Hello everyone! This will be a super short blog because I’m up against the clock. It’s gone 10:30 on Friday morning, and I only have a couple of hours before my zoom meet-up with my local author group. I am working a long shift on Saturday and, of course, this needs to be scheduled and ready to go live early on Sunday.

As usual, two weeks have flown by in a whirl of busyness. What have I done?

The last time we chatted, I was working that Sunday and then had the next two days off. I planned to catch up with all the friends and family I ghosted during my self-imposed solitude to get book fifteen written. My very good friend, Ms S, was due to come for coffee on Friday, but a heavy snowfall put paid to that. Instead, she came on my next day off which was Monday. It was great to see her as we hadn’t met since Christmas Eve – which weirdly feels both an aeon ago and only last week.

On Tuesday my favourite cousin came for a visit, and we went to the Market Cross in town for some excellent coffee and homemade cake.

Between their visits, I caught up on housework, reading, and writing reviews. Wednesday and Thursday I was at work. Long, boring, customer-less days. Except, I did have one wonderful big sale which saved my bacon.

My next day off was Friday and I went to see fellow indie author, the lovely Becky Wright, who lives not far away. Becky and I have been mates since we met on a creative writing course eighteen years ago. Never did we imagine, as we sat side by side in that class and introduced ourselves, that almost two decades later we’d still be friends and published authors. I’m not sure we would have believed it.

Anyway, each time I go to visit Becky we take turns to either supply lunch or cake. This time it was my turn to take the lunch, so, when I sat down Monday evening to place my online Tesco order, I had a look if they were running the meal-for-two special they often do. I assumed as it was Mother’s Day that weekend they probably would be.

The deal is a main dish, a side, a dessert, and a bottle of wine for two for the price of £12. It used to be £10, but everything has gone up. I scanned the mains. Hmm, the chicken in a cabernet sauvignon and mushroom sauce looked yummy. As did the potato dauphinoise as a side. Add two slices of luscious-looking lemon cheesecake. And the most expensive bottle of wine they had – a Malbec with a normal price of £9 – but, because I was buying it in the deal I would get it, plus the other three things for £12. Obviously, the wine would go on my rack and as Becky would be supplying the dessert, the two slices of cheesecake would be for my consumption. I did not see any drawbacks to this plan.

I looked at vegetables and selected a pot of asparagus and tender-stem broccoli spears in garlic butter to accompany our lunch. Wonderful.

I had to work Thursday until 4:30, so selected a shopping collection time of 4-5 and hoped I didn’t get held up at work. Unlikely, given it was a Thursday and how dead we’ve been.

On Thursday, I left off bang on time, drove to Tesco, and collected my shopping. Once home, I began putting everything away. They’d sold out of lemon cheesecake so had substituted it with key lime pie. That’s fine. I like that as well. There was the pot of veg and the potato dauphinoise, looking good. The Malbec had a posh label with no picture on it. A very dear friend of mine once told me, many years ago, that if you want a nice bottle of wine spend over £5 and buy one without a picture on the label. And do you know – I think that’s pretty sound advice.

I finished unpacking. My shopping bags were empty. I put everything away and then realised the chicken in the cabernet sauvignon sauce was missing. WTF? I got the bags out and went through each one carefully. Nope. No sign of it.

I called up my original order on my phone. Yep. There it was. I definitely put it in the basket Monday evening.

Cursing Tesco, I was on the point of calling them, when I thought I better check the most recent email from them showing the last-minute changes I had made to the order Wednesday evening. When placing an online order, you have until 11:45pm the evening before collection day to make any amendments. I remembered at gone 11:30 the previous evening, sleepy and on my way to bed, I suddenly remembered I needed bread rolls and sweetcorn, so I’d quickly called up my order and added them to it.

Had I…? Somehow, in my sleep-dazed state, had I managed to accidentally remove the chicken dish from my basket?

Yep. You’ve guessed it. I had.

Bugger. Bum. And steaming piles of arse biscuits.

Calling myself every name under the sun, I considered my options. It was almost six, I needed something for lunch the next day. I would be leaving to drive to Becky’s at nine in the morning. I really, really didn’t want to go shopping the next day. I looked in my freezer and cupboards. Did I have anything I could take instead? No, nothing that didn’t involve cooking from scratch. There was nothing for it, I would have to go shopping now!

Grumbling about silly cows who did stupid stuff like remove vital items from their shopping basket, I pulled my shoes back on and walked to Waitrose. Luckily I live in the middle of town so there are shops all around me.

Stomping across the car park, it suddenly occurred to me that as I hadn’t completed the Tesco dine-in-for-two meal deal they would have charged me full whack for the potato dauphinoise, dessert, and wine. Oh, double fudge arse biscuits!! £9 for one bottle of wine. I’d expect two bottles for that price. Now seriously annoyed with me, I stormed about Waitrose trying to think of what to buy for lunch.

Could I decide? Could I heck. I looked at the dizzying choice of ready-prepared food and could not decide what to get. I hummed and aahed, picking up first one box that promised me a gourmet meal in a foil tray and then another. In the end, I settled on a boneless pork joint in a rosemary and garlic sauce that was on sale. I figured I needed to try and claw back some of the money I’d wasted through my stupidity.

Friday morning, bright and early, I packed up what I needed to take for lunch. And double-checked. And then checked again. I don’t trust myself now. I have a history of being an idiot. It was a wet, cold, overcast day but at least the snow of the previous week was gone.

I’m happy to report that I had a lovely day with Becky. She had the coffee on when I got there. And lunch was delicious. The pork joint melted in the mouth and was swimming in herby garlic sauce. The mixed veg was moist and garlic buttery. The potato dauphinoise was … yes, you’ve guessed it, very garlicky. I was relieved Becky had bought a salted caramel cheesecake for dessert. At least the vampires will leave us alone with all that garlic inside us.

Saturday I was back to work for a long shift. Once upon a time, the weekends were always busy and profitable days for the shop, especially Saturday. Then we had lockdown, and everything changed. Saturday was no longer a busy day. People’s shopping habits changed, and we were as likely to be busier on a Monday or a Tuesday.

Going into work, I had almost all of my target to try and reach and wasn’t hopeful. But, we had an incredible day. I do not know where everyone came from, but it was like the population of the town woke up, looked at each other, and said – “let’s go and buy a new bed”.

By the end of the day, we had clocked up more sales than we did on our busiest day during January peak. It saved my bacon. My sales took me over my target for the week and almost all of my target for the following week, which is just as well. I worked Wednesday and Thursday this week and again we sat there and made no sales whatsoever. Things are not looking great for the retail industry in the UK right now.

Last weekend was Mother’s Day here in the UK, and a couple of days later it was my parents’ wedding anniversary. My parents are at that age and stage in their life where they don’t want stuff. Well, there is stuff they want – new car, holiday, whole house redecorated – but it’s stuff I can’t afford. The stuff I can afford – chocolates, ornaments, etc – they don’t want. I decided to buy a joint Mother’s Day and anniversary present and treat them to a nice meal to eat at home.

Whilst I was at work on that crazy busy Saturday, I was thinking of what to buy them and planned to go home and park my car, then walk to Waitrose and buy them some yummy food. I left off at six. As it was a Saturday and a wet cold evening, the roads were empty so I made the snap decision to drive to Waitrose so I wouldn’t have to go out again once I was home. To be honest, I was cold, hungry, and wiped out from the long, manic day. Waitrose car park was almost empty, as was the store, so I wandered about picking out what I knew my parents would like.

For starters – two pots of ready-made prawn cocktail, plus a small French baguette. I knew Mum would have plenty of salad to go with the prawns. Two sirloin steaks for the main course, plus chunky hand-cut chips, a mixed bag of prepared veg, and a bottle of rose wine. A luscious-looking cherry and almond tart and a pot of posh vanilla custard for dessert. Put a bouquet in the basket, a Mother’s Day card and an anniversary card, and I was done.

I drove home and put everything away. I fixed dinner, poured a much-needed glass of wine, and vegged out on the sofa for the evening.

On Sunday, my mother called around after church. We chatted. I made tea and coffee. Then I gave her the cards and started pulling things out of the fridge, showing them to her, and putting them in a gift bag for her to take home. The final thing to find was the custard. Custard? Where was the custard? I emptied the fridge. It wasn’t there. I checked my shopping bag even though I knew I’d emptied it. Nope. I checked the freezer, in case, in my sleep-deprived state, I’d put it in there. I checked the cupboards, and the fridge again. Nope. Nope. The custard had vanished.

Did you leave it in the car?

No, I parked the car here and walked to Waitrose.

I rummaged through the bin and found the receipt. There was the custard. It was the last item. It had been scanned by the cashier and I’d paid for it, so where was it?

