On 28th July 2010 I wrote "Once upon a time....", unfortunately time whirled me away and now it's 6th of January 2012. Since I first wrote those words I have retired from the NHS where I'd worked for over 40 years. It was a wrench, not least because I feared that I would become bored and end up watching day-time television. Horror of horrors! Needless to say that did not come to pass, but rather, my activities have increased to such a degree that I wonder that I ever found time to work.
I've been able to put a lot more time into my garden, in particular the orchard and soft-fruit side, and it's beginning to shape up not just as a productive garden but as a wildlife habitat. These include a family of hedgehogs, numerous frogs and toads and, to my great pleasure, lizards. It is also a very cat-friendly garden with lots of places they can hide and play.
I have taken up sailing again & am trying to keep reasonably fit at the local sports club. I'm also in the process of taking up golf again after a 25 year gap. Back to basics again there for me. In addition, and as if all this is not enough, I am continuing to work professionally and academically, though not in the NHS. Something had to give and unfortunately that was my writing. I was able to produce a short piece that I read at the Ipswich Arts Festival (IpArt) but that was all. No ScriptFrenzy this year and I did not complete NaNoWriMo for the first time for several years although I acted as a NaNoWriMo University Instructor.
What of the coming year? Well that is still a virgin manuscript. I have many things I am committed to continuing, including a couple of committees at the yacht club, and I'm taking a 3 year part-time course in Medieval Latin Paleography run by the University of East Anglia and based at the local Records Office. One thing I won't be doing, as long as I am fit, is watch day-time television.
With that I'll sign off, not with "Once upon a time....", but with, "To be continued...".
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