The news today was a succession of people doing things that are supposed to be fun that could not have possibly been fun, unless you had managed to self-hypnotise.  Thousands of people stood in the rain in Cambridge to wait for the Olympic flame’s arrival.  At Silverstone, people watched cars practising driving in a river.  And I spent a day raking through brambles – score: me 0/ prickles 4.

Why do we pursue happiness?  And would we know  when we have found it or what to do with it if it were given to us?

Today, I screamed like a girl and flapped my hands.  Were I not British, I would have whooped.  The reason?  Because the publisher of a magazine wishes has accepted one of my stories for publication.  It is strange, how we keep this hunger for approval from childhood.  I have been told I am ‘resistant to affirmation’ ie assumes all praise is flannel, but this got straight to the ‘purr’ button.  The story has nothing to do with that though…

The look said it all. One eyebrow up, his speciality. She had tried for ‘magnificent gesture’ and ended up with a feeble fanfare. Now, his turn…

Ye, I know this was supposed to be ‘writing every day’.  And I haven’t.  In my defence, a lot has been going on, some good, some bad.  The good however has been v. good – my first books are now on Amazon: two sets of short stories, Lonely Quartet and Lost Quartet. 

Putting things into 26 words does help to focus on what is really important – this is now going to be the main site (no longer the google blog) so welcome, enjoy the story and I look forward to your comments.

Since I left work, I have been struck by how wonderful it is to have freedom but also by how easy it is to get used to being alone.  I have gone from a busy office, with lots going on, to most of the day in the quiet of my study.  Now while this has its distractions (such as people kindly ringing up to fix the computer problem I don’t have, or to ‘just do a survey’), it is not the same.  So, I have resolved (in a way that I know is slightly contradictory) to both get out more and stay in to write this blog and to record the interesting, quirky aspects of life. 

With these, I am going to create 26 word stories.  Why 26 words?  Why not?  It gives me a structure to work within and try to capture the very essence of what is going on.  I’d love to have your comments and thoughts.

Here’s the first, inspired by a couple in the pub at the weekend.  It seemed as if they really didn’t want to be together, but neither could find the words to express why.