I wanted to reflect how happy childhood had been for me in a Cairndhu type village but as I mentioned there were low points in the life of those villages and those are better reflected in Miss Kirkwood's story in A Land Fit for Heroes, which was written in memory of all those ladies who lost fiancees in WW1 and took to teaching. They gave us such a warm start to our schooldays that I felt they needed someone to recognise their contribution. Don't think it is doom and gloom, village life is always like tartan or a tweed, a healthy mixture. I had hoped to interest a literary agent and one does one's best but life is full of these little disappointments.

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I had a nice complement about Best in Show the other day. An acquaintance told me he was enjoying the book, he doesn't read much these days but the short episodes with something always happening is ideal for him. Not only that, the names are easy and he doesn't have to turn back to fins what Solzetchovic did, or who his uncle was. I prefer that kind of comment to being nominated for some high literary reward. Literary novelists write caviar, I write porridge, porridge is for everyday. I'd still like to get a literary agent, though, as a salesman I am a good gardener. I tried to get a local picture to add to this but with this snow - and it's just powder puffs, but cold I've put in one of a King Protea from Pniel, near Cape Town.

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