Up, Up and Away...Eventually
I love these crisp, clear January mornings. Had everything gone to plan we'd have been out of the house at the crack of dawn and enjoying the fresh air. Of course, by the time you play 'hunt the glove' and 'choose something to play with in the car' entire seasons can come and go. Somehow the "crack of eleven" doesn't have the same ring to it, but at least we were on the move before lunchtime.
We headed east to near Coatbridge. This is a family favourite because it has a great playpark with lots of fun stuff that's actually been designed with special needs children in mind. Much disappointment when we discovered the playpark gate was padlocked with a sign informing visitors it would re-open on the 14th January. Some mistake, surely, unless they mean next year?
So I led the family on a brisk walk around the loch. "It's only a half a mile, " I assured them, "we should really walk 'round twice to make it worthwhile."
Funny how your own family, your nearest and dearest, can so quickly come to resemble a lynch mob. Needless to say, I soldiered on alone for a second circuit of the loch while Mrs Z and the Zedettes took refuge in the visitor centre, slurping hot chocolates and munching crisps. Where do children pick up these bad eating habits?
Still, the solitude gave me time to plan the first chapter of the novel I'm meant to be writing as part of Radio Scotland's Write Here, Right Now campaign. I hope you've all signed up for the newsletter. The project is being managed by David Stenhouse in Edinburgh and he's recruited some top-class authors to offer advice and encouragement. David also produced Muriel Gray's series The Book I've Yet to Write, which we're running again next month as part of the campaign
I've decided to dust off my plans for The Fast Life. I've already mapped out the first four chapters. Ten more circuits of the loch and I'll have cracked it.
