In my role as amateur air marshall

An open note to the RAF: chaps, I've no objection to you flying whopping great Chinooks over my property first thing in the morning,jolly good show, carry on and all that, but if I can see, e.g, the soles of your boots? Bit low.

Unless Al Quaida are hiding in the pond again. God, that's such a bore.

Life on Mars

More TV viewing, this time the above show, and I am now officially hooked. Again for those in the US, it's a sort-of genre show about a policeman in Manchester who gets knocked down by a car and finds himself working for a police precinct in the same city in 1973.

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DARKLAND

The novel will be out in February (the day after my birthday, in fact) but some advance notices are coming in, from Forbidden Planet:

http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=12524

Thanks for the kind words, FP! And SFX arrived this month with a 'coming in 2006' booklet, in which they have also reviewed the novel briefly, but well, and with a 4 stars out of 5 rating.

Lambing

We are 2 weeks off Imbolc, which is supposed to represent lambing season in the Celtic calendar, but the sheep in the field opposite have started. I happened to be looking out of the window in time to see a ewe giving birth. Unfortunately, the lamb slid out in its sack ummoving: they usually struggle and kick their way free. But this one was already dead. We went over and she was desolately pawing at it as if she could make it move. T had a word with the shepherd, who said that all four of her lambs last year were stillborn but when previous ones had survived, she was a good mother. She has two to go, so here's hoping. Shepherd was carrying two very dirty, but very alive, lambs, so it's not all bad news.