Weekend roundup

Sunny Staithes already seems a long time ago

I've only been back at work for a week and it's as though I've never been away. All my freelance work was sitting there waiting for me - which will be nice when payday comes around, but was something of a shock to the system. Even so, I still managed a couple of coffee/lunch dates, so it's not all been nose to the grindstone and shoulder to the wheel.

I also dropped into the Weaving Words writers' group. I can't often make this, because they meet on Wednesdays when I'm usually teaching yoga. It was nice to see Kezzabelle and the gang. We sat in her garden until it went dark, wrapped up in blankets and illuminated by candles and lanterns: all very bo-ho!  We began with a prompt -  'camping', 'strong women' and 'encouraging words' - and it always amazes me how varied the results are when we come to read them out.

Also on the writing front, I made it to the shortlist of the Words With Jam First Page Competition, but didn't win.  Oh well, back to the drawing board. Congratulations to the winner, Annnie Walmsley, and there were a few names I recognised on the shortlist, too, so well done us!

This writing lark is clearly in my blood. My mum has recovered from her recent malaise and has a little something in the local paper's letters page. She has also heard from the Daily Telegraph that one of her contributions to its letters page will be used in its next book. Honestly, there's not stopping her!

Tuesday chat

Walk in Derbyshire, anyone?

Isn't it sad about Peaches Geldof? She is the same age as my older son. What a waste. I see that Mickey Rooney has also died. Coincidentally, he popped up in The Muppets film, which I watched last weekend, and until then I hadn't given him a thought for many a long year.

I'm a bit sleepy this morning because I was out with 'the girls' last night at a pub quiz. We came sixth out of thirteen teams, which was a good result, given that none of us knew any of the sport questions. I was convinced that the winning driver in F1 races gets 12 points, for instance, and it turns out it's 25. We actually did better on the last round, which was on the rather curious topic of fish. One thing that I learned is that the spots on a plaice are orange. Who knew!

On my 'to do' list today is to finish my entry for the Words With Jam first page competition. The closing date isn't until 31 May, but I've been working on this for a while and there comes a time when I need to put down the pen and walk away from the paper. Then it's yoga lesson planning, teaching and a bit of subbing for the rest of the day.

The sun is out, though, and I'd really rather go for a walk. What a pity we have to work.

Onwards!