently he and his family live in the country but he says cycling is more useful in London.
The reading was followed by a short discussion on The Image of Cycling. We wondered who would play the lead in a film version of Until it’s Over and whether you can hate a cyclist, even if he’s called Boris?
This was our biggest gathering for a long time. We were pleased to welcome many newcomers as well as several long time no see people. We sipped, mingled and chatted and munched the Indian snacks, mince pies and satsumas until we were turned out by the cleaner at about 10 pm.
Photos by Lionel Shapiro. For bigger versions, have a look at CCC Flickr site