A time apart

Radio silence for the past week. I was staying on Exmoor; whilst there I rarely had a phone signal and the internet connection was intermittent to put it mildly! And we are all so dependent on technology these days ...

But the positives definitely outweighed the negatives. From my window I looked out over the Bristol Channel to Wales and the evening skies and sunsets were stunning; the coastline with its steep cliffs and hidden bays is fantastic; Exmoor itself - so wild and empty - has a really haunting beauty. All very conducive to thinking and writing - no wonder so many poets and authors have found their inspiration there. I was delighted to get a poem together at last; I'd been carrying around some lines in a notebook and some ideas in my head for it for at least two years, so it had a lengthy gestation. But the time and the place were obviously right last week and then it almost wrote itself.

And simply having some space in my days gave me the opportunity to consider what's to be my next "big project" now that "Digging Up The Family" is with the publishers. Again, I'd had the kernel of an idea in my mind but it's now taking root - watch this space as they say!

"I must down to the sea again ..."