Things that Make me Smile

I am feeling very chuffed today. I've been quietly getting on with my project of dismantling my home office and getting rid of all the business documentation I can. It's quite a task with files that date back to 1995 when I set up as a marketing consultant, specialising in targeting and tendering, in partnership with a former colleague after we were both made redundant.

Some years before that I had started writing a novel on my old Amstrad WP, then shelved it when life became far too busy. Several years ago, I turned my house upside-down trying to find my hard copy and resurrect it, but had no success. I thought I must have accidentally destroyed it, and although it was still all in my head, I lost heart and gave up on it again.

I should have known better. Just this morning it has turned up in a file marked writing ideas which I obviously haven't opened in donkey's years. So that has put a big smile on my face.

What else is new? The weather - Tuesday last week I was writing about snow. The last couple of days Jade and I have been out walking in sunshine. Yesterday I managed to park on the cliff top outside the harbour, and we walked down the chine to the ocean.

Once we were there, Jade shot off to gallop around on the beach. She  must have suddenly realised I wasn't with her because she then turned to high-tail it back.

Photos by Chris Downer (2007)

The trouble was she didn't see me as she thundered straight past and went hairing off down the promenade dodging the legs of all the walkers. She soon realised her mistake though, heard I was calling her from behind, and turned around and came back so we could have some fun on the sand before taking a zig-zag path back up the car.

Snow

Yes, we woke up to some snow this morning. Quite surprised actually, and rather gutted actually, because two days ago, after sheltering my latest purchase of potted daffodil bulbs on the kitchen windowsill for several days, I decided it was safe to plant them out because the cold snap in the north of the country hadn't reached us properly here in the south. I suppose I was asking for it. Yesterday we had a sharp frost and then today, the snow.

Not a great deal but enough to make me put on the snow and ice stud belts (bought recently from the AA via the internet) over my boots when I took Jade to the park first thing. By the time we went out again after lunch the sun had chased all the snow away, and I felt safe driving my car. (I'm a real wimp about things like that.) So we had a brisk tramp harbourside around Hamworthy Park, with some beach play thrown in, and I took a blanket to wrap her in when I had to leave her in the Asda covered car park for a quarter of an hour. She was still under it and warm as toast when I returned to the car with my groceries.