In the end, we concluded I must have forgotten to pick it up and had left it at the till. It was the only explanation. Don’t worry about it, Mum said, I have custard at home. She took her bag of goodies and left.

Later that day, on a whim, I went and checked the boot of the car. There in the corner, was the missing pot of custard. Why did I tell Mum I’d walked to Waitrose? Because that had been my plan all along. The decision to stop on my drive home was spontaneous so had been instantly forgotten about.

Ho hum, that is my mental state right now. At least I found it. I ate it myself. It was delicious.

Monday and Tuesday were days off. They were taken up almost entirely with trying to rescue my paperback copy of Erinsmore.

Do you remember I told you in a previous blog that my brain-dead laptop overwrote my latest book over the paperback edition of Erinsmore? But that it was okay because I had saved it onto the external hard drive so could resave it from there.

Well…

I opened Erinsmore to look through because I wanted to check a continuity issue in the sequel. Glancing at the text, something didn’t look right. Looking closer, something looked very very not right, indeed.

I went to the end of the document. At the back of all my books, I list the other books I’ve written and each time I publish a new book, I update that list. This means I can tell just by looking at this list how up-to-date the version I’m looking at is. The last two books I published were Pitch & Pace and Rambling Rose. They should be listed in the back of Erinsmore. They weren’t. Not even Kiss & Tell, the previous book published, was there.

How old was this version? And how had this happened?

I thought I had saved all the latest versions of my books onto my external hard drive. Then, when my ditzy laptop overwrote Erinsmore with its sequel, I resaved the version on the hard drive back onto the laptop. But, what if when I saved it onto the hard drive my laptop spazzed out and didn’t save it. What if the version on the external hard drive was still a really old one?

Uggh.

I contacted Becky. As she is one of my beta readers and my formatter, I would have emailed Erinsmore to her last year to have the new images of Pitch & Pace and Rambling Rose inserted into the back. She came back to me, sorry, she didn’t update the paperback version, I did that myself. Of course, I did, I knew that. But she did do it for me on the eBook version as that needs complicated hyperlinks putting in which are beyond me, so she sent me the eBook version.

That made me think, so I opened the eBook version I had on my laptop. It was the latest one. Thank heavens. So, I have had to painstakingly go through the eBook version, chapter by chapter, carefully copying just the text of each chapter and pasting it into the paperback version. The text is the same in the eBook version as in the paperback, it’s just the formatting that’s different. It’s long, involved, fiddly work and it’s not speeded up by the fact my laptop keeps glitching and freezing.

I worked Wednesday and Thursday – as I’ve already said, two long boring days with no sales for anyone. And now it’s Friday, my one day off before I’m back to work tomorrow. Already this morning, I have caught up with the ironing and dashed across to the Post Office to send Franki’s wellies to her at university. She forgot to take them back with her the last time she was home in January and, of course, she will need them for her field trip to Cornwall at Easter. Although I managed to fit them into a small enough box to count as a small package, because of the weight of them (they have steel toe caps) they were too heavy so counted as a medium package. Once upon a time, that would have cost £5, now it’s £7.

I have written and posted a book review, caught up on social media – well, caught up as much as you ever can – and written most of this week’s blog. Stopping now for a quick bite of lunch and then it will be time for my fortnightly zoom meeting with my local author group.

Speaking of the local authors’ group – a quick note about a couple of events next week that might interest those of you who are local to Bury St Edmunds.

On Wednesday the 29^th of March, the lovely and talented local poet Sally Warrell is launching her latest book and a fun evening of words and poetry is planned to celebrate. It is being held at the Market Cross in the town centre and not only is it completely free to attend, but you don’t need to acquire tickets either. Nope, simply rock up at 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start.

Joining Sally will be the award-winning local authors Rachel Churcher and Jackie Carreira and it looks set to be a wonderful evening. The bar will be open serving hot and cold drinks and alcoholic beverages. Let’s face it, hardly anything is free these days and it will be a chance to try something different.

Also, next week, the first Maker’s Market of the year will be taking place. Again, in the Market Cross, this popular event will be playing host to a wide range of stalls selling a variety of handmade and artisan crafts, as well as authors from the Writers of Bury & Beyond who will be selling and signing their books. I will be there, so why not come along and say hello and chat about books? All the authors will be happy to sign the books for you and supply you with a bookmark, and we are once again offering a free wrapping service if the book is a gift for the bookworm in your life.

I look forward to seeing you at one or both events.

And will you look at that? I stated at the beginning that this was going to be a short blog, but the words ran away from me, and it turned out to be quite a meaty one after all.

Take care everyone, I hope the next two weeks are kind to you and look forward to chatting with you then.

Julia Blake

Have you ever looked back and wondered what the heck you’ve done with your time? I mean, were you asleep? In a coma? Did you have a Rip Van Winkle moment when you blinked, and a fortnight went by for the rest of the world? I’m feeling like that today. I know it’s been two weeks since we last chatted. The calendar tells me that, so it must be true, but I honestly have no idea what I’ve done or where those fourteen days went to.

I did write. A lot. So, I guess that’s it. Caught up in the intensity of the world of Erinsmore and the adventures my characters were having, every spare moment I had was spent writing. And I’m happy to report that it’s done. Finished. I have written the end of book fifteen. It rocked in at a tidy 103,600 words and I’m pleased with that. Erinsmore is 102,600 so it’s great that it’s more or less the same. I think it’s always nicer if books in a series are roughly the same size. It looks much neater on the shelf, don’t you think?

Am I happy with the story? I think so. I’m too close to it to tell – it’s a bit like when you’ve sweated in a hot kitchen all day to provide an amazing meal for everyone, but when you try to eat it you can’t taste a thing because you’re still caught up in an anxious whirl. NB. This is why my hostess trolley is so fabulous. Cook the meal and load it all in there to keep hot, then you can clear the kitchen, take a shower, get ready, relax, have a drink, and be ready to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Anyway, I digress. I believe it is good. There is one chapter in particular that came out of nowhere and stunned me with the twist it made in the tail (and no, that is not a spelling mistake but a spoiler). Reading it back after I’d written it, the words moved me to tears and I think it’s one of the finest pieces I’ve ever written.

Course, it might not be, it might be utter garbage and I’m just fooling myself. The whole book might be a big steaming pile of dingo’s kidneys. I won’t know until I get the first feedback from the proof and beta readers, and it’s going to be a while before that happens.

First, it has to sit and marinate. Like a pot of beef stew, it’s best if it’s left to slowly simmer so all the flavours and ingredients can blend. I will go back to it in a couple of weeks and read it with fresh eyes. It has had basic spelling, punctuation, and grammar edits and I have read it all the way through to make sure the chapters flow and it hangs together as a story. It does. So now I need to leave it alone for a while.

But it’s sooo hard. I want to rush into editing. To stare for long hours at my words and slowly pick them apart. To question each grammatical decision and debate the placement of every comma. Many authors hate this stage. I don’t hate it as much as tolerate it. Whilst it doesn’t have the heady rush of writing the first draft, when anything could happen and the whole plot is up for grabs, there is a quiet satisfaction in looking at all those words and knowing they came from my head and are mine to do what I please with.

In two weeks, I will have it read to me using the Read Aloud function on my laptop. A very useful editing tool, hearing it read aloud helps to pick out all those parts where the punctuation isn’t quite right, it lags or goes too fast. It also helps find those annoying typos such as where I’ve accidentally put if instead of in, lightening instead of lightning, where instead of were, or even we’re instead of were. Yes, it takes time – days in fact, but it’s a crucial part of the editing process and it’s quite enjoyable having your book read to you as a story.

Writing this book has reinforced that I need a new laptop. Mine is coming on for ten years old and sadly they don’t make things that last anymore. I had a major scare last week when it struggled for ten minutes to save the document and eventually lost the whole thing somewhere in its dementia-riddled circuit boards. Luckily, I had saved it onto my external hard drive first – something I never do normally – so I was able to pull it up from there, but it made me think.

The next morning, I saved every single book file – all fourteen of them – from my laptop onto the external hard drive and double-checked they were all safely saved before I started writing. The thought of losing the most up-to-date versions of them was enough to give me conniptions. It would turn out to be fortuitous that I did.

I began working directly from the hard drive. Calling up the file from there, I would set it to autosave there for the whole session then at the end, when I had finished and wanted to switch off my laptop for the evening, I would finally try and save it to the actual laptop.

It would think about it. The blue spinning doughnut of doom rotated endlessly. The screen would go white, and the file would disappear. I swear you could almost hear the cogs grinding away in its guts. I would wait impatiently. Word is failing to respond; the message would finally flash up. You can either wait for the programme to respond or restart.

