The Wish Pony Gallops Again!

Worked on the Wish Pony yesterday and struck a slight problem - but then, woke up in the early hours of this morning and thought/dreamt of the solution. As I couldn't sleep I finally got up at about 5.40 in the morning, started the new chapter and then went swimming with the girlchild. Beautiful to swim so early - though hard to make the regular committment! The pool filled up at around 6.40 with a host of trainee lifeguards but by that time we were ready to leave. So it was a short but satisfying reconnoitre.

Then came home and worked some more on the book, picked the boyman up from the dentist and we had a cafe breakfast together which was rather lovely and unusual. Came home to cook chicken stock and deal with some administrative tasks before more work on the book.

I've been thinking recently how easy it is to let people go from your life these days - the social networks don't always kick in and forcibly keep you in touch, even if only in a kind of word-of-mouth way. Sometimes this is a blessing - there are people who have slipped from my life who I'm very pleased to leave wherever they've fallen to. But there are others I feel sad about. Sometimes it will be a landscape that makes me remember them, a particular drive or walk. Or I'll hear their intonation in my voice, or a word I know they would use. At other times it's an experience or skill I know I first shared or learnt with that particular person. Still, while there is that sadness, there's also a lovely feeling of some continuity going on there - that you're still polishing your boots the way he taught you, or using her careful phrases to workshop poetry. In one way that keeps the person with you forever.