My grandmother dreamed of a sailor at the bottom of her bed - he never spoke. She looked forward to his beaming smile during the long sleepless nights, alone in a city centre flat - a daughter for every day of the week to ration sleeping pills and Codeine. She sang about sin and spat at Ian Paisley on TV.

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Came in in Lord H’s car today as he’s kindly taking mine in for a service, so had to pop into Security to get a car pass and attempt to negotiate my way into a space. I’m only used to driving Fiestas, you see – the Laguna is like driving a tank. A tank that’s rather more in control than I am. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve killed anyone yet –though as it’s so big I can’t really tell what I’m driving over …

Anyway, at work I’ve been plunged straight into the thick of various marketing mini-projects today, and sorting out papers for meetings this week – well, at least it meant I didn’t have to stress the fact of Monday morning too much, hurrah! It was nearly lunchtime by the time a natural pause occurred ...

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We went to a reservoir yesterday, and it was lovely (well, mostly, a bird did poo on my head but that's another story). There were lots of birds, cormorants, herons, chaffinch, treecreepers, grebes, goldeneyes, a lesser whitethroat - even jumping fish. And this:


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I’ve just found myself getting quite upset at the death of a fellow granny-blogger; I hadn’t been in there for ages and how strange to click over there today to find that she’d died yesterday morning. Funny how you become attached to people through writing; it seems to be an instant connection that blasts away the rubble so that the friendship and bond is almost immediately grasped.

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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 ...


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Have spent the day attempting to sell Goldenford books at the Pirbright Open Day with the stalwart Jackie and the equally stalwart Irene. The rain held off, thank the Lord, but sadly we only sold three books. Sigh. So that's two Tainted Trees and one Thorn in the Flesh. And that latter was to someone I knew from an old poetry group - thank you, Valerie! How marvellous it must be to sell to strangers though. Ah well. So a bit of a waste of a day, but it was lovely to catch up with two of the Golden Girls, so all was not entirely lost ...


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A brief visitation from the Mac today before it decided to deny all knowledge of ever having an Internet or a mailbox connection. Sigh. So I'm back on the old PC typing this. Ah, it's like I've never been away, you know. However it's another one to add to Lord H's list of mending things. Poor chap ...

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Top writing tip. Blocked re plotting? Unable to connect the dots in your own mind? Take time out and try doing a jigsaw.

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Well, further to Vanessa's comment on yesterday's post (and this isn't some sort of edit-off or competition, promise!) here's another, more intense, editing picture. I think this was in February or March.

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My first blog using the new Mac. I must say I like it and it's a lot quicker with stuff than the old PC. I'm still not sure what to do about printing though, but Lord H assures me that can be sorted. Emails seem to be getting through, though I'm having trouble with sending some replies. I'm hoping that will be solved soon as well! Mind you, the slightly wild whooshing noise the Mac makes when it sends something is utterly terrifying. Still, at least you know it's been sent - somewhere ... I only wish I knew how to make the font larger. But, all in all, I think I'm about to be a Mac convert ...


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