Now, I know if you wait for the programme to respond the next Ice Age will rock up before it does, so I have no choice but to restart the programme. Word disappears as the laptop goes back to the landscape image on my home screen. More minutes ticked by before it reluctantly decides it better restart Word.

Heart in my mouth, I watch as it tells me it’s trying to retrieve my file. Eventually, it coughs it up and I open it to check it takes me to where I finished and that the version it has saved is the latest one. Thankfully, up until now it always has been, but at least I have saved it on the external hard drive first so I can overwrite it from there if necessary.

Last Tuesday I had a major scare. Before I even wrote a word of book fifteen, I had called up the first book in the series, Erinsmore, and then created a new file calling it by the title of the new book. Checking I now had two separate files – the original one which is book one, Erinsmore, and the new one which I would use as a template – I deleted the actual story from the new file so I could use it as a template. Some of the front pages will be the same such as the copyright, acknowledgements, and dedication pages, along with the About the Author and other books by the author pages at the back. By using Erinsmore as a template, it saves time having to recreate those pages and means all the mirror margins etc are set.

Anyway, it’s a system I’ve used before and so long as I check at the very beginning that there are now two separate files with different names on the system, it’s fine. So, Tuesday. I managed to write 1500 words before I had to leave to go to work. Trying to get the laptop to save my work and close down, I impatiently waited for it to go through the usual shenanigans of saving it to the external hard drive and then trying to persuade it to save it to the hard drive. This time it was reluctant and groaned and moaned for a good five minutes before the document vanished and then blinked back onto the screen. Unsure if it had saved or not, I hit autosave again and just before it flickered off the screen a little box appeared telling me it had successfully saved the file called Erinsmore, and then bam, my laptop crashed and closed.

Wait! What?

Saved file as Erinsmore? No. Why would it save book two which I’d called a completely different name, as Erinsmore? It was too late to turn the damn thing back on, wait the twenty minutes for the hamster to start running in the wheel inside and check what it had saved and where. I rushed to work, where I fretted for the whole day wondering if it had overwritten Erinsmore with the new book. Why? Why would it do that? Then I remembered that the illustrated title page of Erinsmore has a picture of a dragon holding a shield bearing the words Erinsmore by Julia Blake. I haven’t been able to change that to the title of the new book yet. That is something only my formatter can do. When you autosave a document it should save it to the name you have given that file, but sometimes, if it thinks it’s a new file, it will save it to the first word of the document, which in this case would be Erinsmore.

Oh shit, bugger, bum.

Calm down, I told myself, even if it has overwritten the file you still have an up-to-date version of Erinsmore on the external hard drive. Or have you? That voice inside that always wants to see the bad side of any occasion, piped up. Maybe you’ve accidentally overwritten that file as well. If you have then the whole of Erinsmore is gone. All 102,000 words of it.

Yeah, you can imagine my mental state when I drove home that evening after work. The first thing I did, before even taking my coat off, was switch on the laptop to check.

And had I? Yes. Unfortunately, it had overwritten book one with book two on my laptop. But, fortunately, Erinsmore was intact on the external hard drive, and, because I’d taken the time to save all the latest versions of all my books on there last week, it was the up-to-date version as well.

Phew, lucky escape and note to self to check the name of the file I’m saving. I’m also thinking I need to get some kind of off-site digital storage as well, the Cloud or DropBox – just in case the house burns down.

Once again, I have turned a blind eye to household chores to dedicate my time solely to writing. I mean, it’s only me here so it’s not like I’m having to clear up after anyone else or having the humiliation of anyone but me seeing my disgusting kitchen and grubby bathroom. Seriously, two out of five stars on TripAdvisor. The carpet is crunching underfoot again – where do all the bits come from? I always take my shoes off as soon as I walk in the door and nobody else has been in the house. I blame the cat.

The latest crisis in the ongoing shitshow that is the UK right now is a shortage of fresh fruit and veg. Sitting down Wednesday evening to do my online shop ready to collect Friday, I clicked on the lettuce I usually buy.

Nope. Out of stock.

Okay, what about that one?

Out of stock.

That one? That one? That one?

Nope. Nope. Nope. Lettuce? What is lettuce? The Tesco app screamed at me. We have never heard of this bizarre phenomenon.

Eventually, it grudgingly let me have a very small bag of ready-chopped iceberg lettuce.

I asked for a cucumber.

Expensive boxes of baby cucumbers only, the app sniffily informed me.

Tomatoes?

You’re having a f*****g laugh, aren’t you?

I gave up. I’m not that keen on tomatoes anyway and only like them in cheese sandwiches. I’d heard on the radio that supermarkets were struggling with supplies of fresh fruit and veg and that it was only going to get worse. Thinking about it, I went back into my list and added a variety of frozen fruit and veg. Just in case.

Eggs also seem a little problematic right now. When I went to collect my shopping my normal, own-brand free-range medium-sized half-dozen eggs had been replaced with deluxe organic eggs from chickens handfed on the finest organic corn who are tucked into bed by the farmer every night.

Are you happy with the sub? The assistant asked.

Hmm, you swapped my £1.80 half-dozen eggs, for £3.50 posh ones. Yeah. I think I’m good.

And that is us almost up to date. I treated myself to barbecue ribs for dinner last night, with posh chips, onion rings, and corn. As the afternoon wore on, I realised I had a pressing need for red wine. Now, I’ve not bought any this month. Trying to be thrifty, I’ve had the odd gin and tonic left over from Christmas instead, but last night I really, really wanted some wine with my dinner. In the end, I thought sod it. It’s the end of the month, I get paid in a few days, I’ve been thrifty all month, and anyway, I JUST WROTE A 102,000 WORD BOOK IN 23 DAYS! I DESERVE A BLOODY BOTTLE OF WINE!

Too right.

So, I pulled on my coat and boots and walked across the car park to Waitrose. It was perishing out there. Squatting hermit-like in my house for two days, I hadn’t noticed the temperatures plummeting, so I shivered in the wind gusting into my face directly from Siberia.

I was very good at Waitrose. I went straight to the wine aisle ignoring everything else so I wouldn’t be tempted. That’s the problem with that shop. The food is so nice it’s easy to be led astray. I always say Waitrose is the one shop you can go into just needing milk and come out having spent £35 and it all fits in one bag – and you forgot the milk. No – not looking, not looking, work with me here, not looking – I marched to the wine aisle and found a bottle of Yellow Tail Merlot reduced from £7.99 to £5.99. Grabbed it and dashed to the ten items or less checkout – ooh look, reduced to clear French pastries, No! Not looking, remember?

I shivered my way home and had two (maybe three) glasses of wine that evening and toasted my achievement.

And now it’s Saturday afternoon and I’m back to work tomorrow for a six-hour shift during which I have to sell almost £7000 worth of stuff to be in with a chance of hitting my target for the month. I think I have two hopes, and one’s Bob, and he’s dead. Ho hum. Sometimes you’re up and then you’re down. I have Monday off though, and that day is earmarked for mucking out this yucky house and beta reading a novel for a fellow author. I enjoyed her last book so I’m looking forward to that.

Anyway, I thought this would be a very short chat because I honestly had nothing to tell you, but, as someone once said to me, not only can I talk all four legs off a donkey, I can persuade it to go for a walk afterwards. Not sure if that was a compliment or not.

Take care, everyone, and I’ll see you in two weeks.

Julia Blake

Good Morning. I hope you’re all well. It’s been an odd but mostly good couple of weeks since we last spoke. Last time, I was off to work on Sunday for a short shift, hoping to sell £700 to make it through my target for the month. Well, I’m happy to report that I managed it with quite a bit to spare, so that’s good. Driving home Sunday afternoon my heart was doing a little happy dance inside my chest because it was the beginning of my seven days off.

I fixed dinner, along with a gin and tonic to celebrate. I have barely any food in the house but have plenty of gin left over from Christmas. I sat there eating my dinner and sipping my gin and thinking about the week ahead. I planned to completely eat down the freezer and then defrost and clean it. I wanted to shampoo the lounge carpet and my three rugs. The house needed a good cleaning. I still had Dad’s stepladder so why didn’t I use some of the leftover white paint and give the hall ceiling a couple of coats? I had some varnish left so I could varnish at least one door, and maybe I could…

And then a voice inside me said STOP.

What are all these self-imposed tasks you are filing your precious time off with? Housework will always be there, so is it necessary to spring clean the whole house now? Painting ceilings? Varnishing doors? Why? They can wait. As can shampooing the carpets. Okay, as you’ve almost eaten all the food in the freezer it makes sense to defrost it before filling it back up again, but everything else can WAIT.

It was an epiphany moment. I am bad at letting myself do what I want to do when I feel there are other tasks I should be doing first. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s been ingrained in me that there is always something that needs doing and should take priority over everything else. But should it? Should it really? Maybe because there will always be something else that needs doing, I should learn to put my needs before them occasionally. Otherwise, I will live my life in a perpetual round of chores and never get anything important done.

