Wednesday, 13 March, 2024
We have now moved into this trailer, which is located very close to my childhood home in Penclawdd:
Current W.I.P.s: GNS3
Last Day in Mumbles
Tuesday, 12 March, 2024
This is our last day at the Mumbles Airbnb. We picked up the keys to cheaper accommodation today on the other side of the peninsula before heading to our house and clearing more of the damage to make it safer for the builders who start work there next week. Fudjcat has settled in nicely here, so I hope the upheaval tomorrow doesn't upset her again. We've transferred the last of our Japan savings (we have had to postpone most of this year's planned trips), so we can hopefully afford to stay at the caravan/trailer until we can move back into our home. This should help ease fudjcat's anxiety and let her settle for longer.
Loathe to post here without any pics, so here are some parting pics of Mumbles, all taken from the car as we drove to and from this particular let. These include some daytime shots of that strange scene I happened upon the other night. Onwards and upwards!
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| fudjcat chillin' |
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| Nothing takes you out of your stressful situation better than putting yourself into someone else's. Continuing work on my 2025 novel, Familiar. |
Carnage
Monday, 11 March, 2024
Here are a few pictures of the carnage. The worst part of today? Having to throw shelf after shelf of signed books, collected over many years and at great expense, into the bin! |
| Burnt to a char and still a smile on his face. I'm gonna be keeping this fella no matter what he looks like after a scrub. |
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| The cause of the fire - faulty electric socket wiring |
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| Our digital clock |
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| Our once bejewelled bedroom ceiling light |
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| Our bedroom TV |
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| The view from the bed |
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| The plants in the front porch, however, loved the burst of heat. I've never seen this Jade looking so good! |
Caught the highest tide of the year briefly as we drove back to Mumbles after house-sorting:
We saw something strange as we approached the Airbnb then. Dont Ask! But it ended with a furious dog chasing me from the scene:
Accommodation Decisions
Saturday, 09 March, 2024
We've settled into the little bungalow we have hired for a few days whilst we find somewhere slightly longer term to hang out whilst the landlord does whatever landlords do to get their houses fit for human (and cat) habitation at times like this. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring,.. "We've had an idea of how to make the best of things whilst away from our home, but we'll need to see if our son agrees when he comes back from his overnight stay with friends today. I'm hoping he agrees, though.Anyway, it is certainly a time to count our blessings, so I will start with gratitude for the fact that we live in such a beautiful part of the world. As a photographer, the joy and comfort I receive from the landscape are immense, so I thought I'd close this update with some of the locations where we have been making our decisions these past couple of days. I am in no way a religious person, but despite everything that has happened lately, our family is still blessed.
This is the village where I grew up. My Mum's house has poor internet, so we parked up here to search for temporary accommodation where we can recuperate from life:
We have moved to this side of the bay for the next few days. Our usual home is on the other side of this bay (see the land to the left of the pic in the background.
Fudjcat Chillin'
Friday, 08 March, 2024
Stayed at my mum's on the day of the fire. Spent yesterday staying there looking after our surviving furbaby, Fudge, between viewing what is left of the house with our landlord, taking The Soosh to the vet to arrange her cremation, sorted out my meds (which may have been ruined by the electricity being switched off as they need to be kept refrigerated at all times) (the health team are getting to me on that on Monday), visiting my doctor as I needed antibiotics for my illness, and finally arranging where we are going to stay for the next few days whilst we take stock and move on. We are now a little off-grid for a few days whilst we take stock of how we move on from here and lick our wounds. Fudj looks like she has overcome her anxiety as she settled nicely in the Airbnb last night.
Heartbreak
Thursday. 07 March, 2024
Lost The Soosh to a house fire tonight. Heartbroken and homeless.
GNS Reading Graveyard Rendezvous with One of His Creations
Monday, 04
Models for a fotoshoot for my upcoming GNS zine:
A Sunny Morning in the Garden
Sunday, 03 March, 2024
The sunshine is warm this morning 🌞...
...and The Soosh has taken to chive-licking.
#foolofacat
A Neighbourbood Walk
Saturday, 02 March, 2024
Unfortunately, the wonders of my fortnightly meds have worn off now (apparently it takes 16 weeks for them to build up in your system so that their effects last the full two weeks between injections). And so I am in a bit of a pickle again. At least the return of sleepless nights means I can increase my work on my Cold Comfort novel.
In the meantime, I am just going to try and keep myself as busy as again and try and take my mind off physical discomfort. With that in mind, I forced myself out of the house this morning and took a short walk around the neighbourhood:
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| The magic of a Spring sunshine |
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| Last Christmas |
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| The weathered paintwork reminded me of an atlas of long-lost continents |
Cold Comfort Book Cover
26 years late, but my 8th novel is out next month! An evil woodland spirit deceives a serial killer as it plots to raise a legion of demons from the pits of hell...
Winter's End (2024) Update
Friday, 01 March, 2024
It is Spring at last! That was one harsh winter, wasn't it? Anyway, we are through it now, and it is time to look forward to better things...
Healthwise, I am hoping for a fantastic season ahead. My new meds, seen as a wonder drug by my consultant, have proved as good as promised and I officially return to my day job next Thursday.
Over the past winter, I have managed to progress my Cold Comfort novel and it is just a matter of formatting the thing now prior to its publication, which still has its official release date of March 31 intact - although this may stretch into April if anything gets in my way of progress it this month.
Progress of my Guy N Smith book is also going well, with all my Lego photography completed (I still don't know what to do with all the GNS Lego dioramas I've created over the past few months). I have one field trip lined up before completing this particular book. This was originally going to involve a visit to Hopwas Wood, the scene of The Sucking Pit and numerous other GNS tales, with Knighton being a reserve alternative should the weather prove too wet for woodland walking. With the continuing uncertainty surrounding the location of the bomb crater in Hopwas Wood (whose rain-filled depths inspired The Sucking Pit), I have decided to delay this visit for another day (and probably another year). Instead, I have now decided that my field trip will be to Shell Bay, the location of GNS' classic Night of the Crabs. This change of location came as a relief to my wife and son, who will accompany me on this field trip, as there is far more to occupy my family's time on the coast of North Wales than a meander through a single woodland. Knighton remains in reserve if the weather forecast proves too gloomy for beach camping at the time. The GNS book is still scheduled for a close of June 2024 release.
Prior to the above field trip, the three of us (and hopefully my daughter if she can find the time) have another trip planned, this time to Glastonbury so I can take photographs for Issue 2 of Glastonbury guidebooks, Avalon. This should be my third publication of 2024, scheduled for the end of September.
After that, I will be working on my fourth Gower guidebook - Tidal Gower.
After that, my prospective 9th novel, about a girl's unusual friendship with a toad - Familiar - should lead me nicely into 2025...
Here's hoping the nice weather brings good times for myself, my family and all my friends, readers and site visitors. Have a love Spring :)
Mandy Lives!
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Mega Book Haul
Wednesday, 28 March, 2024
Oh, and this little fellow:
Word on the street, well in the FB GNS forums, is that some of these books are extremely rare, so the bargain I had is all the sweeter!
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