Have spent most of the day attempting to keep up with the local RSPB group on their trip to the Staines reservoirs. My goodness, they move at the speed of sound. I just stopped for a couple of minutes to peer at an interesting-looking bird (which turned out to be yet another coot, dammit) and when I looked round they were already five miles up the path. And it's bloody hard to run in wellington boots, you know.
And talking of wellingtons, I was jolly glad I wore them - at several points, we were literally wading through water in order to reach the path again. Bloody wet, Staines ... I'm also pleased that I was the only one (including Lord H) who has boots that aren't green. Surreydom does not have me fully in its grasp yet, you know. Still, being from Essex and therefore having no taste, I do secretly hanker after wellington boots with flowers on them, but at the moment I have to make do with plain black.
So, birds spotted today - long-tailed tits, goldeneyes, tufted ducks, smew - in flight, which is stunning! And a wonderful kestrel which managed to stay perfectly still even though it was hovering in a force 9 gale. Amazing stuff. Today's new bird - the goosander. Hurrah!
Back home, I have edited another chapter of The Gifting and am now ready to start Chapter Three. Hell but I'm really enjoying it. I'm even going to bring in a fourth character - a ballsy woman with long red hair, who takes no prisoners. Well, every novel needs one of those really.
Which brings me to Lord H's latest revelation - he's been reading Jane Eyre, and I asked him what he thought of the mad woman in the attic concept. His reply was that, bearing in mind we live in the very top of a Victorian house divided into flats, it just seemed like everyday life to him. Doesn't every marriage have a mad woman in the attic who screams a lot and gets cross?? Not much you can say to that, I feel!
Tonight, I shall be watching "Lark Rise to Candleford" - a glorious book which is one of those I studied for A Level, so I hope the TV series does it justice. And of course there's Part Three of "Sense & Sensibility". Already I am swooning over Colonel Brandon. But what is that Marianne like?? If somebody fought any sort of duel over me, I would fling myself at his feet and offer appropriate soldiers' comforts without even a second thought. Well, it would be the polite thing to do under those circumstances, m'dears, surely ...! (Sound of Lord H grumbling in background ...)
This week's haiku is writing-inspired:
Facing the rewrite
For this trip, I need:
pens; paper; courage; faith; hope;
and someone cheering.
Today's nice things:
1. Birds
2. Editing
3. TV.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers
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