Sod it, I thought, I will pretend for a week that I am away at a writing retreat. I’m constantly seeing posts by other authors about the writing retreats they go on. They pack a little bag, take their laptop, and go to a place far away from normal responsibilities and duties and devote themselves to writing. I couldn’t afford to go away anywhere but I did have seven days off work. Why not devote that time to writing as if I were away? Other than basic chores such as feeding myself, loading and unloading the dishwasher, and keeping abreast of laundry, I would do nothing else but the three Rs. Resting, Reading, and wRiting.

It sounded awesome and I went to bed very excited Sunday evening.

With no need to be up early either for work, an appointment, or decorating chores, I was surprised to sleep until almost nine and got up feeling great. Quick breakfast, and then I sat down at the keyboard to see what would happen. I’d written 5500 words of book two of the Erinsmore Chronicles way back at the beginning of the summer. Life then got in the way and I’d written nothing until mid-January when I went back to the project hoping I could pick up where I’d left off. In the two weeks since I’d got down almost 20,000 words so had made a solid start. With a whole free week ahead of me I was hoping for great things.

I turned a blind eye to everything. The dust settled on surfaces. The carpet got bittier and bittier to the point where it crunched when I walked on it. My kitchen got so disgusting that if Health and Hygiene had paid a visit they would have shut me down. I spoke to no one other than a quick video chat with Franki and a phone call with my mother. I left the house twice to go shopping. I didn’t wear make-up the whole time I was off work, although I did get washed and dressed every day. I’m not one of those authors who can write in their PJs. I think it’s because I wouldn’t then be in the mindset to work if you know what I mean.

The days slipped by in a blur. Immersed in the fantasy world of Erinsmore, my fingers flew as ideas, scenes, plot devices, and twists flooded my mind. As a complete pantser I neither plot nor plan my books beforehand. I simply sit at my keyboard, disengage all conscious thought, and let the words flood out.

I ate weird things, but I did eat. On Saturday all that was left in the freezer was half a bag of veggie mince and a little bit of frozen veg. I took the mince out and put the veg in a small cool bag with freezer blocks to keep them frozen. Then I defrosted the freezer using my wallpaper stripper. In the past, I had used a friend’s stripper, but then as she was no longer around I had to use my hairdryer the last couple of times which is dangerous. All that water near an electrical device – not a good plan. But I had a stripper of my own now so I filled it up with water, put the plastic paddle on the middle shelf, put a bowl in the bottom, packed towels underneath, and closed the door as far as it would go, and left it to do its own thing.

Less than fifteen minutes later the freezer was completely defrosted. It’s a brilliantly simple plan using a wallpaper stripper. It’s a constant source of steam, it’s safer because there are no electrical components inside the freezer to get wet, and it’s quick. Once it had finished, I wiped out the freezer and switched it back on, put the frozen veg back in, and dried and put away the wallpaper stripper.

For dinner Saturday evening, I fried up the last two onions I had with the last two cloves of garlic. I fried off the veggie mince and added seasoning, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and chilli flakes. Then a squeeze of tomato puree and the last tin of baked beans and tomatoes from the cupboard, along with half a pint of chicken stock and about a quarter of a bag of pasta. Stirred it all up, brought it to a boil, then left it to simmer for forty minutes stirring occasionally and voila, Boston beef and bean hotpot – sort of. There was enough for my dinner plus three more portions for the freezer.

Sunday I was a bit down. It was my last day off and I didn’t want to go back to work. I had enjoyed my time off so much and wasn’t ready to leave Erinsmore yet. Thinking I had better check what time my shift started the next day and whilst I was at it, write up my shifts for the month. I clocked into the rota app and pulled up my shifts. Because my holiday had started before the end of the month, I hadn’t seen the rota yet. I looked at my shifts. Blinked. Checked I had the right month. Blinked again. Checked the date again. Yep, I had read it right. I was back at work on Wednesday, not Monday as I’d assumed. I did a little happy dance. A bonus extra two days of holiday. How amazing was that?

It’s like when the clocks go back an hour but sometimes you forget until well into the next day and then it’s – ooh, a bonus hour! Well, this was a bonus of forty-eight hours! I went to Tesco to buy some food with a spring in my step and a smile that wouldn’t leave my face.

Oh, but it was great to have nice food again. I tried not to go silly and in all spent £75 which isn’t bad when you think my freezer was empty and my cupboards were pretty bare as well.

Monday and Tuesday, I wrote furiously and managed to clean the house enough so I could go back to work with a clear conscience. Tuesday evening, I sat down and added up the word counts.

Monday: 4110

Tuesday: 4010

Wednesday: 4476

Thursday: 7155

Friday: 4332

Saturday: 4374

Sunday: 4604

Monday: 4884

Tuesday: 4044

In all, I wrote a massive total of 41,170 words. An average of 4575 words per day. To say I’m happy with that is an understatement. With the book now standing at 65,370 words that’s a good solid chunk down and I estimate I’m over halfway through. Of course, the writing rate will slow now I’m back to work but the momentum is there. With so much of the story written ideas are flowing and I know I should finish it in February.

Wednesday I went back to work. What can I say? It is what it is. It didn’t help that it was a dead day, and I didn’t achieve a single sale.

Thursday was even worse. No sales at all. The only bright part of the day was when a customer came in with three little Pomeranian puppies. Now, if my boss had been in he wouldn’t have let them in the shop. He’s not keen on dogs and is always afraid they will get on the mattresses or mess on the floor. I’m of the opinion most dogs are better behaved than most of the kids we have come in. Honestly, a lot of children nowadays don’t need a mum they need a keeper with a gun. The colleague I was on with is also a huge dog lover and we were bored, so we greeted these puppies with welcoming arms. Literally.

I think every place of work should have regular puppy breaks when puppies come in and you get to cuddle them. It would do wonders for morale. These little floof balls were unbelievably cute and sweet and behaved perfectly. I didn’t get the sale that day, but I think they will be back – hopefully on a day the boss isn’t in.

It’s not good news that I went two days with no sales. I have an unfairly large target this week and only a short, six-hour shift tomorrow to try and achieve it all. Hey ho, that’s the way life goes.

Anyway, a little bit of news about Franki. She phoned me last weekend very excited because she’d been nominated for an award from Student Pride for overcoming adversity and helping young people deal with gender identity and for providing a nurturing and inclusive environment at her university. We assumed it was because of her work as Chair of the LGBQT+ Society.

The university was very excited about this, and plans were made to somehow get Franki to London this weekend for the award ceremony. There were three or four nominees for each category, so she didn’t expect to win anything, but just being nominated is a tremendous honour and gives serious CV bragging rights.

Despite it being so last minute, Franki and her partner got to London for the ceremony last night. Sadly, she didn’t win but they had a fabulous time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Finally, some news about my health. As you know, I went for some bloodwork back at the beginning of January and have been waiting all this time to get an appointment with the doctor to discuss the results. The appointment was early yesterday with the rather improbably named Dr Silk who sounds like a character from a romance novel.

Dr Silk narrowed his eyes over the top of the surgical mask and Nurse Candy felt her heart race under her starched uniform…

It was a mix of very good news, some surprising news, and some slightly alarming news. Firstly, I do not have diabetes, which is a huge relief as I suspected I might have given my family history. I am no longer anaemic which is excellent news as it means my body is now extracting enough iron from my food. My calcium levels are all as they should be, as are folic acid, B12, and vitamin D. I did find that last one surprising as I hardly ever go outside so it would not have been a shock to be told my vitamin D levels were low. Liver function is fine. Bone density is fine. I am definitely peri menopausal – no surprise there. All is good, except, there is an issue with my thyroid gland.

I didn’t understand everything he told me, but it appears my thyroid is producing too much of something. It’s not drastic, just not right. I’ve been given a month’s worth of medication to take to see how it affects me. Hopefully, it will sort out the bad sleep patterns I have, boost my energy levels, and maybe even cure my chronically aching hip and knee joints. If it doesn’t, then we may have to explore HRT options. I also have to supply a urine sample.

They gave me a teeny tiny pot. Hmmm. Tricky.

Don’t get old. It sucks.

And now it’s Saturday again. As I didn’t have to go to work today or have a doctor’s appointment to be up for, I was hoping to let my body sleep naturally and wake up feeling rested and restored – as I did every day over my holiday. Nope. I was ripped out of sleep at 7am by my alarm shrieking its head off. Apparently, I forgot to turn it off yesterday, although I was convinced I had.

Sigh.

