claytoncast

And so it's getting ever closer. When I sat down to apply myself to writing my book last April, I didn't really have any perception as to how long the whole process from me typing the first word until publication would be. In actual fact it will be just under 15 months to publication day on July 18. I'm told that this is quite quick, but then I'm also told that I wrote the book very quickly. I started with a week at my good friend Janie and Mike's house in France, and had finished actually writing it by the middle of July, three months later. The rest of July and August were editing and reworking certain sections. It came back from Nick Hern, my fantastic publisher, just before Christmas and I spent the second half of the Christmas holiday in the first week of January working through his emendations  and suggestions. It came back in May to be finally proof read, and I finished a final proofreading of it ten days ago before it went to the printers. The

…….Two for joy. One of the hitherto unspoken joys of living here in Denham Court is the view, even on a rainy morning such as today, from our kitchen window. There, through the mist you can catch a glimpse of La Tour Eiffel, placing us firmly in the 47th arrondissement known as Upper Sydenham.  To those with a keen eye it may just be possible to work out that this architectural highlight of our kitchen vista  is actually one of the two Crystal Palace transmitter towers. It looks fabulous on a winter's day, brilliant at night when it is lit up and overall, a positive benefit for whoevers turn it is to stand at the kitchen sink and do the washing up - mainly Richard.  Cast your eyes down  from this wonder, and the likelihood is that you'll see magpies. The roof of the garages behind the flats seem to be a popular place for them to congregate, and it's rare that on looking out of the window in the morning I fail to see at least one bird, white breast glinting in the

So that's it - summer holiday done, and now three days later it seems as far away as ever. Normally we go to Turkey, and we have a bit of a riot……..so this year we opted to break the routine and try out something different. Also something a little more economical as we have a big trip to Thailand planned for December. Economical means Easy jet. And these days that's no drop in standards. Reserved seating, food to buy if you want it, and big smiles…That's two more things than you'll find on British Airways. I suppose the biggest event of this year's holiday was the fact that we decided to hire a car. The hotel we had chosen was about an hours drive away from the  airport and initial enquiries into a taxi produced figures of €156 return.  For only €356 we could hire a car for the whole week,  so it was a no-brainer. Except of course that the flight landed as an evening sun glowed in the Fuerteventurian sky,  and by the time we had collected luggage e