Authors Electric

And so (as every newsreader/interviewer begins) this is what I've been dealing with during the last two and a half months - a Total Ankle Replacement for a really crappy ankle.The original injury happened over five years ago, during which I was determinedly walking through it, but last year I found that I was increasingly unable to walk at all except for very short distances. Even the brief walk to my local supermarket was becoming too much, and I began pacing myself according to which tree I could walk to and clutch for support. In other words, I became a serious and committed tree-hugger. Something clearly had to be done, and with a stark choice between surgery with its very long recovery period, and a wheelchair for life, I reluctantly chose the former. The very worst part of the recovery period was the fortnight when I had to wear an extremely heavy cast, and during which I was almost totally dependent. This was followed by four weeks in a much lighter cast in a fetch...

This odd little image is of a fake snake artfully placed, by me, on the remains of one of last year's hanging baskets, in the hope that it will scare off marauding and destructive magpies. From my kitchen window, I've been watching them swoop down and make off with the last of my little over-wintering plants plus chunks of the container, so having had enough, I went online and discovered this amusing deterrent - irresistable, at least for me, so I walked up to our local toyshop and asked to be shown some fake snakes (I chose the most aggressive and poisonous-looking one). But of course, being in one of my writing personae a picture book author, the two words grabbed me, and I fell instantly in love. 'Fake' rhymes with SO many words, and I began playing. How about a 'fake cake', made from pink and green kitchen sponges topped with white emulsion? A 'fake hake' made of silvery fabric and caught in a net could hang from my ceiling. A 'fake lake'? ...