Well, I waited anxiously all day yesterday for the Island Carriers van to pull into our drive bearing the precious A215 course materials parcel but I waited in vain 
This morning, just as I was putting out the ‘Open’ signs for the Gallery, the long-awaited behemoth lumbered into the drive and the sandy-haired young man unfolded long limbs from the driving seat, opened the back doors and reached into the darkness within ….
Moments later, I had the precious parcel in my hands, managed a fleeting ‘thanks’ over my shoulder and scurried up the steps into the house, clutching it tightly to my chest. “It’s here!” I squeaked excitedly to no-one and plonked it on the bench in the office with a resounding thud … only to be called away immediately by customers coming into the Gallery :\
It was almost an hour later that I managed to return to the office and finally snip the thick flat white bindings. Inside was The Big Red Book resplendent in its fiery covers, a Study Guide to match, a plastic-wrapped packet of CDs, the OU’s Applications Disk version 9 and various other leaflets and sheets of information. I could have danced round the Office 
Later on, when The Artist returned, I hurried off downstairs to peruse the course materials. It dawned on me that, as well as a lot of writing in the course, there is also going to be a lot of reading as well.
Here I have to confess, somewhat shame-faced, that I very rarely read fiction in book form. In fact, I don’t read much fiction at all. If I do read a book it’s usually non-fiction, principally gardening books, cookery books, computer books etc. I did borrow a couple of books from my Mother-in-Law’s bookcase when we were last in Birmingham – one is “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy and the other is “Bel Canto” by Anne Patchett. But I admit they’ve been sitting on my desk for two weeks and I haven’t done more than read the blurb on the back covers …
I have, however, broken through the writer’s block that meant I’ve been carrying a notebook and pen around with me, expectantly, for the last five days. I finally made some brief notes about the shadows of house martins flickering across the sunny granite wall of the barn opposite our bedroom window
Oh, and I had a nice birthday yesterday even though I spent the morning cleaning one of our apartments ready for new guests. I had a lazy afternoon on the computer and then we went out for a fabulous meal courtesy of the Mad Swiss chef at our favourite restaurant … complete with a single lighted pink candle stuck slightly awkwardly into the ‘creme’ at the very edge of the golden crackly ‘brulee’ that I chose for my dessert Cheers!
