Thank you Friday night TV programmers

I walked into the city yesterday morning. The parks are quite different during the week. On the weekends, all the activity is in the park. During the week, most of the traffic is speeding around the outside. Nicer on the weekends.

I came back late morning and got back to work on the novel. I knew the end was close, but the closer it got the harder it seemed to be to tie up all the plot elements. The challenge was to keep going, rather than be distracted by other things (like reading some of the wonderful books left here by previous fellows, or taking just a little walk around to the Haigh's chocolate factory).

I stopped for tea, and watched a bit of TV, but the novel kept calling me back to the computer. Finally, about 9.30pm when my fingers felt fit to fall off, I stopped. It wasn't quite the end, but everything came together, leaving only the 'mop up after the storm'.

So, as of mid morning this morning, the first draft is done. Whoo-hooo! I took myself up to a cafe and shouted myself a coffee and cake. There were moments when I wanted to let those around me know what I'd done, by shouting it at full volume. But it's not really that kind of neighbourhood, so I contented myself with the occasional grin and later, the occasional skip. I'll save less restrained impulses for another time.

But lest the temptation be to fritter away the rest of the time here, I've set myself two further projects, the first of which I began to work on in the cafe.

btw the stone at the end of the previous post is in a grotto in the Palm House at the Botantic Gardens. But what sort of stone? It's almost like coral, but I'm not sure it is...any clues?