Home Sweet Home

I’m back. The flight from Gatwick to Tenerife was delayed for an hour, but was otherwise fine. I wrote up my notes from the writing course, quick before I forgot, and I carried on with an exercise I’d started in the course. Then today we flew back from Tenerife. And tomorrow I’m a guide for Starmus!

June 28, 2016
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Plot and Storytelling Workshop

Woman’s Weekly magazine run workshops for writers and I’ve drooled over the adverts for years. £79 for a workshop always seemed like rather good value, but of course when you add in flights from La Palma and a London hotel, it was a non-starter. But I managed to plan the holiday around one, and I went on my last day in the UK. It was great, and I learned a…

June 28, 2016
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The tooth and the NHS

The tooth got worse and worse. Clearly it was beyond paracetamol and ibuprofen, and I didn’t think I should drive at all, much less all the way to Somerset. I tried to find a dentist, but I couldn’t find anywhere that would treat a non-patient. Apparently there is an emergency dentist in Telford, but they weren’t answering the phone, and when I took a taxi there I found I was…

June 26, 2016
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Leave!

On Thursday morning we went to Iron Bridge, the first arch bridge in the world to be built of cast iron, in 1779. In the evening, my toothache got much worse. I spent the night waking up with the pain, whimpering until I could safely take another painkiller, then checking the referendum results-so-far while I waited for the painkiller to kick in. It did not make me happier. This result…

June 24, 2016
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Attingham Park

The servants dining area. Who sat where. at Attingham Park. Shropshire
June 22, 2016

I don’t get a huge amount of use out of my National Trust membership, what with living in the Canary Islands, but I do like to visit a National Trust property when I can. So went to Attingham Park, a stately home near Telford. It’s gorgeous. And huge. We didn’t have time to go around much of the grounds (400 acres, if memory serves!) but we did go around the…

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On holiday

I’ve escaped for 10 days before the summer guiding rush. On Sunday morning I flew to Tenerife and spent a pleasant afternoon and evening, mostly in the hotel room. I took a nap and caught up with email. For lunch, we found a nearby Irish bar called Grandee O’Donnell that was serving Sunday roasts. It was damn good! So we went back for dinner (also good) and a little karaoke….

June 21, 2016
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