The not so intrepid traveller.

The days are drawing in. The mornings are getting darker and darker after a brief respite when the clocks went back. That means that it’s time to go on my travels again.

I’m not migratory like the swallows who are going to Africa or the Brent Geese who are coming to Poole, but November marks the season of the year when I make a small alteration to my afternoon schedule. My usual Earl Grey changes to a spicy chai or a warm vanilla that my daughter christened a hug in a mug. (Try it if you can. It’s exactly right for this time of year.) Two biscuits get put on a saucer, the television goes on, rather than me sitting in the garden. YouTube gets called up, and off we go. I got the idea from an amazing New Zealand writer called Fiona Ferris, who writes about how to make life that little bit better. Reading her books taught me to use the good china. To dress as if I’m meeting the most important people in my life every day (which, of course, I am) and to set a pretty table. Then she described how she and her husband settled down to explore all over the world, and I was hooked.

So far this year, I’ve seen the most amazing Halloween Drone Shows and Yard displays. In the run up to Bonfire Night, I’ve also been watching fireworks, with a perfect view, no travelling time and while being toasty warm. If I particularly like it, then I’ll see it again. Soon I shall start to explore Christmas markets all over the world and get ideas for food I want to try and how I want to decorate the house. Then, after Christmas, I’ll be getting ideas for the garden ready for spring.

I would love to go travelling for real, but I can’t, and that’s all there is to it so this is a half-hour escape and a look at a different world, and it makes me smile. And there’s tea and biscuits and the people and animals I love close by. What more could I ask for?

You might prefer a good book, of course, and on Thursday, a sneaky extra Windy Bay comes out. It’s called The Christmas Escape, and guess what? It’s set at Christmas, and as Lucy says, Santa Claus may be coming to town, but she’s heading in the other direction! She intends to avoid Christmas altogether, but hey, this is Windy Bay, so what do you think’s going to happen? I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it.

To keep that one company, there are the usual special offers at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US. There are three from Windy Bay which are A Place to call Home, Between the Sea and the Sky, and The Little School at Windy Bay. Then you could go inland to the little market town of Oldcastle, which doesn’t exist but if you go to Wareham, where I went to school for a couple of years, you may find that some bits of it look familiar. Those are The Christmas Sparrow, which was based on a real incident (thanks, Willow the cat. My husband and daughter were trying to persuade a sparrow he’d brought in that it didn’t want to roost in the Christmas tree. Willow wanted to stop it doing that, so I shut him in the living room with me and began to type.) Then there are also two books about drastic changes in life and how new starts and having it all aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. They’re called A Whole New Life and Having It All, and this is a picture of Willow the beautiful and mostly well behaved cat.

I’ll see you on Sunday, and if you’ve any ideas about places I ought to visit, then please let me know. And why not go travelling too? No packing, guaranteed good weather, and no travelling!