Sunday, June 15, 2008

Birds, Hallsfoot and the return of the flush

First off - good news! Lord H has mended the toilet (what a super-hero!) so we have a flush. Hurrah! It's amazing what a difference it makes not to have to do stuff with buckets. As it were.

Flushed by success (sorry, couldn't resist it) we've been out this morning to Thursley Common and Wisley Common to look at birds. We managed to spot various tit families with growing young, a jay, a stonechat and (oh joy! New bird alert!) a hobby putting on a grand performance of aerial dynamics in the sky. Fabulous. And we heard a cuckoo too, but sadly never caught sight of it. I do love Thursley Common - in the sunshine there's something so incredibly peaceful and grounding about it - something in the way it stretches for miles and gives you a sense of space and freedom. Plus the dragonflies and damselflies are stunning.

For the rest of the day, I've been working on Hallsfoot's Battle and now have some interesting ideas for Ralph and also Gelahn, which should up the tension several notches. And I'm now at just over 8000 words and enjoying the view. Though I have to admit something odd happened to the Mac and I had to shut it down, thus losing about 15 minutes work - even though I save like an obsessive about every five minutes, dammit. Still, I've managed to rewrite the missing sections, so I think it's okay. That thud of horror when the screen goes black is not something I'd wish on anyone though. Heck, not today anyway.

And I even remembered to wish Jim a happy Fathers Day when I did my usual Sunday call to Mother. He liked his vouchers, thank the Lord. I wonder if Waterstones (pause for a nearly Amazon-sized sigh here) will ever let me have the gift I ordered for him two months ago? I'm hoping for Christmas this year now - Waterstones: are you listening??? Please give me my stuff! I really have no idea what is wrong with online booksellers these days - perhaps they've given up responding to any purchase requests. And it's not as if I'm even asking for anything obviously impossible to source, like poor old Thorn in the Flesh. Which remains totally beyond everyone's grasp but ours. Double sigh.

Tonight, there's still sod-all on TV, so it's out with the Cribb DVDs and an evening of Victorian quirkiness and charm beckons. Bliss.

Today's nice things:

1. Birds and Thursley Common
2. Hallsfoot's Battle.
3. Cribb.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers

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