To quote from Wikipedia, “Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by Earthday.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2024 is "Planet vs. Plastics.””
So off my daughter and I went, two hours after high tide, armed with our litter pickers and, ironically, a plastic bag, which we filled with rubbish from the beach. It’s not a walk we’ve done before, and you got a very different view of the Harbour tucked down away from the main path. I don’t think I can ever say that I’ve walked along a beach and had it all for myself for forty five minutes, unless you count the birds and it was awesome.
Of course I cound the birds because we walk through the park to get to the Harbourside, and guess what? We saw seven gorgeous little cygnets, four of whom are pictures. One of them was a right little handful who got swiped with a wing by his daddy when he wasn’t hissing at dogs, but the other six were seriously cute and beautifully well behaved and brightened my day no end.
This pair have been together for eight years and we knew them as cygnets and their parents too. His granddad’s name was Beaky because he once walked along behind my daughter prodding her gently in the back to point out that he was a cute but hungry swan. My daughter complained that her little brother kept pestering her. Then I pointed out that her brother was in front of her, and she obediently fed the swan. (He was Beaky because he was BKY 143. His mate was Beady because she was BDY 106.)
It’s always an amazing privilege when they bring their babies over to meet us and I like to believe that they aren’t just motivated by the fact that we feed them. I’m really looking forward to doing my swan-handling course in June, and yes, there will be a wildlife conservation theme and hero along soon…
But coming back to the theme. I got really close to the turnstones, so you can see one of them here.
I enjoyed the peace and the views and there is a bag less rubbish polluting the shore. I’m planning to go back because I want the world to be a better place so I’d better go and do it, hadn’t I?
So on to the special offers, at 99p in the US and 99c in the UK.
No place like Gnome (sorry about the pun but I couldn’t resist) is the last story for now in the Christians Cross series. It’s really about what happens when change is forced on a community, and it just so happens that the community includes gnomes, faeries, vampires, were cats and a homicidal river spirit who runs the local pub…
Then there are three Windy Bay books - Endings and beginnings, Building a future and A Healing Time. Their common theme is enforced change and finding ways forward. If I had to pick a favourite, it would be Endings and beginnings because it has an older hero and heroine. Or maybe it’d be Building a Future because I liked the theme of bringing an old house back to life. Or perhaps it was A Healing Time because the heroine’s a vet and it’s got lambs in it and I like lambs as much as ducklings and cygnets. It's all new life and new chances and I'm allowed to be slushy because it's part of my job so this is my favourite time of year.
Finally, there are 3 Lavender House Books. A time to fight is about a journalist, a solicitor and a corrupt developer. Sunshine and Shadow is about Michael Halliday and Callie, who fight over the use of a shop in what will become the Harbourside complex in the new series. Then there’s Love Always which tells the story of the ghost of Lavender House herself, and explains why Lavinia has to haunt Lavender House. I felt that she deserved a happy ending and that the story of the flying boats that were moored here in Poole and were our only transatlantic link for a fair amount of the war not only deserved to be told, but needed to be.
I hope you enjoy them all, and look forward to catching up with you on Sunday.