Sunday started badly, then got a whole lot better.

It started with some anonymous person phoning us up at 5 am. One can only assume some drunk finally back from a nightclub, as the number was withheld.

When we got up by our own accord, we headed out for an awesome day trip to a small town called Hebden Bridge. It is the birthplace, give or take a couple of miles that no one is fussing about, of Ted Hughes, and possibly as a result has a great arts scene. It's only about 40 minutes drive from here, but this was our first time out there.

The town sits at the bottom of a steep Yorkshire valley, embraced by wooded hills that are turning autumnal and rich. There are dozens of little terraces of stone houses, all tucked up close on either side of the river. There are also about 7 or 8 cafes, lots of independent shops, loads of restaurants, and--ideally for us--all sorts of vegetarian food. All in a town that can only have a few thousand people in it. If we were a lot richer, we could see ourselves living there.

We walked about for a while, nosing around, then had a wonderful vegan lunch at the Organic House, which was one of the nicest meals I can remember having.

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Last week I finally had a breakthrough on The Sleepers. When I sent the novel to my agent at the beginning of the summer, she didn't like the opening (along with some other things). I managed to fix the other things quite easily, but the opening was giving me a hell of a lot of trouble.

There's something about an opening. The rest of the book all flows from it. So when you cut it off and try to replace it with something else, it just doesn't feel right. Unless you want to rewrite the whole book, you're in danger of something that feels artificial and awkward. Certainly my various attempts did.

Then last Tuesday I suddenly found a new opening that not only fit, but was quicker, funnier and just better. I'd almost despaired.

I'm now giving a quick pass-through before I send it back to the agent and hope she hasn't given up on me.

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Steph and I went to see Serenity a week and a bit ago. It was an amazing movie, the best SF film I've ever seen, possibly. Or, at least the best traditional SF film. One could argue that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was better, but they're not really comparable. Essentially, they're separate genres. The only real competition, in my mind, is Bladerunner.

We've been desperately trying to get time to get back to the cinema to see it again, before it disappears from the screens. So. You all have to go and see it repeatedly until we can, just to keep it showing.

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In a slightly smug moment, I'm going to say that I've been reading George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows, and so far I think it's great. Steph says that I should post some spoilers here, but I'm nicer than that... ;p