The C Words and other trials

As I write, Lainy and I have just returned from a walk in the first blast of Storm Barra. Typically, now I've returned home and had to change - why are waterproof coats never, actually waterproof? - the lashing rain has stopped and the fierce gusts of wind are taking a breather.

However, it got me thinking that life is really throwing everything at us, isn't it? Not just covid - I've got to the stage where I try and avoid listening to the latest rise in cases in Cornwall, let alone the latest variants, as it's too depressing - and the rising cases of homelessness, particularly in Cornwall, but well, everything in the world seems to have gone bonkers.

Three of my closest friends have broken a shoulder, a leg and a foot (only one each, not all three), all of which take ages to recover from. Climate change is having a winter hissy fit with all these storms and I really feel for the poor people in Scotland and up north who have had days if not over a week without any power.

Then we have the added pressure of that other C word - Christmas. As my close friends know, this has been a sticky time for me - anorexia, my dad was dying of cancer when we were much younger, and then my Pip died on Boxing Day. Then I was involved with someone who frequently had family commitments away from Cornwall so he wasn't here. So it's been a bit of an uphill battle for most of my life.

However, this year I am glad to say I don't actually have that sick, gut churning dread when I think of the festive period. I despise the ruthless commercialism of it, but I don't get involved in that side of it anyway. I have had several invitations for meals, whether on Christmas Day or another day, and hoping to spend a bit of time with the Fella at some point. Of course having said that, I'll probably spend it in bed, being ill, and frantically begging people to walk Lainy for me, but at least I have a few friends I can call on for that. Whether she'd walk with them is another matter, but we won't go there now.

In other matters, I am continuing to edit The Rescue, and hoping to start sending it to agents in the new year. It's a bittersweet book to edit, given the two canine friends, but I hope it's a real tribute to Moll - and to Lainy of course, albeit for her brief appearance.

So here's to our books, whether you're reading or writing them. And a special thought for all those who are having a really difficult time this winter.