Open letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Mr. Cameron

Might I respectfully request that you advise people against panic buying/stockpiling my novels?

Yours etc....

Lucky (?) seven...

Thanks to Rosemary for tagging me with this challenge (is it a challenge? Not sure what else to call it). Sadly, my WIP hasn't reached page 77, so with no other cheating, this is page 7; the first 7 or so lines. The setting is an old people's home, where some premature deaths are about to take place. Edith is one of the residents; Betsy, her poor beleaguered daughter:


"Since she supplemented the meagre diet with snacks of biscuits and chocolate, and took no exercise whatsoever beyond that which was required to convey her from one room to another, Edith grew steadily heavier and less mobile, until she had to have recourse to a walking frame.
'So handy,' said Edith, scraping her way along the carpeted corridors. 'And you can hang your things from it.'
'It didn't have to come to this,' Betsy told her sternly. 'You've got a perfectly good pair of legs, if only you'd make a bit more effort.'"

I'm supposed to pass this on to 7 other writers, but I think most of the writing bloggers I know have already done it. If anyone reading this would like to help themselves to a nomination, please do (and please let me know), and apologies to anyone I may have missed.

Great news - healthier biscuits!

You will be relieved and delighted to know that the humble (if dull) digestive biscuit has now been made even more dull and even more humble. And HEALTHIER! For Macvities, in their wisdom (and concern for our welfare. Aaaah. Bless) have reduced the saturated fat in these biscuits. (What saturated fat? You may well ask. I didn't know, either. But there it is.)

So now you can reach for a digestive* to have with your coffee with a clear conscience. Phew! I don't know about you, but that's certainly a weight off my mind (and my hips, and my thighs, and...).

It's so reassuring to know that we're being looked after, isn't it? And to think my granny used to feed me on bread and dripping...

*I've alway wondered about the name "digestive". Why, exactly?

Magpie 110

I want to choose my best side
As I'm going out tonight.
If I sit on his left side
He'll be looking at my right.
But if I settle opposite
(And if the lights are dim)
I can sit back and enjoy my meal
And leave the choice to him.

(With thanks to Tess at Magie Tales for the photo)

Horse diaries

Well, this beautiful spring day, Titch and I saw a lot of dead things. A dead crow, a dead sheep, a dead rabbit. You find this kind of thing hereabouts, but they alarm Titch no end.

Titch: OMG! More dead things! It's an epidemic!

Me: No, it's the coutryside. Stuff happens in the countryside.

Titch: Well, what about that thing in the road?

Me: What thing in the road?

Titch: That red and white striped thing.

Me: Oh, that was just a traffic cone. Someone had knocked it over.

Titch: Looked dead to me.

I tried to explain about things that are usually alive (sheep) and things that aren't (traffic cones), but Titch wasn't having any of it. To him, anything lying motionless on its side - whether it be a cone, a lamp post, a wheelie bin (especially a wheelie bin) - is dead. And whatever killed it, might be coming after him. He has a kind of Me Next mentality. So I thought I'd entertain him with the story of the dead lamb.

This happened some years ago, when I was out riding (different horse), and we came across a lamb that had drowned in a water trough. I found the farmer, and told him of his loss. I expected - what, exactly? Not grief. That would have been over the top, but perhaps an element of disappointment, maybe tinged with sadness for the unnecessary passing of something so young; even a passing regret for the loss of future revenue? But not a bit of it. A slow smile spread over the farmer's face. "He did well to get in there, didn't he?" he said proudly, and went about his business.

Titch thought this was very hearltess, and for once, I had to agree with him.

Testing

Having had awful problems with my blog, I'm just testing it out with a photo of three of my children. You don't have to admire them or anything - it was the first picture that came to hand. No comments required!

I know I've been banging on about conditions on Texas Death Row, but tonight on Chanel Four at 10 pm there are interviews with inmates, and I thought those of my followers who have shown interest might be interested in watching it. As I've said before, most people in this country have no idea about the appalling conditions in which inmates are kept, and this programme might help us all to understand better. Several are currently scheduled to be executed in the next few months.