It seems incredible that it has been three weeks since I last posted. The final week of the holiday I spent rewriting the WIP. Three chapters had to be cut, but I made up the word count by padding out some of the characters and their relationships. I'm pleased with how it's going and only wish I had more time to devote to it.

I went back to school on 7^th January and it was busy, busy, busy. Nothing new in that but by the end of the week I’d come down with a sore throat and by last weekend it turned into a heavy cold. So I wasn’t up to much beyond a bit of marking and preparation. I had to take last Tuesday off as I had spent Monday night coughing and woke up with my head pounding. The cough went down into my chest and became a productive cough with a lot of catarrh (yucky!) but I’m feeling much better now. If only the weather would improve: it has been foul for weeks with non stop rain and wind. Very depressing. Hopefully, spring is round the corner and we’ll get some sunshine soon.

I’ve posted the above pic before of blue tits and a robin on a bird feeder. I have bird feeders and coconuts with suet and seed in them hanging on the Japanese maple by our pond and I love to look out on the birds. They’re very clever and only feed when the cats aren’t around. (Our Charlie Cat has been staying indoors a lot recently as he’s a fair weather friend and has developed a winter paunch through lack of activity. It's almost comical!)

As for me and my paunch, I rejoined WeightWatchers and lost five pounds last week, which is a real boost to my morale. I don’t find it hard to lose weight but have never managed to keep it off. This time, I’ve set a more realistic goal which I hope to be able to maintain.

Now I promise I’ll try and be more regular with my posts as I don’t want to lose touch with all of you out there. How have you found the start of 2008?  Do you suffer from the 'winter blues'?