hazeldixon, xfangs_upx and xneed_coffeex - in plain language, my sister and her two daughters - met by chance in IM last night. We had fun playing with the emoticons, and I related the tale of the tail – Saffron’s tail, actually, which I managed to grab hold of just in time to prevent the little darling snaked her way off up the newly-opened chimney.

The cat was not pleased. But a grumpy cat is easier to contend with than a huge bill from the Fire Brigade for rescuing the daft moggy.

Yes, we now have a new fire, hearth and surround. We also have an unexpected heatwave, so relishing the former will have to wait until the latter has subsided. Maybe autumn sometime. Ah well, I always was one for forward planning.

Over the weekend we watched Sommersby, which we both enjoyed. So was he her hubby or wasn’t he? Richard says he was; I’m not so sure. The Gere hubby’s feet were two sizes smaller than the original hubby. Women notice such things, despite rumours to the contrary.

One thing I was sure of was that the heroine’s pregnancy must surely have been the fastest in all human history. The tobacco crop hadn’t grown an inch taller from when the pregnancy was anounced to when the baby arrived, never mind having ripened and been harvested already.

Actually, Jodie Foster is one of my favourite actresses. I can’t think of a single film she’s acted in which I haven’t enjoyed.

Also fun was Lonely werewolf Girl, a quirky novel by Martin Millar. Think of the Borgias as werewolves, set in contemporary Scotland and London, with despairing fashion designers, dream-sodden amateur musicians, grumpy teenagers, temperamental volcano goddesses and megalomaniacs with dodgy love lives, all thrown together in a scramble to survive a fight for the family’s seat of power. How could that possibly fail to entertain?!!

Meanwhile, my own scribblings proceed. Rowan now stands at 92,000 words. This means in theory I have 8,000 words left to finish off the story. It might overrun this a bit, but I’m sure that will change during the editing process. That’s inevitable, no doubt.