Confessions of an Author

Sri Lanka – Travel Diary 2016 May 2016 As we flew into Sri Lanka, we could see the extent of the recent floods. In some places they have had nearly 35cm of rain in a day. We saw destroyed roads, flooded houses, rivers that had burst their banks. Several people have been killed. Immigration was efficient, then we collected our luggage and walked out through the Duty Free shop. In England (and every other country I have visited) this shop is full of chocolate and alcohol and cigarettes. In Sri Lanka, it’s full of washing machines. And fridges. Obviously holidays abroad stimulate the local population into a frenzy of kitchen appliances desire. As we drove to the hotel, we saw streets of shops selling spare parts for tuk tuks, cars with whole shrines on their dashboards, lots of flooding. We passed Hindu temples, golden Buddhas on roundabouts, giant statues of Mary. There were people hanging clothes to dry on wire fences, trees, anywhere they could really. Many of the houses were very

Croatia – Family Holiday Diary Met 9am for breakfast (if you missed my last blog, we’re staying in Lone Hotel, Rovinj). A young girl waited at the entrance to take room numbers, and Husband had used Google Translate so he could say “Good morning, room 463” in Croatian. Croatian with a strong English accent. She looked very confused. I apologised for him, and ushered him to a table. Breakfast was another buffet – a huge selection in a gigantic room. But some food seemed a little ‘old’ – perhaps because we were fairly late getting there. Lots of food to keep our vegetarians fed though (which has been quite a challenge this holiday). There was also a very low table, at child height, full of cakes and pastries. A small boy was happily stroking everything. Clearly a nice idea, planned by someone who is not a parent. Walked into Rovinj (15 minutes along the coast). Lovely town – old buildings scattered on a hill, stretching out to sea. It felt like an Italian town, and Son-who-

Pumpkin Story Pumpkin Story Once upon a time, there was a farmer. He was old and wise, and he knew all about growing plants. One fine spring day, he took a long flat seed, and planted it in the soil. Month after month, the seed grew. First it grew a small shoot, then leaves, then more shoots until it was a whole plant. The rain watered the plant, the sun gave it energy, and the roots grew deep into the soil. One day, a flower appeared, then a tiny fruit. The farmer watched and waited. The tiny fruit grew bigger and bigger, until one day, there was a fat round pumpkin. Then the farmer took his sharp knife, and cut the pumpkin and carried it inside. Inside his house, the farmer looked at the pumpkin. It looked very beautiful. It was orange and shiny and round. The farmer sighed. He took his sharp knife, and cut a hole in the top. It hurt the pumpkin. Inside, the pumpkin wasn’t so pretty. The pumpkin was full of gunky mess, and the farmer knew that if he left it there, i

One Little Life One Little Life We had rats. Anyone who has poultry and a pond has rats. If you also have several mild winters, you then have a rat problem. Mr Rat Catcher came with traps and poison, but we still had a rat problem. So, we decided to get cats. We found some cats that had been born in a stable, not feral as they had been well cared for, but they were used to living outside. We bought two, Milly and Molly, brought them home, and put them in the garage. For three days, I didn’t see them, and wondered if they had escaped! Then I took the dog into the garage with me, and two tiny kittens tentatively appeared. They had been raised on a farm with German Shepherd dogs, and they recognised Kia as a friend. Gradually they learned to like us too. When they were bigger, they moved to their home in the workshop. Two cats weren’t really enough to cure the rat problem, so we didn’t spey Milly and Molly. After about eighteen months, both were pregnant. Between them, the