Never mind. I’m up, dressed, and had tea and breakfast. I’ve written my blog and it’s only just gone ten, so that means the rest of the day is free for writing so maybe it’s for the best that I got up earlier than planned.

Hope you’re all well and that life is treating you kindly. Things seem on an even keel here, so I hope this blog hasn’t been too boring. See you in two weeks.

Julia Blake

It’s still January, but at least yesterday was payday. Trust me, it didn’t come a moment too soon and at least it was a reasonable amount. Bizarrely, because of the way they figure out overtime and commission, my pay at the end of February will be the big one, because that’s when I get paid for my overtime and receive most of the commission for all my sales during peak. I’m back to work tomorrow, Sunday, for six hours, and must sell at least £700 to hit my monthly target. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it all depends on how busy we are and who walks through the doors. I’d like to manage to reach my target. Although I have sold an incredible amount this month which, of course, I’ll be paid for, it would be satisfying to hit the ridiculously high target they set. Course, that means next year they’ll set me an even higher one, but ho hum, I’ll worry about that next year. Who knows what will have happened and where I’ll be by then? If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that life can turn on a tuppence.

So, what have I been up to since we last chatted? Answer, not a lot, so this will probably be a shorter blog. Not only do I not have a lot to tell you but I’m desperate to get back to my work in progress. Yep, that’s one thing to report. I’m writing again and it’s bloody marvellous.

Writing is one of those things that it’s not until I go back to it I realise how much I love it and how much I’ve missed it. I’m currently writing book two of the Erinsmore Chronicles and managed to get a measly 5000 words down last June. Then life proceeded to kick my butt and continued to do so until last week, so I never seemed to have the time, energy, or inclination to get my backside down in that chair and my fingers on the keyboard.

It’s so wonderful to be back in my magical land of Erinsmore. All your favourite characters from book one are here – older and a little wiser maybe – plus some exciting new ones. As the dragons came back at the end of book one, more of Erinsmore can be explored from their backs so there are lots of descriptions of the characters flying about the land. There are going to be mermaids, pirates, and seers, oh my, and even … oops, nearly gave away a massive spoiler, but trust me, it’s going to be epic. If you haven’t read book one yet, then the purchase link is on the books page so why not click and buy so you’re ready to continue the adventure in the summer when hopefully book two is going to be released?

Now then, how did the visit by Franki and her three friends go? Very well, is the answer. I was at work on Sunday the 15^th when they arrived, so came home to find a house showing signs of their arrival, but as they’d gone out for an early dinner I didn’t meet them until they got home. Everyone seemed happy with the sleeping arrangements, so that was all right, and they had a reasonably early night as they were tired from the early start and the long drive.

Monday they were up and off quite early. The original plan was to go to Linton Zoo in the morning then Franki and I would visit her grandma in the hospital in the afternoon. Dinner was whatever Franki was planning to cook, and I was also invited, which was nice.

Linton Zoo is tiny, more of an animal park, so I knew they wouldn’t be there long and would get back with plenty of time for Franki and me to walk to the hospital – parking is an expensive nightmare – and even call on her grandfather on the way back, then come home via the shop to pick up anything else she might need.

But, as you all know, the best-laid plans of mice and Julia are all filed away somewhere under the heading “it seemed like a good idea at the time”. Going up to my room, Franki beckoned me into hers and explained in an excited whisper that as one of her friends loved aquariums they weren’t going to Linton Zoo but were really going to the Sealife Centre in Southend. Southend?! That’s blinking miles away down on the south coast. What about our plans to visit the hospital in the afternoon? And Grandad? And go shopping. Don’t worry, she airily dismissed my concerns, we’ll be back in time.

Reader, you know exactly what I’m going to say, don’t you? They left, and I settled down in the quiet house, turned on my laptop, and dived back into Erinsmore. By two, the time they should have been back, I dropped Franki a text. Still here, came the reply, don’t worry, leaving soon. Hmm, it’s quite a long drive back from Southend, at least two hours. Even leaving straight away they still wouldn’t be back until gone four.

There was nothing I could do though but watch the time tick away until finally, Franki messaged that they would be back soon. By now it was gone five, far too late and dark to walk to the hospital, I would have to take the car and pray we found a space and had enough change on us to pay the parking fee if the car park didn’t accept cards. And forget visiting Grandad on the way back, that would have to wait.

Franki then sent explicit instructions on things I needed to get out ready for dinner as the revised plan was her friends would prep it and warm the oven whilst we were at the hospital, then pop the pasta bake in when we let them know we were on our way back. Hmm, I was hungry so had a quick slice of bread and butter to stave off starvation.

They arrived back. Franki jumped in the car, and we were off. It’s only a five-minute drive to the hospital and luckily we found a space I could squeeze into. We went to the ward my ex-sis had told me Grandma had been moved to. She wasn’t there. She’d been moved again. We trudged back downstairs and found her. She was awake this time, which was a relief. I had been afraid she might sleep through the whole visit and not see Franki. She was a little confused, to begin with, but was calm and friendly – we had been warned she might be aggressive and bad-tempered, but no, she was fine. She’d just had dinner but hadn’t eaten much of it. To be honest, it didn’t look very appealing, so she’d only eaten the dessert. I guess at that age, no one is going to tell you not to.

We chatted for a while, small talk, as she smiled and nodded and made random comments that did make me wonder how much she was understanding. Her eyelids drooped and it was clear she was about to fall asleep, so we said our farewells and dashed back to the car park. To my relief, the first twenty minutes of parking were free and as we’d only been nineteen we got away without having to pay anything.

Franki phoned her friends to let them know we were on our way and to enquire which flavour of ice cream they liked. Vanilla, chocolate, mint choc chip. Okay. We made a brief pitstop at Waitrose where Franki picked up the dessert and I grabbed a bottle of wine for myself.

Dinner was nice. They are a lovely, funny, and interesting group of girls. Afterwards, we all played Cards Against Humanity, which I won. I’m never sure if I should be proud I usually win this game, or ashamed of my filthy and inventive imagination.

I was working Tuesday and the girls were visiting Banham Zoo. Not so far as Southend – only 45 minutes – they set off in high spirits. I wouldn’t see them until late that evening as I was working until six and they had a table booked at a local pub for 5:30, so I wished them a great day and went to work.

I was working the same long shift the next day as well, and the girls planned an easier day staying close to home. Franki took them into town, it was market day, so they walked about, explored the Abbey Gardens and the ruins, and went to Moyses Hall which is a small local museum. Franki even managed to fit in a visit to Grandad in the afternoon, when her friends came home to chill out. Again, they cooked at home, and I was invited. It was nice not to have to cook for myself when I got home from work.

Thursday I had the day off and the girls went to Colchester Zoo which is over an hour’s drive away. It’s a large zoo and would take them all day to wander about, so they’d booked a table at a restaurant there to have dinner before coming home.

I had a nice treat planned myself as my old boss and his wife were taking me to lunch in a fancy Mediterranean restaurant in town. Our booking was for 12:30 and as the restaurant was only a ten-minute walk away, I set out at 12:15 to be on time. They were a little late getting there due to trouble parking, but I looked at the menu, gulped at the prices, and was very relieved I wasn’t paying.

It was a lovely lunch, and it was so great to see them again. I worked for Mr G for over thirty years, and he knows me probably better than anyone else. I hadn’t seen him since the previous Christmas and hadn’t seen his wife since I stopped working for him six years ago. I filled them in on everything that has happened to me, and they gave me all the news about their grown-up children and their exploits all around the world.

I walked home at three feeling full and a little bit squiffy, but at least I didn’t have to worry about cooking for myself or anyone else that evening. The girls came back, happy from a great day, and bundled down the basement to watch a film. They had an early start and a long drive the next day, so I think an early night was planned for everyone.

The next day, they were up and off by eight. It was lovely to have them for a visit, but also nice to have a quiet and empty house again. I set to stripping off all the beds, staggered by how much laundry their visit had created. In total, my washing machine and dryer went on six times that day. Six!! I shudder to think what that’s done to my energy bill. All the laundry and other housework chores meant I barely wrote at all on Friday only managing 800 words.

I was itching to get back to Erinsmore, so Saturday I was up early and plunged in, managing 3000 words before I stopped to cook dinner.

I worked the next three days and when I’m at work I can’t write. I know some authors can burn the midnight oil and hammer away at the manuscript in the wee small hours. I am not one of those authors. By the time I’ve done a full day at work, cooked, eaten, and cleared away dinner, I’m done for. All I want to do is relax on the sofa and binge-watch something on TV or read.

As I’d worked three days in a row, it meant I had my four days off together which is great – love it when the shift pattern works out like that. Wednesday, I wrote 4000 words. Thursday I wrote another 3500. Friday I only managed 1000. I had chores I couldn’t put off, plus had a book review to write, and it was the fortnightly zoom chat with my local author group at 1pm, so I knew I wouldn’t have much time to write and was pleased I even managed 1000 words.

