A Heartwarming Week

It's the little things that matter: choir members rushing to offer a lift to a newcomer who'll be walking home in the dark through miles of country roads, even though it's not on their way; flowers left on the town bridge as a mark of respect and thanks to a man who simply used to pass the time of day with passers by for years; neighbours who ring our doorbell to see if we're OK, because the burglar alarm went off yesterday and we haven't been able to reset it. NAH and I remarked to each other on how lucky we are with our neighbours.

Just simple things really. Part of the thousands ordinary, everyday acts of kindness which far outweigh everything that's bad in the news. NAH and I are trying to say hello to people we pass in the street. It was one of the things that makes Tywyn a friendly place to be - we want to pass on that friendliness to Chippenham too.

Happy Feet

It's winter, so I can't show off what I had done to my feet yesterday that much, so I thought I'd show them off here instead! I've never had a pedicure before and never painted my toenails either, so yesterday held two firsts for me and I'm delighted with the results. As you can see, I went for the most vampish colour I could choose :)

I spent the weekend with my GNO buddies. We all used to work together (3 still do) and I organise a monthly meal/cinema trip for us. Sadly one has moved to Dorchester, so can't make many of our monthly gets together and another often has childcare issues, so it was especially nice for us all to be there for once. In December 2007, we had our first visit to a day spa at Center Parcs and swiftly followed this up with a spa weekend in January last year. As we've just had our second spa weekend, it looks like this is becoming a traditional annual event. S found a good deal at an hotel not too far away - good food, overnight accommodation, 4 treatments (Indian Head Massage, upper body massage, facial and eyebrow wax) plus use of gym, pool and sauna. Last year, all 4 treatments were firsts for me, but I didn't react that well to the facial, so I asked to change it to a pedicure for yesterday. That went much better and I loved the massage elements as well as the new nail painting experience!

The weekend finished yesterday lunchtime, so we decided to round things off with a quick walk round Lacock village. Here they all are just before we made it to the tearoom. Let's just say some people were very good and had sandwiches or soup whilst others (me included) had the full blown clotted cream tea. We also had plenty of time for gossip, laughter, champagne, nibbles and chocolates as well as being pampered, so here's to the next one. Thanks H for organising it for us this year - it's a great way to brighten up gloomy January :D

Frosted Scenes

Well the thaw set in yesterday after weeks of frosts and days rarely going much above freezing point. The coldest start to winter for 30 years they say. Last Friday I went into town just to see what I could see. Threadspider had told me about the river being frozen when she was in town on Wednesday. Sadly I was to late for that, but there was still plenty to record. And little did I know I'd get to see frozen sea the next day...

Poole Harbour on Ice

I know I've already blogged this picture today over at Veg Plotting, but it's my favourite image from yesterday and I feel a larger version also needs to be put in my Box here for later.

Ice on the beach is such a rarity, so I'm glad I was there to see it.

I love this whole area plus the county of Dorset - it always feels like I'm coming home. It holds so many happy memories from my favourite holiday in Weymouth at the age of seven, through various school field trips (geography and geology) based in Swanage, windsurfing holidays and other regular trips to see NAH's aunt in Poole. When we moved down south, we were aiming for Dorset, but fell short by about 35 miles ending up in Wiltshire instead.

At some point I'll put up other Dorset delights in here ready for a rainy day.

Putting Things Finally To Bed

A few weeks ago over at Veg Plotting, I wrote about the creative writing course I was attending at the time and whether writing was the right avenue for me. I had lots of lovely comments and advice as a result. I've continued to mull things over during the Christmas period and I've decided it's something I do want to pursue, but not down the particular route the course was going. I believe feature writing is something I'd like to do and I also have an idea for a book. It's all very exciting.

However, I do feel I need to put my course to bed by typing up the only piece which I feel is up to my usual blogging standard. It's ironic that I was completely uninspired by the course itself and was in danger of not completing my homework one week. We'd been doing a series on 'The night was...' and this was the result.

'Every night was quiet.' I'm stuck. A week's gone by and I still have no story to share. I've stared at the blank page, the wall and mid air willing the next words to come. I've parked them in the back of my mind for a while; I've tried different words; I've gone off and done other things. But there's rien, nada, nothing.

My first idea was to tell last week's tale from the man's point of view. There's so many questions from then with no answer. What's his name? Al, Bill, Chris... none fits the father of Jake. I can't name his wife either, though I can see her as plain as day. Why is she on her own? What-if? I have the start, but I can't see the end. Once more I set my tale to one side whilst we visit my husband's family up north. My niece loves writing, so wants to hear about the course. I tell her my problem and we start with names, going through all the boys in her class. Still no fit, still no what-if, still no end.

It's the 'facing the blank page' which called me to sign up for this course in the first place. I've had a year of tales tumbling out of my head each day. Months of fun and the pleasures of writing, but with a voice of doubt in my head which says 'Ah yes, but what happens when there's no tale there, what do you do then?' Well, each week here I've come very close to that and the one's the nearest yet. But at 3 o'clock this morning - the best time for ideas I find - the light bulb's finally gone on in my head. So whilst the night is quiet, I'm facing the blank page and I'm ready to begin.