Adrienne Dines

Bon Voyage, Anna Hemmings!

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:45:35 +0000

If you don’t already know, Anna is one of Britain’s Olympic hopefuls and in my opinion, one of the best examples of what an athlete should be. She’s a canoeist, many times world champion and hopefully heading to Beijing to bring back some gold.

A few years ago, having achieved two world champion medals in a single weekend, Anna began to lose her strength and her energy – all of it. She went from world class fitness to barely able to fall out of bed and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. As far as the experts were concerned, Anna’s career was over; she’d hit the wall.

Maybe that’s the difference between the winners and the rest – walls don’t stop winners; they give them something to climb over. For the two years when all she had the energy to do was talk, Anna talked. She gave inspirational speeches to various organizations – schools and companies – about the focus and dedication you need to succeed and how this CFS was just another hurdle. And all the time she climbed. Within five months of getting the all-clear, Anna was holding another World Class medal and she hasn’t stopped since.

Good luck in Beijing, Anna, to you and all your team!

I’m a left indicator…

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:30:44 +0000

There’s something very refreshing about being in a place where everyone shares a common interest. This weekend the place was the Goodwood Festival of Speed where my husband’s old Land Rover, the first ever registered to go on the road as a Land Rover in 1948, was entered into the Cartier Great Britons Stars of 1948 Earls Court Motor Show class. We spent Friday and Saturday on the lawn answering questions and talking to visitors amused to see an old Land Rover amongst all the Jaguars, Aston Martins and Bugattis.

‘Nice to see something British that does what it says on the tin, even 60 years later,’ was one comment.

‘How very basic, very fundamentally decent this car is,’ was another.

Other comments were lost in the deafening roars as McLarens and Lotus-Cosworths zoomed past. It was thrilling, knife edge stuff and every boy in the place, regardless of vintage was in Heaven.

For me the high point was the Ball. The Three Drummers played live and K.T Tunstall sang her heart out to a rapturous crowd but the nicest thing of all was to share a table with people whose company made the time fly all too quickly. It’s fascinating to watch how faces light up when the conversation turned to cars and passion was shared.

As for me, I waited for the question I was dreading – ‘do you share your husband’s interest in cars?’

‘No, I don’t but I have a functional role.’

‘Oh really? Are you mechanical?’

Then the truth. ‘No, but 1948 Land Rovers were very basic, like it says on the tin so I’m great on corners…’

‘I see,’ the man said looking at me with fresh eyes and noticing for the first time that I have long arms.

‘I’m a left indicator.’

My husband’s car won in its class. I clapped with both hands.

Winchester Writers’ Conference…

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:33:24 +0000

…is one of the highlights of my year. Hundreds of people who spend hundreds of hours apparently alone can come clean: we’re not alone. Our heads are full of heros and villains, meandering storylines and unexpected scenes. And characters that nobody else can see.

For this weekend, it’s all real. The delegates and speakers are alike in appreciating that we inhabit these strange worlds but we do not own the stories in them – we are merely custodians. Standing aside to let the stories out is what the weekend is all about.

The biggest thrill for me is not the other speakers – though many of them are great – it’s the delegates, especially the first timers. I gave a workshop on Fri 27th and there were a few people there who have yet to get let their stories out but they will – and what stories they are going to be. Mary – sharpen that pencil and Amanda, wherever you are, write the story about what happened when the door creaked at the Writers’ Weekend…..

It’s like having a glimpse of the future and knowing that some day you’ll be seeing those names on the shelves.

Get to it – guys – over to you now.