• Every now and then an envelope arrives from one of my publishers. It usually has the look of, “would you mind checking these text edits?” about it. That’s not my favourite part of the job. But, to my surprise, the envelope is full of fan mail that has been passed on to me. It’s always nice for authors to know that someone out there actually cares and reads your books!

    fanmail

    I got this little lot from a group of children at Falkland’s School in Newbury Bucks. I love all the drawings, they make them so much more fun. Thank you Abby, Hannah, Oliver, Thomas, Rebecca, Austin, Charlie, Anna, Emma, Archie and Dulcie. You’ve brightened up my day.

  • I was quietly working in my shed just now, when an extraordinary and instantly recognisable racket outside rent the air. Having watched a million war movies as a child, I can tell the sound of Rolls Royce Merlin engines a mile away and that can only mean one thing – A Spitfire! I made a million airfix models of them too.

    Sure enough, we had a minute long display over the town of a Spitfire diving and climbing through the air. Thrilling! Gone as quickly as he came.

    Later… Now I find out there was a parade of the 1st Battalion of the Rifles in town and I missed it. Not sure how I didn’t know about that. A friend of ours’ son would have been amongst them, recently back from Afghanistan. The Spitfire was a fly past in honour of them getting the freedom of the district. The Rifles are barracked at Beachley, not far away, near Chepstow.

  • The news came through this morning of the end of the Literacy and numeracy strategy. Hooray!

    I doubt it will be that simple. By Lunchtime it was clear that Literacy and Numeracy hours would be expected to continue. Just the providers would change. Could this mean that teachers could be allowed to teach from books rather than texts?