Something awful surely ought to be about to happen here…

I’ll start with the picture today, because it was an ominous walk and the world felt as if it had been turned to black and white. It was also very windy, and my joints were telling me that rain was on the way despite the weather forecast. It’s still raining outside now (six o’clock on Tuesday morning), which isn’t remotely forecast. This isn’t unusual because the combination of the wide shallow harbour and the hills, the weather tends to stick around once it arrives, metaphorically thumbing its nose at the forecasters. That’s why it crops up like that so often in Windy Bay.

The birds were pleased to see us. Because we’d brought them a mixture of mealworm and different sorts of suet pellets, This tree was full of starlings and sparrows, and you could hear them singing and chattering from fifty yards or so away. There weren’t many people out because there was a lot of fresh air from the strong north wind, and it was doing the Poole trick of blowing in your face and down the back of your neck at the same time. I’m not sure how it does that, but it was still a good walk and great to get home for hot coffee and a sneaky and very chocolately Christmas biscuit and a quick trip around the Vienna Christmas market, courtesy of YouTube.

I’m more snuggled in than usual now because the winter bugs are hitting hard enough for the hospitals and surgeries to bring back masks. People have different views about this, but I’ve accepted that, basically, a lot of people don’t care how they affect others and haven’t mastered basic hygiene or worked out what tissues and handkerchiefs are for. It’s not ‘just a bug’ for me so it’s time for writing and planning for the New Year, and reading for fun and sorting out in the garden and cooking some of the delicacies I see at the Christmas markets I’m virtually visiting.

Speaking of which, here are this week's special offers at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US.


There are two books from my Amy Hammond series:- Aging Disgracefully, and Two Graves, which are earlier in the series, and She didn’t mean to find trouble, which is an anthology of the first 3 books, so a bargain for 99p

There’s also the first anthology of short stories, which is called a Christmas Sampler and the first three Windy Bay books brought together as an anthology called Love by the Sea.

I’m going to be reading Trisha Ashley’s Christmas books. Totally over the top, wonderfully weird characters and as snuggly as a warm blanket, hot chocolate and a pack of calorie-free chocolate biscuits. And sadly, those are entirely fictional! See you on Sunday…