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Usually going to Cheltenham is a stately affair, where one gets set up in one's hotel room, has a little wander around town, does one's event or two, then has a long dinner, maybe drinks, before retiring to bed. Nope, nope, not this year; it was ALL ENGINES GO from early this morning morning til I just crashed back through the door at home about an hour ago. But I was rather curious to see my photos, so here I am at the computer already.

Ha ha... I told Axel Scheffler that every time I get a photo with him, he looks freaked out. So this time we make a special effort.



I did a lot of commiserating with Axel's Gruffalo, or the lovely lady who got kicked and mauled while she steamed away inside the costume. (Because after all, the Gruffalo is a monster, so if you're a kid, you have to fight it, right?)

Here I'm having a hard-core political discussion with a darling chappie named Alistair... (I had to grab this shot because I knew Stuart wouldn't be much impressed by all these book people, but this one might make him do a double-take. And it worked! Now he wishes he'd come along.)



I got a bit shy about getting a photo of Julia Donaldson; she'd already signed books for two hours so I didn't want to hassle her. But no one told me how many hours Lauren Child had been signing (probably just as many), so I took the liberty of snapping this trio (reviewer and Guardian columnist Julia Eccleshare, Lauren, and publicist Philippa Perry).



It's kind of hard to tell what's going on in this event photo and it looks like total mayhem, but really, people are making stuff, it's all good. The event sold out and we made lots of noise and drew adventure board games and everyone seemed to go away happy, so hurrah. I noticed quite a few kids drawing shark attacks on their railway game journeys... maybe sharks are an imminent threat when you live around Cheltenham.




Here's fab illustrator Mei Matsuoka, whom I interviewed on this blog a couple years ago, when she was still traveling in from Tokyo to meet with her London-based editor. You might know her for her books The Great Dog Bottom Swap and Great Sheep Shenanigans (the latter which qualifies her for honourary Fleece Station membership).



The great thing about these festivals is getting to meet new people, and this time it was Louie Stowell, who wrote The Usborne Write Your Own Story Book. She knows loads about comics and grew up reading stuff like 2000 AD, and I'm hoping she'll start coming along to London's Comica Social Club at the Royal Festival Hall. (Another woman in comics, hurrah! The next two meetings are 26 Oct and 30 Nov.)


Louie Stowell and Usborne publicist Amy Dobson

I spoke briefly with political cartoonist Stev

A couple weeks ago, Gary and I had lunch with writer and illustrator Mei Matsuoka, and Mei and I were comparing notes on what it's like for us, living between two countries and having parents with two different national identities. We had lots of thoughts on the subject, and finished up the conversation via e-mail today.



We asked each other, 'What is it, when you arrive in each country, that makes you think, ah, I'm really home now'?

When I arrive in Seattle, I know I'm home when my Scottish dad makes me scrambled eggs on toast, with a cup of tea. He uses a lot of butter and a lot of black pepper and his eggs always taste a million times better than anyone else's. The secret, he claims, is to keep the heat under the eggs very high and keep stirring. I used to get cheap red-eye special flights home from university, and even when I got in insanely late, he'd always make the eggs for me.

When Mei arrives in Tokyo, it's the vending machines:

They are EVERYWHERE & they have the most amazing ones - sometimes with free prize draws, (for a free extra can!) most of them have hot or cold drinks (& they're all really tasty) and now a days you can even get a meal in a can! (Ramen noodles, Odens, puddings like jelly too) They also have vending machines for cigarettes and alcohol (which would be broken into in a second if it was in London! ;)) Mostly I just love them for the hot cafe au laits I can get on a cold winter morning.
 
Also, toilets, convenience stores and generally all the useful things they have makes me think 'Yes, I'm back in Japan'.


Mei Matsuoka, in our studio cafe modelling the shirt with a design from her latest book with Peter Bently, The Great Dog Bottom Swap, recently shortlisted for the Roahl Dahl Funny Prize.

When I get back to London, it's getting on the Piccadilly line, and the smell of the London Underground that makes me know I'm home. The Tube has such a distinct smell; yes, it's sweaty people and upholstery, but nothing else in the world smells quite like it.

Mei: For the UK, it's the flat fields that stretch out across the countryside driving home from Heathrow. Compared to Japan, the sky seems SO big back in the UK. And the clouds are much lower. The sunsets are beautiful because the clouds catch the setting sunlight and create amazing palettes... Just the flatness of the land and the dozens of little sheep in the fields make me feel I'm back in England.

Oh, and also the lack of humidity (and my mum's curry - which she always makes on the day I go back home).

So, just wondering, what about you, is there anything that triggers off the feeling, 'I'm home'?

We just had the most fabulous visitor to our police station studio, Mei Matsuoka, on a visit from Japan! Her book she's illustrated with Pete Bently, The Great Dog Bottom Swap, has just been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. (It's a book explaining why dogs sniff each other's bums and involves bottom swapping and very dodgy things like that.)
We're going to do a bit more of an online interview thingie and I'll post more photos, but only when she stops banging around and hollering in her cell. (She was really too lovely for us to let her go home.)



While Mei's in the clink, you can look at her website and her Wikipedia entry.