Friends in the right places
For writers of Christmas books, the countdown to the festive season starts around Easter, when the books are written. There’s a break for a few weeks at the start of summer when the book has (hopefully) been submitted to the publisher, but then comes the edits through July and August, and finally the promotion from September onwards. That’s my round about way of saying a) I have a new Christmas book out (here it is in case you missed it ):
and b) I’m used to topsy turvy seasons.
It wasn’t too much of a surprise then to find myself paddling in the sea last Sunday. What a glorious weekend we chose to visit friends in Dorset (forget friends in high places, having friends in the right places is the way to go). Saturday we visited Shaftesbury and Gold Hill, famous for the boy on the bike Hovis advert which has been voted Britain’s best advert of all time. Apparently the actor returned last year, aged 58, to make an advert for electric bikes!
Sunday we went to Durdle Door which is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic coast, formed by the waves eroding the rock. It’s a beautiful sight on any day, but on a gorgeous sunny morning in the middle of October, it was stunning, as was the bay to the left of it (but on the right below, just to confuse you).
Being a water baby, I couldn’t resist getting into that crystal clear blue sea for a paddle. I’d have swum, too, were it not for the fact that I didn’t have anything to swim in other than my underwear – these are good friends, but I didn’t want to risk not being invited back again.
Next time I visit them though, I don’t care what time of the year it is, I’m bringing my cossie, just in case.