Background Notes

Puddings, Pastries, and Thou

My own life paralleled events in "Puddings, Pastries, and Thou," while I was writing it, albeit only slightly.  A friend set me up with a guy, just as Penelope sets up Vivian in my story.  Unfortunately, despite many wonderful dinners, things went sour in my little affair.  But that's the beauty of being a writer -- one can rewrite an ending how it should  have happened, instead of how it did.

Corfe Castle, where the story is set, is on the south coast of England.  It is one of the many villages that I visited and ended up thinking, "Maybe I can sell all I own and buy a cottage..."  But then there I'd be, sitting in my cottage, complaining that the hot and cold water don't come out of the same spigot (they don't, in England).  Perhaps home is a better choice, after all.

A little over-eager for dinner,
like my character, Vivian. 
That's a rabbit I'm about to eat, in Edinburgh.

Copyright 2002, Bill Yeaton
The ruins of Corfe Castle,
where Richard and Vivian walk.