Rivers

Morning :)

I was driving back, the long way round, from dropping off Thomas at school when I spotted a house for sale on the lovely leafy avenue that I used to live on with my mum and my brother. We had such a happy time in that house, my mum's House of Independence, and Noomski and I loved being so close to the river when we lived there - the river was just across the road, we could see it from our front windows. It's a great river, though not what it was in centuries gone by of course (when our family were the owners of a big shipping company that imported wood for Waring and Gillows - they were also involved in the slave trade, but I'm not so proud of that part). Noomski and I used to scramble across the rocks on the river to the island in the middle, and we would explore and climb trees, and usually end up spooking ourselves and legging it back to shore because we thought we were being watched! It was a wonderful section of the river to live by, and I would absolutely love it if my boys could experience it too. I'm going to check out the house that's for sale.

Coincidentally, I was just at my dad's for a coffee (my dad lives on the same street as us, and Noomski is hoping to buy a house here too!), and he lent me a gorgeous book called 'Caught by the River' and it's a collection of writings by taking-time-out-enthusiasts, people who are in the music business but who love to get away from it all and enjoy some peace and quiet and a few beers and time with friends. I don't know a lot of the contributors, but Jarvis Cocker is one of them :) I'm going to really enjoy reading it, it's just my kind of book. I'm not an authority on anything at all, but I enjoy many things in my life, and that's what this book is really about, as far as I can tell. And I'm also thinking that some of the writing might be quite inspiring for my own writing.

I'm going now, to work on my fairy story. It's very precious to me, and it's been with me for the past two years, but I think it's now time to finish it and let it be read :)

Ah, lovely - I just found a good picture of exactly the stretch of river that I was talking about :) See how beautiful it is? Imagine living opposite that - divine.