In the evening, the whole street had been invited to a neighbour’s house for a little celebration of the Chinese New Year. She is Malaysian and a fabulous cook, so the food was gorgeous. Homemade prawn crackers, spring rolls, spicy meat rolls, prawn toast, soy sauce chicken, and a lovely cheeseboard. I stuffed my face and was so full when I got home that I was able to put the dinner I had planned back in the fridge for Saturday night. I’ve been trying to spend as little money as possible so I’ve been eating up all the weird and sometimes unidentifiable leftovers in the bottom of the freezer. It can result in some strange dinner combinations. Tonight, I have a tiny portion of homemade veggie lasagne left over from our Christmas party, cauliflower cheese left over from my grand cooking session last September and homemade chilli fries made with the single large potato in the fridge. It’s fine. It’s food.

I estimate I have about another three meals left in the freezer before I’m down to the rogue peas in the bottom and the remains of a bag of ice. Once it’s empty, I plan to defrost and clean it, then go shopping for food and start again.

And now it’s Saturday morning. It’s eleven and I haven’t had breakfast yet. I desperately wanted to dive straight into my work in progress but knew if I did, I would probably look up when it got dark and realise I still needed to write my blog. So, I’ve written it first, with the reward of big fat bacon and egg baps and a pot of coffee for brunch to spur me on. I can hear my tummy making little growly noises, but the blog is written, so yay, it worked.

A nice brunch, then I can settle down and write with a clear conscience knowing the blog is done and dinner is in the fridge. Bliss.

I’m back to work tomorrow for one day then have the following week off. I plan to write, but there’s the freezer to defrost, I need to do a big shop, the house needs a thorough clean, I want to shampoo the carpets, plus I have a book to beta read for one of the authors in my local group. Hmm. A week off sounds like a long time and surely I could practically write the whole book in that time but looking at all the other things on my to-do list I can see that week slipping by way too fast.

Oh well, I’ve started writing, that is the main thing, and if I’m clever with my time management I will surely find the odd hour here and there to write. I will tell you next time how it goes.

Have a great two weeks everyone.

Julia Blake

Does anyone else feel time passes differently in January? It’s only two weeks since New Year’s Eve yet it feels like an aeon ago. I can barely remember Christmas it seems so much time has passed since then. It’s only two weeks until the end of the month but I know it will drag. Already my bank is texting me – are you aware you’ve dipped unto your overdraft? Yes, thank you for your concern, but I know, trust me, I know. Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?

So, what have I done in the century since we last chatted?

Work, I’ve done a lot of work. As I told you last time, the week between Christmas and New Year was mega busy and I worked five long shifts in a row before having the New Year weekend off. New Year’s Day was spent taking down the Christmas tree and, as I predicted, it was a long, hard, horrible job only relieved by the countdown of the top twenty Take That songs on Radio 2, followed by a Robbie Williams interview and concert. All together now, Let Me Entertaaaaiiinnn You. (So funny, my spellchecker wants to change Take That to Take Those).

Back to work last week, only four long shifts and a reduced target. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was still mahoosive compared to normal but almost half the previous week. Again, I managed it by the skin of my teeth.

On my day off on Friday, I had hospital appointments to have bloodwork and my boobs checked. The bloodwork had originally been done in February 2020 as part of my Over 50 Well Woman Check Up, but then the plague hit, and all non-essential doctor appointments were cancelled. I wondered what had happened to my blood test results and when I last saw the doctor before the summer when I went down with laryngitis, I asked about it.

HER: I can see the results.

ME:  Okay, good, so does that mean I don’t need to do it again?

HER: Weeelll, we’d like you to do it again.

ME:  Why?

HER: There are causes for concern.

ME:  Really? What causes?

HER: It’s best if you have fresh blood taken so we can see what’s going on.

ME:  Is it anything I should be worried about?

HER: These results are over two years old, and a lot could have happened in that time.

ME:  But should I worry?

HER: Just get the bloodwork done asap.

Huh, well, I guess if it was anything serious they would have contacted me, or I would be dead. They didn’t and I’m not, so I’m not going to worry until I know there’s something to worry about.

Last Friday afternoon I walked to the hospital. It’s only a twenty-minute walk and I didn’t want to try and park in the hospital car park or go to the hassle of arranging a second mortgage on my house to pay the fees. It was a gorgeous afternoon, blue skies and sunny, and as part of the walk is through the water meadows it was quite pleasant.

I left an hour earlier than necessary because my ex-mum-in-law had been taken back into hospital, so I planned to visit with her first. It was her birthday the following day, so I had a card and present for her. No flowers though, apparently it’s okay to take a patient food but you can no longer take them pretty flowers to cheer them up.

When I found her ward she was fast asleep and although J-, my ex-sister-in-law, tried to wake her up she remained stubbornly sleeping. I took my long-suffering ex-sis for a coffee in the cafeteria, and we had a chat before I left the present with her and went for my bloodwork appointment. I was over thirty minutes early so expected to have to wait. But no, I’d barely taken out my reading glasses and opened a book on my phone before I was called in.

The nurse didn’t hang about either. Coat off, tapped my arm looking for a vein, in went the needle and five pots of the red stuff were taken. I was very relieved she’d found a vein in my arm this time because previously they had to take it from my hand which was unbelievably painful. They want to see how my anaemia is progressing and are also checking if my B12, Vitamin D, and calcium levels are okay. Also, liver function and bone density. They are checking if I’ve somehow managed to do the menopause without realising it and they’re also testing for diabetes. It runs in my family, so it’s best to keep on top of it.

When I got to the breast department, I was running forty minutes ahead of schedule and expected to have to wait. But no, once again I was whisked straight in and the whole procedure was done and dusted in ten minutes.

I planned to either catch the 5:30 bus home or phone a friend who’d offered to pick me up, but as it was over an hour earlier than I expected to be done plus still light and dry, I decided to walk. I felt fine despite the vampires taking my blood and figured the exercise would do me good.

Oh, if anyone is wondering, I had a letter yesterday confirming that I’m all clear on the boob front, which is good to know. Still waiting for the bloodwork results.

Franki is coming home tomorrow for a brief, five-day visit. She’s coming with three friends, so I’ve been busy this week figuring out where everyone is going to sleep, tidying rooms, and making up beds. Two of her friends said they didn’t mind bunking down together so long as they have a duvet each so they’re sharing the king-size bed in the basement. Franki is in her old room in the four-foot bed. It made sense because the tortoise is in there and she is used to his nocturnal noises. The last friend is in the single bed in the office. So, four sets of bedding to launder once they’ve gone. Never ends, does it?

Anyway, they have a week’s break from university due to exam timetabling and have embarked on a mission to do as many British zoos as possible. We have three all within driving distance and during January the entry fee is low. Probably because it’s cold and half the animals will be in hibernation and the other half curled up in their homes keeping warm. Colchester is a big zoo, Banham almost as big and they will need a whole day for each. Linton is more of an animal park than a zoo and will only take them a few hours.

Their accommodation will be free, of course, and I think they’re planning on cooking here a couple of evenings and eating out the other two. I’m not too sure of their exact itinerary, it’s on a need-to-know basis, so no doubt I will find out as and when. All I know is I have been absolved of all catering requirements which suits me just fine as I’m at work for three of the days they’re here.

It will be nice to see her so soon after Christmas although it feels like an age since she was here – it’s that weird January time thing again – and it will probably be the last time I see her before the summer break.

She’s going to Wales in the February half-term and the trip to Cornwall is happening during the two-week Easter break. It’s okay. Time goes by so fast that I’ve no doubt I will blink, and it will be summer. Besides, what with texting, WhatsApp, video chats etc, it’s not like it was even just a few years ago when your offspring went away to university, and you had to be content with an awkward duty phone call once a week.

In the two weeks since Christmas, I’ve been decorating again. I know, I know, I think I have a problem. My name is Julia and I’m a DIY addict. You may remember before Christmas I managed to get one-half of Franki’s old room decorated. The room is small and full of furniture, so it wasn’t possible to completely clear the room and do it all in one go. Instead, I had to push everything over to the right-hand side and paint the left-hand side wall. I was also able to sand down the bedside cabinet and the chest of drawers and repaint them. I then ran out of time, so it had to stay that way during the festive season.

Anyway, this time I pushed everything over to the left-hand side so I could do the right-hand side. Well, I tried to push all the furniture. Franki’s large dressing table fell apart when I moved it. It’s only four years old and it wasn’t even that cheap, but it’s a flat pack which didn’t go together too well. We’ve had problems with the drawers and one side was wonky. I pulled it out and two of the drawers fell apart, the side cracked, and the back support creaked alarmingly.

