Nightingales and Fruit

Life news:

Lord H and I went for a group evening walk in Bookham Common earlier in the week, and were lucky enough to spot - and hear - our first nightingale of the year, hurrah! We also spent some time attempting to track down a cuckoo - often heard but rarely seen - but sadly it proved elusive. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

It made up for the fact that work has seemed to drag on and on this week - I swear I'd be beavering away for hours and when I looked at the clock it would be only 9.30am, sigh. Mind you, yesterday wasn't helped by the fact that I had a headache all ruddy day, and a tricky two-hour long meeting to minute over lunchtime, so I really wasn't in a good mood at all. At the end of the day, I could barely concentrate on anything anyone was saying, and I collapsed on the bed when I got home and slept for an hour and a half. And the headache was still there. Despite the fact that I'd taken the upper limit of headache pills, deep deep sigh. At least, I managed to wake up in time for Midsomer Murders on TV though - it's my mid-week brightener. And today, thank the Lord, the headache has gone. Still hugely tired however.

The other thing about last night was we had a three-hour power cut starting at 10.30pm - when I was about to go to bed anyway, but Lord H lost some stuff from his computer but he can remember what it was, thank goodness. However, when we rang Southern Electric, there was a recorded message saying that our planned power cut would last until 1.30am. Planned???!! Surely, if it was planned, they should have told us? I noticed the whole street was dark and some of the neighbours were wandering around with torches, looking confused. None of us knew a thing about it. What if we'd had people round for dinner? (Okay, a rare event, but you get my meaning ...). The Water Board at least have the courtesy to leave us a note when there's a planned loss of service - you would think that Southern Electric would have the sense to do the same! Anyway, Angry of Godalming has sent a snippety email to them setting out my complaints, and I await their response. Which apparently takes 3 days to arrive. What are they up to over there? Filing their nails? Waiting for inspiration?? Perhaps they can't find the ruddy electricity socket to turn on the computer ...

Thankfully, today is proving rather better - Jane H has popped round for coffee this morning and so we've had a delightful chat & catch-up. And tonight, I'm out in London to see Jane W. So many Janes, so little time!

Ooh, and I'm utterly delighted we now have a Conservative PM again - honestly it surprised even me (a dyed-in-the-wool and deeply instinctive Tory) how much it felt like coming home and how very pleased I was. By the way, I apologise in advance for this very honest statement, as I know how very left-wing most of my friends are, but actually I do feel that as I'm very happy for everyone around me to follow what politics (or religion) they wish without me making a big fuss about it - or indeed any fuss at all -  then I hope they'll show the same courtesy back to me ... It's also delightful to see such a rainbow cabinet and I do hope it makes things better for the country - but of course the main and extremely pressing issue, and one that the nation deserves an answer to, is now that we're Tory-Liberal, will they be combining the party uniform so the men can wear blue-and-yellow striped ties instead of the one-colour options? We wait with interest for this issue to be resolved ...

Writing news:

All very quiet on this front. I'm beginning to feel I've been forgotten by any publishers that might be out there. Ah well. However, I'm carrying on with The Executioner's Cane, and also delighted to see this review of How to Eat Fruit.

Meanwhile, the lovely Kirsty McCluskey and I have published a review and article about Haiti at Vulpes Libris. Food for thought indeed.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal