strange things - and hello to Hannah

It's really wierd, but I can answer some people's e.mails direct from the 'contact the author' link, whilst other times, although I get the e.mail address right, I just get 'failure to deliver' alerts. Does this happen to other people? Is there a solution?

So, today I can't answer directly a lovely e.mail from Hannah, who, I think, is in New Zealand, so am answering it this way. Hannah, I really appreciated your writing, and I just wanted to say that I've finished Blaze of Silver, and am really missing the characters. Also, I don't think it's giving the game away to tell you that, apropos your wish, I don't think you'll be disappointed ...

My second daughter and I have been to a car boot sale this weekend - my first. We had to get up at 4 a.m. which was HORRIBLE, and then it rained, as it often does in Glasgow. But there's nothing nicer than selling old bits of stuff that you would otherwise just have thrown away. I can't say we made a fortune but better than thinking of the stuff in landfill sites. And the people! You see the whole gamut of human life and experience at a car boot sale, and the goods and chattels that pour out of vans, clapped out old rustbuckets and even the odd BMW is quite extraordinary. Sewing machines, nail varnish, hideous lamps with bits missing, bikes with one wheel, a teapot lid, computer cables, an old plastic doll and clothes you couldn't imagine anybody wearing, let alone buying. Just watching everybody, how they operate, what they are looking for, how they talk to each other, was a revelation. You haven't lived in a city properly until you've been to its car boot sales. And what an incentive to clear out the cupboards plus the garden shed. Everything sells, plus our house feels as if it can breathe again.

Back to work this morning. Sometimes writing is so hard that I'll do anything rather than start. Hmmmmm. I'm sure I should have a cup of coffee, and then doesn't my son Cosmo have some drawers in his room that really must be sorted out today ... Oh, and the dogs would so like another walk.

No, no, NO.

Onwards and upwards,
Katie