I looked at it. Thought about it. Then left a voice message for Franki asking how attached to it she was because I honestly didn’t think it could be saved. By the time she messaged back to say she didn’t care about it, and I could get rid of it, I was halfway through dismantling it. Taking it to the recycling centre last Friday morning I asked which dumpster I should put it in – it’s MDF so I wasn’t sure if that counted as wood or not.

Chuck it all in the wood one, I was told, even the mirror, it’ll be fine.

Duly I lugged all the bits out of the car and made several trips to what I thought was the wood dumpster and threw it all in. It wasn’t until I was about to throw in the last piece that I realised I had accidentally thrown it all in the plasterboard dumpster, not the wood one. Oopsie. Quickly, I threw the last bit in the correct dumpster and drove away. It’s all on the top so I’m sure they’ll notice and sort it out and I can’t be the only idiot who’s done that.

I started painting. The colour on the walls I was painting over was a rather aggressive teal painted over a bright Barbie pink painted over a flowery wallpaper. Ideally, the whole lot should have been taken off, the walls primed and then painted afresh. But I didn’t have the time or the patience to do that. When I decide to replace the carpet in a few years I’ll take off the lot and do it right, as well as varnish the woodwork and paint the ceiling. For now, this will do.

There are three chunky shelves in the fireplace alcove which were chipped with grubby white paint with jewel hearts stuck on the edges. I prised off the jewels, sanded and primed the shelves ready to refresh with a coat of dark grey furniture paint that I still had quite a lot of.

Honestly, that tub of paint has been like the leprechaun’s never-ending bottle of beer. It did all the woodwork in the basement and the bathroom. The front door and radiator cover. The knobs and tops of the Welsh dresser and basket unit in the dining room, and the tops and knobs of the chest of drawers and bedside cabinet in Franki’s old room.

It’s now painted three large shelves, two sets of pegs to go on the door, and a free-standing mirror and there’s still plenty left!

I had half a tin of the pale grey emulsion I’d used on the left-hand wall, although I had finished that off with a coat of the slightly darker grey from the basement as I felt the paler colour hadn’t quite covered all the teal. Anyway, I painted the radiator with three coats of darker grey and a couple of coats of clear lacquer. I had enough of the paler grey to do two and a half coats on the right-hand wall, so finished up what was left of the darker grey behind the shelves.

I let it dry and next day examined it closely. It looked blotchy as if the paint hadn’t gone on properly. There was nothing for it, I needed to do another coat. Scrutinising the wall I’d painted before Christmas in the harsh light of day, I decided that could do with another coat as well. I still had half a tin of the colour mineral stone which we had used on the staircase down into the basement and in the window. I decided to paint both walls with a last coat of that. Talk about 50 Shades of Grey.

Painted the right-hand wall. Put all the books back on the shelves. Moved all the furniture back over and started putting the final coat on the left-hand wall. Not even one-third into the job I realised I wasn’t going to have enough paint. Bugger. Surely I could make it stretch? Nope. I was down to the lumpy bits clinging to the sides of the pot. Maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe it wouldn’t notice.

I stopped and had lunch. Went back and had a look. A massive demarcation line stretched from ceiling to skirting board at the midpoint where I’d run out of paint. Double bugger. There was nothing for it, I’d have to go and buy more paint. I went to Wilko where the original pot of mineral stone had come from two years before when Franki and I painted the basement stairwell. Please let them still have it, I silently begged.

They did, phew, but only in the big pots. Arse biscuits. With no other choice, I had to pay £15 for a big tub of paint knowing I needed barely a teaspoon of it. I finished the job.

I made up the bed ready for Franki to sleep in. As the large dressing table was now gone it left a big gap in the other alcove. I got the little desk from my room that had originally started in my room over a decade ago, then was Franki’s dressing table until I bought her the big one four years ago when it went back into my room. Realising most lodgers were requesting there be a desk in the basement, I decoupaged it a year ago and put it down there. Then it came back up to my room in the summer and now it’s gone back into Franki’s room. The mirror has stood on the tallboy in my room for thirty years. The fourth chair from my new dining set makes a nice little dressing table set that guests can use.

I’m pleased with the results. The room is small and with the four-foot bed moved to the centre of the room it makes it smaller, but it has a cottage vibe to it now and is very pretty, Perfect for guests or if Franki needs to use it as she does this weekend.

Washing out my big faithful brush that has been my constant companion since I began all my projects back in September, I was dismayed when the bristles started to fall out in the sink. I stood there, looking at the brush silently falling apart and knew just how it felt.

I’m almost out of things to tell you, except for something that happened last night that is awful but funny in a horrible grim way. As I told you, my ex-mum-in-law is in hospital in quite a bad way, and, well, to be honest, none of us is hopeful. Quite late in the evening, my phone buzzed, and a message popped up on WhatsApp.

Mum has suffered from heart failure and is at home with palliative care and I’ve moved in until the end.

I was sad but not surprised.

I’m so sorry, J- is there anything I can do to help?

Just a coffee or lunch or something at some point would be great.

Absolutely, if you ever need a refuge you know where I am.

I then took a deep breath and video called Franki. Gently, I told her what had happened. Trying to comfort her, we made plans that she would visit her grandmother whilst she was home next week. Hanging up, I looked at WhatsApp to see if my ex-sis had responded. She had, with a thank you. Looking at her message I noticed the tiny profile pic and a horrible certainty gripped my heart.

It wasn’t my ex-sis.

I clicked on the profile. Nope. Not J-. It was an old friend I hadn’t heard from in ages and certainly hadn’t expected to see on WhatsApp messaging me to let me know the news about HER mother.

Oh.

Crap.

I had just told my daughter her grandmother was dying.

She wasn’t.

Quickly, I called Franki back and explained the situation. She stared at me. Burst into hysterical laughter.

FRANKI: Do you mean to tell me I’ve been crying my eyes out for ten minutes because somebody else’s grandmother is dying?!

ME: Umm, yes.

FRANKI: I hate you. I really hate you.

ME: I hate me too.

There was more conversation in that vein – I’m sure you can imagine. But, oh my gosh, wasn’t that dreadful? I can’t believe I made such a mistake. But to be fair to me, it was late, and no names appeared on WhatsApp just phone numbers and, to be brutally honest, I was kind of expecting a message like that.

So, on that note, I need to go. It’s now almost three on Saturday. I still have the kitchen to clean before they arrive tomorrow. I didn’t think this was going to be such a long blog, but it’s over 3000 words.

Take care everyone and I look forward to chatting with you next time.

Julia Blake

It’s a cold and dark pre-dawn Friday and I’m up early. I have work today but not until 10:30, however, I plan to leave an hour earlier than necessary to go shopping. There is a large home store next to the shop and I want to check it out for new curtains and a rug for the dining room because it is finished!

Yes, finally, after almost two months of work and living with it upside down it is done. The new carpet was fitted on Wednesday, and I spent the rest of the day moving the furniture back into place, washing all the crockery and glass that lives in the Welsh dresser, and arranging everything to my liking.

I’ve included a few pictures of the stages of the process and the finished results. The room is a lot more grown-up and tranquil now. I painted the room bright yellow ten years ago, and the dresser has been blue for over twenty, but it was time for a revamp. As we grow and change so should the environment around us. All that’s lacking now is a hearth rug and curtains. I had planned to go grey, but seeing everything in place I feel that 50 Shades of Grey is a bit much so now I’m thinking of something lighter to lift the room,

I was up by five on Thursday and worked until gone six that evening tidying, polishing, cleaning, and vacuuming the whole house. It’s such a relief to have everything clean and straight again. I hadn’t fully appreciated how stressed living in an untidy house had made me.

The new bed has been ordered and will be delivered on Monday, which is just as well. Wednesday evening, I had a message from old friends I haven’t seen in years.

Hi honey, we’re passing through Bury next week, any chance we could stay?

Umm yes, when?

Monday evening through to Wednesday morning?

By a lucky coincidence, I have Monday and Tuesday off. I had planned to go out with a friend for lunch on Tuesday so had to rearrange that, and my cousin is calling around early Tuesday morning to collect birthday and Christmas gifts from me for her kids (and have a nose at all the changes to the house). She is only coming for a quick coffee though and she knows my friends so I’ve left that appointment, it will be nice for us all to be together again after so many years.

Now I’m hoping (a) the bed does come Monday as planned. (b) It fits down in the basement – I mean, I’m pretty confident we can get it down there, but it is a very narrow staircase with a 90-degree angle at the top, so… and (c) there are no faults with it.

Just in case, there’s a plan B. I cleaned my room and will put fresh sheets on the bed on Monday – just in case they need to sleep there. I also cleaned Franki’s old room and made the bed in there so I will have somewhere to sleep if we resort to plan B.

