11.03<\/strong> \u2013 HH finds RD who immediately wants to tell her about football. Why do people think this is appropriate? HH tries very, very hard to pay attention; however she is more concerned about finding the correct platform, as the indistinct tannoy announcement appears to have moved it.<\/p>\n 11.34<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD discover that the quiet coach that they have booked to sit in, to additionally review their folders of poems, is actually a decommissioned first class carriage and hence have the fear for the rest of their journey that they will be turfed out from it.<\/p>\n 12.02<\/strong> \u2013 HH runs out of tea. RD is unmoved.<\/p>\n 12.07<\/strong> \u2013 Hunger being a greater threat to the optimum condition of reviewing poems than the fear of being made to move carriages, lunch is taken.<\/p>\n 12.12<\/strong> \u2013 HH learns there are neither plug sockets nor wifi in said carriage, casting doubt on whether it ever as a first class carriage at all. However, the little table lamps are still working and there are curtains, which adds picturesque charm. RD is deep in poems; HH needs to send day-job related emails.<\/p>\n 12.22<\/strong> \u2013 HH achieves some degree of online access by utilising her mobile phone; her triumph in this achievement is tempered by discovering that her day-job emails have bred.<\/p>\n 12.29<\/strong> \u2013 HH joins RD in the realms of poetry.<\/p>\n 12.57<\/strong> \u2013 Review of folders and hence preparation for editorial meeting is completed.<\/p>\n 13.07<\/strong> \u2013 RD completes a first draft of a poem, featuring the word \u2018lycanthropy\u2019.<\/p>\n 13.16<\/strong> \u2013 HH loses a needle and thread, which was to be used to undertake some repairs on various items of clothing. RD is about to suggest that is a metaphor for the poetic work that HH and RD are about to undertake, but HH gives him a look.<\/p>\n 13.20<\/strong> \u2013 Train arrives at Norwich station, where a small Christmas tree is decorated with stuffed toy turkeys.<\/p>\n 13.34\u201313.56<\/strong> \u2013 A whistle-stop tour around Norwich Castle and environs is undertaken. The castle\u2019s prominent disability lift is admired. Conversation ensues on lottery funded architecture and the use of glass, oak beams and atriums in the noughties. The popularity of the upside-down glass-bottomed boat formula is also discussed.<\/p>\n 14.00<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD assemble for beginning of editorial meeting.<\/p>\n 14.01<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD realise that editorial meeting is actually taking place elsewhere, but pretend they knew this already.<\/p>\n 14.02<\/strong> \u2013 While waiting for MM of The Rialto <\/i>to appear, HH decides to read up on publishing using a Ladybird book on display above the shelving unit. This prompts conversation in which RD and NS, The Rialto<\/i>\u2019s art director, discuss developments in printing technology and reminisce about the old days. HH attempts to follow, but the Ladybird book only goes up to the early 1980s.<\/p>\n 14.17<\/strong> \u2013 Actual venue for editorial meeting having been reached, it is decided that no poetic editorialising can be expected to occur without victuals and other comestibles being procured.<\/p>\n 14.18<\/strong> \u2013 Victuals and other comestibles arrive.<\/p>\n 14.28<\/strong> \u2013 It is agreed that the editorial meeting really should start now.<\/p>\n 14.30<\/strong> \u2013 Editorial meeting starts.<\/p>\n 15.42<\/strong> \u2013 It is confirmed that the \u2018real fire\u2019 available in the meeting venue is only real in the sense that a gas flame is, ontologically speaking, real.<\/p>\n 16.07<\/strong> \u2013 RD almost sprains wrist attempting to pour tea from, frankly, the biggest and most unwieldy teapot he has ever seen. Inevitable spillage sees hasty removal of various poems and folders from table, to avoid tea stains and other damage to poems. (No poems were damaged in the drinking of said tea).<\/p>\n 17.03<\/strong> \u2013 In an attempt to provide one last burst of energy to the attendees of the meeting, more victuals and comestibles are ordered.<\/p>\n 17.05<\/strong> \u2013 It is agreed that the continuation of the meeting can wait until said victuals and comestibles are actually cool enough to eat.<\/p>\n 17.27<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD break out in sudden and spontaneous laughter, the source of which is unexplained, and later agreed to be inexplicable.<\/p>\n 17.37<\/strong> \u2013 Editorial meeting ends.<\/p>\n 17.42<\/strong> \u2013 RD takes the following photo, and decides it is an obvious but effective metaphor for the process of selecting poems that has just been demonstrated through the editorial meeting:<\/p>\n 17.44<\/strong> \u2013 Another, impromptu, whistle-stop sightseeing tour of Norwich is undertaken, this time the slant being to celebrate city\u2019s status as a UNESCO city of literature.<\/p>\n 17.48<\/strong> \u2013 The Writers Centre Norwich building is admired, with its Regency-style white columns. MM tells HH and RD that Writers Centre Norwich is moving to Dragon Hall. HH is about to launch into an anecdote about a birthday party she attended at Dragon Hall before realising that this statement is the full extent of the anecdote.<\/p>\n 17.58<\/strong> \u2013 The team reassemble at NS\u2019s office for a meeting of The Rialto<\/i>\u2019s advisory board. HH and RD discover there are only enough chairs for one of them to sit at the table around which the advisory board has gathered. In a fit of solidarity, both HH and RD retreat to perch on what might be referred to as a \u2018kid\u2019s table\u2019 at the back.<\/p>\n 18.05<\/strong> \u2013 Advisory board meeting starts.<\/p>\n 19.10<\/strong> \u2013 Advisory board meeting finishes.<\/p>\n 19.17<\/strong> \u2013 Advisory board, plus HH and RD, head out to celebrate Christmas with the finest vegetarian curry available. Chitchat ensues. Bizarrely hot poppadums appear.<\/p>\n 20.08<\/strong> \u2013 It is noted that HH and RD\u2019s train to London departs soon and the main meal hasn\u2019t arrived yet.<\/p>\n 20.11<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD try to combine shovelling down food as quickly as possible with creating a good impression for new acquaintances.<\/p>\n 20.20<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD take the rest of their meals with them in boxes and proceed with ill-disguised haste towards their train. This provides healthy exercise to offset their culinary indulgence.<\/p>\n 20.30<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD manage to clamber aboard said departing train.<\/p>\n 20.32<\/strong> \u2013 HH and RD begin process of restoring depleted oxygen levels.<\/p>\n 20.44<\/strong> \u2013 HH finds previously lost needle and thread, lodged in her notebook and mends her coat. RD at this point too tired to offer any metaphorical commentary on the event.<\/p>\n Rishi Dastidar<\/p>\n![\"rishi1\"](\"http:\/\/campus.poetryschool.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/rishi1.jpg\")
12.39<\/strong> \u2013 RD takes the following photo, and decides that it is an obvious but effective metaphor for the sort of feeling that the best sorts of poem can leave you with:<\/p>\n