Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

Interviewed the MD and sales director of a publishing company in Surrey this morning. I wanted some pithy quotes about teh service they receive from Royal Mail. I didn't have to prompt them once - very happy customers.

We abandoned our visit to Poole this morning - there's just too much rain. Driving home was fairly arduous, but we got here safely in the end.

Dad's 80th Birthday Lunch. A fabulous celebration, despite oodles of rain.

I had completely forgotten that I took some 'unusual' shots of the Eiffel Tower. Ironic shots, because we'd wanted to go to the top but the queues were HORRENDOUS! Had such a lovely few days with Florence and Freddie and meeting up with The Stranglers band and crew. A joyous few days.

I read this article about the possibilty of a new relationship and it made me realise that I'm ready, but there just aren't any single men out there. I've met some REALLY nice men in the last few months. One or two even took my breath away, but they're all married. Happily married. Which, by the way, is a complete no-no for me. Other people have different values I know, and several people have suggested that I should consider men who are looking out for something even though they're married. Well, I just can't do it. I need to be know that someone can pick up the phone and talk to me, or email me, or meet me, without looking over their shoulder or deleting my number. I need to know that no woman will be hurt in the making of my new relationship. There must be something seriously wrong with me (answers on a postcard, please), because I simply don't meet nice, single men of the right sort of age. I've met a couple of nice single men in their early 2...

Tomorrow will mainly be spent doing. Otherwise, I am in danger of drowning under the enormity of it all. It's a great position to be in, but feels a little insurmoutanble at times. Onwards!

This is the image that sums up 'Outside Bet' best for me. A nice piece of British cinema, this is not a film that will set audiences alight, but it has some really good elements. The music (1985 at its best), the fashion (well, for the men definitely better than for the women) and the humanity. Bax is a character that you can get to care about. According to the authors, the ending of the book is different to the ending of the film. As I'm nowhere near the ending yet on my Kindle, I don't know what that means. But I do know that the real Mark Baxter is a happy boy right now.

Something to be proud of - getting up at 8am on a cold Saturday morning to help support Record Store Day 2012. I was, frankly, amazed to see such a range of ages, with plenty of women who weren't just there to drive their husbands. There was a huge list of vinyl available at David's Records and it was great to then blog about it . I've also given away 24 copies of 'A Tale of Two Cities'. The best one was to a receptionist at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Birmingham's NEC - as I left, three hours later, she thanked me again, profusely. A lovely moment.

Not much to show for it, but plenty achieved today beneath the surface. It'll all appear in time.

Shattered but a great gig.

Getting ready for gig with Ska band The Iconics tomorrow night. Loads to learn but it'll be fun.

This was interesting to research and write.

It is most interesting to see that my two most read blog pages recently are the ones I wrote in August about my business plan. Truth be known, my business plan is just a dim and distant memory now. What I am actually doing is a life-time away from what I planned - and I'm loving it. The things I'm writing and the way I'm working are beyond what I had imagined back in August and I consider myself fortunate. Probably, I would not have been open to opportunities if I hadn't sat down and considered what they might be. Even though I clearly got it 'wrong' at that point. I genuinely enjoy working with all my clients, despite the fact that I am also on the look-out for new ones. It is coming up for nine months since I became self-employed once more and, as long as I continue delivering what I promise, long may it continue.

One of my favourite albums by absolutely one of my favourite artists got to number one in the charts on this day 20 years ago. 'Diva' is an awesome album and Annie Lennox is an amazing singer. The album is just beautiful and shows the range of the woman's voice. This deserves a re-listen today.

I can remember sitting at home with the album playing in my safe, comfortable, middle-class sitting room in a leafy Hertfordshire suburb. I wish I could remember who lent me a copy, because I've never owned it. Now there's this to listen to. 25 years on, 'The Stranglers' are still sounding hard.

I collected my 24 copies of 'A Tales of Two Cities' tonight from Hitchin Library. Ready for World Book Night on 23 April. Now all I have to do is fill in each book's individual number and then give them out next week.

My Sunday was a day of business chores. Tidying up emails, issuing invoices - chasing a few that are outstanding when they shouldn't be. Not enough creativity, but after three days of driving to/from and hanging out in Paris, I'm not feeling very creative. Tomorrow is another day. Writing is a rewarding occupation and the process is an inevitable - and necessary - part of the job. It's good that there's plenty to do on the uncreative days. So, the new week begins tomorrow. London and I'm planning on an early start.

