I can’t say I’ve enjoyed this year especially. We’ve had some great moments, Alaska being one of them, but for the most part, it’s been a slog. I don’t want to get into the details, some of it is personal, but my writing time has taken a hit, but at long last, I have finished Book 4. I haven’t sent it off yet, I’m obsessively going though it to make sure I have not made any glaring errors. When my gamma reader, Hubby, has finished it, I’ll send it off and hope the lovely Si and Pete at Burning Chair like it and will pass it on to the beta readers. Fingers crossed.

As you can tell from the picture, all has not been well at home. We got back one evening during a rainstorm to find water coming in over the television. The floor, the mat and the telly were drenched. Sadly, the telly didn’t make it, but the floor mopped up and the mat dried out. Next day, we asked a roofer to come and sort out the problem. He arrived, announced that the water was getting in by the chimney and charged us over £1000 to fix it. While he was up there, he realised that the roof was knackered. We rang around and got another opinion, which supported the original guy’s opinion so we were left with no choice but to replace the roof. It was originally scheduled for the third week in November, but during heavy rainfall, we developed two more leaks, by the mirror and over the footstool. We placed stylish, orange plastic buckets under the drips and phoned the roofer. He kindly rearranged his workload and came to ours to sort it out. The savings took a hit, but we now have a waterproof roof. We sadly let the orange buckets go back to the garage.

The work on the roof disturbed a family of mice that had been quietly living in the loft, unknown to us. We were woken in the early hours to them throwing a party, either that or they’ve invited the little mouse with clogs on around to stay. I’m not scared of mice, they’re quite sweet really, but I don’t want them in my house. We set up ultrasonic mice deterrents, but they didn’t take the hint. We bought humane mousetraps and baited them with peanut butter. The first day we got two and on the second day we got one. Third day, nothing, but we could still hear them. This morning, we resorted to conventional mousetraps to supplement the humane traps, and set them around the loft. If they don’t go soon, we’ll have to bring out the poison. I don’t really want to do that, but I will if pushed.

Some good news, my granddaughter passed the 11+, and passed it well. The problem is she lives a little out of the area for the grammar school so despite the great mark, she’ll be in the last tranche for admissions. I hope she gets a place. She deserves it. We won’t find out until March. This has been a good year for her. She’s been made the junior Health and Safety Officer and also has been voted onto the school council, not just as a pupil Councillor, but as the lead Councillor. Gracie for Prime Minister 2060!