Writer's Cramp!

It has been a fortnight now since I managed to write anything but brief replies on my blog, and I have missed it greatly. Last week was spent in London and as inevitably seems to happen, I finish my day and barely have the energy to eat and fall into bed; certainly there's nothing left for even the most pedestrian writing.

The weekend was spent sorting out some major issues that have been troubling me, which was pretty tiring, and then working furiously to get ahead of myself with a really annoying website I'm building - well, the site isn't annoying, just the client. He's a "fiddler". I should have spotted the tendency in him sooner - a delightful person with impeccable manners and the urge to change everything for the sake of stamping his mark on whatever he touches. Poor love, I think he's totally out of his depth and I know he's driving his printer mad too, as she does all my business printing and is normally the sweetest, most relaxed person you could wish to meet, though not lately.

However hard you try to manage the client, it can be a trial at times. This one is teaching me patience and self control. It's always a case of treading the fine line between giving enough information and over-explaining things that are of no interest and will only confuse. Another client I have is so much easier; she doesn't know anything about the web except how to surf and she knows it can serve her business well - after that, she just throws everything my way, doesn't want to know what goes on behind the scenes and just tells me how she'd like it to be. Ones like that are so easy and I've been lucky that many of the people I deal with tend to be quite 'hands off'.

So much has happened over the past fortnight that it's hard to catch up. One sad event was the death of Mousie, the Norwegian Forest matriarch, at the ripe old age of seventeen. Mousie died on Saturday, Goddess speed her to the Summerlands. I had called as Mousie's owner had brought me some heather honey and beautiful Tyrii Pottery in the most lovely ultramarine colour and I wanted to thank her. Sadly, she was at the vet's with Mousie and her daughter told me she didn't expect Mousie to come home. I was so fond of that dear old cat - she liked to be picked up and scratched about the neck and would snuggle into me. Mousie had gone blind and had to take daily tablets for her kidneys, but she had seemed so lively the previous week, dashing across the lawn, guided by the sound of clicking fingers and voices, to get her lunch. Visualising the gentle cuddles from Mousie got me through the latest MRI scan without the claustrophobia that was lapping at my shores - I shall miss her greatly.

I have made some internal changes over the past weeks and these are starting to manifest in the external world, though I suspect this is going to be an uncomfortable ride for those around me. I am finding that I'm much less accommodating of people's sloth and bad habits, and much more vocal about my dissatisfaction. It's going to be interesting to see how it all falls out. For now though, I must jump back on the treadmill, do some more work and then go on a rather pleasant trip.

I have been invited by the two delightful young people who are living in the little house to come and see what they have done with the garden. It was a jungle and we agreed a modest rent as a trade off for sorting out the wilderness that lay behind the house. A weekend with all family members roped in, a brush cutter, and lots of effort has given them a blank canvas and a vegetable plot with cold frames and greenhouse. I shall organise for a part of the path to be gravelled, as it needs cover and give them the plaudits they deserve. It's delightful that the house has such nice people in it - there was always a happy vibe from the place and it seemed sad and lonely when it was empty. I shall report back and let you know how it all went...