It will be wonderful to see them again. Although we’ve exchanged the odd message and Christmas cards, I haven’t seen them in ages. I’m trying to remember how long it’s been. At least six years, possibly longer. Time slips by and people get so busy with their lives, and I’m more guilty than most at that. Suddenly it’s six years since you last met. Yes, they do live down on the South Coast, so they are not around the corner, and we’ve had all the Covid shenanigans in the meantime, but even so, I should have made more of an effort. It’s important to have old friends who knew you when you were young. Anyway, it will be wonderful to see them. Their train gets in the early evening so I will put together something simple for our supper, then they’ve offered to take me out for dinner on Tuesday which will be lovely.

So, what else has happened aside from two weeks of non-stop work and furniture painting? The Maker’s Market was fun although I didn’t do as well as I expected. The previous month I sold £97 worth of books so anticipated selling more than that because we’re closer to Christmas but in the end sold £90. We did clash with Remembrance Sunday and there was a parade, a service in the cathedral, and a few other activities so perhaps that was it. But £90 is still not bad for a day’s work.

It’s the two-day Christmas Fair this weekend, hence why I’m trying to write a big chunk of my blog now. I’m at work today and will be off to the fair first thing in the morning so am running out of time. It has been advertised everywhere so we’re hoping for a good turnout. There will be double the normal number of local authors selling a huge range of books from contemporary to sci-fi to fantasy to dystopian and everything in between. We will sign the book if you wish, include a bookmark, and even gift wrap it for free. If you’re anywhere near Bury St Edmunds over the weekend why not pop in and make a start on your Christmas shopping? I’m looking forward to it and have my Christmas sweater already. I even have a Santa hat that I may, or may not, wear.

Last week I worked Monday and Tuesday. Driving home Tuesday evening, I detoured via the supermarket to do a week’s shop to save time over my two days off. I planned to get my head down and finish the furniture because I was running out of time before the carpet was due to be fitted.

I had a later start than planned on Tuesday, partly because I always struggle to get going on my first day off, but mostly because the cream furniture paint proved to be useless. It gave barely any coverage, and I quickly realised I’d need many coats. I thought about it, then walked to the local hardware store and bought different paint. This time I went for the same wood paint I’d used on the woodwork in the basement, bathroom, and on the front door and radiator cover. It was lovely paint and went on well. It was also very forgiving. I chose a flat pale grey instead of going for cream, hoping that would need fewer coats.

By the time I got home, changed, and was ready to start, it was almost midday. Cursing at the later-than-wanted start, I worked furiously. Delighted to find the paint flowed on like melted chocolate or self-levelling screed, and that it was easier to apply than the primer, I made up for lost time and when I finally stopped for dinner that evening the first coat was on as well as some of the second.

I managed an early start on Thursday and painted like a demon, only stopping when two more coats were on, and the furniture was done. Cleaning up, I was surprised when the doorbell went, and it was one of my neighbours.

HER: Julia, is that your new car out there? The Toyota Yaris?

ME:  Yes, it is. Why?

HER: You’ve got two parking tickets.

What the hell?! I pulled on my shoes and ran out into the street. Sure enough, two bright yellow penalty notices were under my wipers. Stunned, I looked at the dashboard where my resident’s permit should have been. It wasn’t there. With my neighbour’s help, I searched the car and finally found it wedged far under the front passenger seat. It must have flown off the dash when I parked Tuesday night and because it was dark and I was worried about getting all my shopping into the house, I didn’t notice.

I was gutted, Two fines are £70 and if they’re not paid within a week the charge doubles. Thursday morning, I tried to call the fines department in the council. No phone number for them anymore, you must now appeal online. I did so, explaining what happened, that I was a resident and had a legal permit so would have no reason not to have it in my car, that it was a new car, so the permit holder normally attached to the windshield had gone with my old car and I hadn’t had time to replace it. Basically, I begged and grovelled. Now I wait for their verdict. I’m not holding my breath. Yes, I am allowed to park in my street because I have purchased a permit, but the rules state it must be clearly displayed in the vehicle and I can’t argue mine was because it wasn’t. To be fair to the warden as well, it’s a new car so he wouldn’t have recognised it as belonging to a resident, and none of the neighbours knew it was mine either. It was only when it sat there for two days outside my house gathering tickets that one thought to come and ask.

As for my new car, I’m getting better at driving it and haven’t stalled it in ages. I also managed to figure out how the heater works and filled it with fuel for the first time. Muttering “diesel, diesel, diesel” under my breath the whole time, I remembered not to put petrol in because that would have been a Very Bad Thing.

As the dining room is completed, I’ve ordered a new table and chairs set. I’d seen a great extending one in Argos which would be handy for when I had several people around for dinner and wanted a larger table. The set with only four chairs couldn’t be delivered until the 22^nd of December. Hmm, no good, we are having our Christmas dinner on the 15^th plus a party on the 21^st, so I needed it sooner. A similar set had six chairs but could be delivered on the 9^th. I ordered that, figuring I’d find somewhere to keep the spare chairs.

The carpet was fitted, and I moved all the furniture back into position. Standing in the considerably reduced space, I thought about the size of the table I’d ordered. I fetched a tape measure and checked. Yep, as I suspected. Although it would fit in the room lengthways, it was so deep you wouldn’t be able to get between the table and the arm of the sofa. I took a deep breath. Went back to the website and found a smaller, non-extending set, that I know will fit the space because it’s the same size as my old set. I called Argos and explained the situation, and they cancelled the big table and six chairs. I then ordered the other set, it’s coming on the 2^nd of December, so next Friday, which is good.

I worked last Saturday, and Sunday was my day off, although I did an indoor sale with my mother so not sure if that counts as a day off or not. She had a ton of rubbish to get rid of from her loft and as it’s not car boot sale weather and I simply didn’t have the time to try and individually sell them for her – honestly don’t understand why she chose NOW to send poor Dad into the loft to get everything down when it could have waited until things had calmed down a bit. Anyhoo, there’s a monthly indoor thrift sale in a nearby village so we booked a table and went along on Sunday to see what we could get rid of. And there was a LOT of stuff to shift.

I even took along a few of my books to test the water and see if it would be any good for myself and maybe the other local authors to have a regular stall at. The short answer is no. I only sold one book, and that was to a fellow trader who recognised me and bought a copy of Becoming Lili as a gift for a friend. The rest of the grey hair and anorak brigade who passed through either looked at me blankly when I asked if they were a reader or barked an emphatic NO and scurried off.

On Monday I received the code for my staff discount on the new bed for the basement. The delivery was quicker than I thought it would be – only a week – so I figured I’d better try and sell the old wooden bed and mattress that was already down there. I listed it and the tiny wardrobe from Franki’s old room on the local Facebook Marketplace Monday evening.

I was stunned by the response. By lunchtime Tuesday I could have sold them both a dozen times over. Perhaps I should have asked more, but it’s so hard to tell. The first person who contacted me said they would call around that evening to collect the bed, and that was fine, so I gave them my address. But then things went a bit strange. She sent a message saying I would have to pay the shipping fees for the bed but that she would add that cost to the price of the bed and put it in an envelope which the courier would make me sign for.

It all seemed a bit off and my spidey senses were on overdrive. Finally, I told her I wasn’t going to sell her the bed and contacted the next person on the list to let them know they could have it. Then it occurred to me that I had given a stranger my address and told them I was at work all day.

Yeah, possibly a dangerous situation. I explained the situation on our streets WhatsApp and within minutes neighbours who were home promised to keep an eye out for anything strange going down at my place.

Anyway, everything was fine – it was just my suspicious nature – and a young girl and her parents came first thing on Wednesday to dismantle the bed. They were driving away as the carpet fitters arrived, so that was perfect timing. The guy who wanted the wardrobe came early evening. He’d looked at my profile on Facebook and wondered if he could buy a book from me for his wife. He chose Erinsmore, I signed it for her, and he took it and the wardrobe.

Then I spent the whole of Thursday getting the dining room back together, preparing the basement ready for the new bed, and cleaning the whole house from top to bottom. It’s so wonderful to be straight again.

It’s now Friday evening. Since beginning to write this blog I’ve been to work. I went an hour early and found curtains and a soft fur rug which is now down in front of the fireplace – much to my cat’s approval. Yesterday I packed everything ready for the fair tomorrow so all I need to do this evening is bring it all downstairs.

Will my life calm down anytime soon? Probably not. But for now, I’m all caught up. There is homemade lasagne to reheat and wine to be opened. The fire is lit, and I’ll find something to watch on Netflix.

So, this is me signing off and saying take care and when we next speak it will be the end of my week off work, so I should have lots to tell you.

Julia Blake