On Leading Ladies

Yikes! Time getting away from me again.

I have been busy this week. After a long while outlining my rom-com I've finally started to write it. About 4k in so far and it's going pretty well, although it always is in the beginning. The hardest thing with comedy is getting the tone right. That's what's been holding me up, I think. But I've plumped for first person just for the purpose of getting the story down.

My heroine is Lindsay. She's young and ambitious, clever but insecure. I think I like her. Do you have to like your protagonist? I think it probably helps, if only because you have to live with them for so long. Hating your main character might be a bit like sharing a flat with someone you detested. You'd spend all your time skulking in your bedroom to avoid them.

In other news:

Heard from Sophie Playle that my article has been accepted for the next issue of Inkspill Magazine, which is very thrilling. I have never been published for non-fiction (unless you count angry letters to the local paper) so it's a first for me.

I've been freezing in the snow and ice and trying to keep spirits up despite food shortages, petrol increases and the boiler refusing to come on this morning. This winter is a real humdinger and no mistake.

And I really must update my website which is looking sadly dated. Perhaps I'd be better starting a new one at Clicky. Any thoughts?

Snow

It has snowed on and off for the past two days and nights. Yeah, I know, it's magical to look at, but the novelty wore off about mid morning yesterday when our cleared pathway got covered by another blizzard and I nearly got frost bite operating my camera. And the Met Office is predicting two weeks of these arctic conditions.

The roads are barely passable and uninviting. We live on the outskirts of a medium sized coastal town which hardly ever gets ice and snow because of its proximity to the sea. I can only assume the conditions are much worse inland because so far I haven't seen one snow plough or gritter go past here although we're just off a major trunk road. It's a weird feeling, the dual sense of connectedness as everyone suffers the same conditions, with the disconnectedness of being cut off from the rest of the world. Luckily we have a supermarket within walking distance so we shouldn't starve.

Theo is finding it all very confusing. The drifts on the golf course were taller than him this morning, so he was scrambling on his belly across the surface of the snow, almost as if he was trying to swim through it. Meanwhile I trudged through it the hard way. There's something about the whiteness contrasting with the black sky and boiling sea that makes you feel very insignificant in a blizzard.

So Much For British Summer Time

I might have known I'd put my hot water bottle away too soon!
Last week it was all gardening and thinking of Summer. But then Winter came back with a vengeance, coupled with a high tide.

Have a look if you don't believe me. The harbour usually looks like the picture above. Compare that with the video.

OK, Who's Sick of Snow?

You didn't really expect me to fail to mention the snow, now did you?
A fresh covering fell overnight, and another shower around breakfast time.

But on the plus side I managed to get my car started and on the move sufficient to walk Theo somewhere other than the golf course where we've been every day since Christmas.
Here are some photos I took around the garden.