An unlucky date for some, but not for anyone at The Olympia last night. The Stranglers were on top form and deserved to be sharing the stage (historically, if not actually) with some of the greats of music history, right back to Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich. It's a great venue and the audience came in early, stayed late and got a solid, tight show for their troubles. One advantage of knowing the band and crew fairly well was the balcony seat I snared - an incredible view and the best possible sound. The rest of the crowd seemed a blend of English and French, young and old, male and female. In fact, a more diverse audience than I saw in Birmingham last month. JJ Burnel continues to storm through songs with throbbing bass that always manage to stay just on the right side of intrusive. As one of the only two original Stranglers (the other being Dave Greenfield, tinkling away on the ivories behind a stack of keyboards), JJ nevertheless works well with his front-line compatri...

Heading for The Stranglers' gig tonight. What a life!

Three days in Paris. Can't be bad. A mixture of holiday, gig and work.

Turns out that my latest blog for SoSoActive has received more hits and likes than anything else on the site. Great news. Onwards and upwards.

I met with the rest of the Communications team for this year's Rhythms of the World. Quite exciting and interesting. It will be a great weekend in July, but there's a huge amount of work to be done before it arrives.

I've just finished my latest blog for SoSoActive and it was great to research and write it. Can't decide what to write this week. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Played in the band at Church today. One of the better bands. Some real attention to detail that was good. Unfortunately, we had a number of the congregation who asked us to play more quietly. It was like playing at half capacity (actually, probably even less than that). I'm sure they have hearing problems, but it's depressing, nonetheless.

BBC 1's contribution to Saturday evening prime time viewing is 'The Voice', featuring singers and four judges who are growing on me. Tom Jones has always been a favourite but Will I Am is definitely adding to my list of favourite singers. The band is lead by my old mate Steve Sidwell, so it's awesome, of course. He does nothing that isn't spectacular. I can't help but look at the member of my band who I was once 'involved' with and wonder "what if?". The answer is probably madness, but it's always good to wonder.

This evening, I spent a very pleasant few hours at Woodside Hall in Hitchin, watching nine comedy acts. They varied in quality but overall it was enjoyable. It strikes me that there is little difference between comedians and musicians - there are a lot of people out there, giving their all to entertain others and their reward varies in no relation to the effort that they have put in. A couple of the comedians tonight had obviously put in a lot of preparation, but it just didn't flow. They were good, but not great. The same is often true of bands and solo performers - they'll just never be great. That shouldn't stop anyone from doing it, whether telling jokes or playing songs. I know I'm not a great sax player, but I can be entertaining and sometimes that's what people want. It was an interesting exercise, in any case, as I was researching a new blog for The Best of Hitchin and writing about comedy is not something I've ever done. All good, new experiences.

Although exhausting, the last two days have been very rewarding. Not least by the beautiful scenery and buildings in and around Edinburgh. This is the roof of Costa Coffee in Waverley station. Bizarrely beautiful, and more so than the modern structure now tacked onto the side of Kings Cross. I also passed (twice) through Heathrow Terminal 5. Thought of the guy I know who was architect for that. Resisted the temptation to email him - people he know must pass through there every day and it would eb SO annoying if they all emailed him every single time. All in all, a good trip, but VERY good to be home.

Taxi at 4:30am; flight at 6:45am; meetings start at 9am. When did this seem like a good idea?

Florence hit 19 today. We had presents and cards, lunch, cake and she's about to head out with her girlfriends. In between, I've managed to fit in some work and taken the laptop to be repaired. Oh, and took Flo and Fred to see the original of this in Sarah Graham's studio.

It's very strange at the moment, to have an abundance of work that I really love. Some of my jobs (it has to be said) are a little like getting blood out of a stone, but the majority are great to research and write. There are times when I'm sitting at my desk and the words won't come - that's when I know that it's going to be a boring story. Luckily, there are really few of those and they usually come from a brief that is scraping the bottom of the barrel. There's a joy in writing. Putting words together so that they inform or entertain and it really matters little what the subject is. I am so fortunate that I can actually earn my living as a writer, with such a wide variety of outputs and subjects. Fortunate, too, that I was blessed with the ability and desire to work hard. Considering how utterly, utterly unhappy I was this time last year, it is almost incredible.

A new fence. SO MUCH NOISE! The team decided to start at 8am. They replaced a perfectly serviceable white fence with a brand new green one. Couldn't just wield a paintbrush on the old one. No! They needed to bash and hammer and drill (using a generator) for five hours on a Saturday.