Oh, how they've changed

For four days over the Christmas break we're staying in a Youth Hostel with extended family. We have the whole thing to ourselves - all 29 beds and massive kitchen, real fire augmented by recently installed central heating. All supplemented nicely by a real ale pub in the village. Youth Hostels have changed a bit since my youth. More than a bit, really. Many a summer's morning I had to clean out the toilet block before being allowed to collect my card and head off. I ALWAYS got the toilets.

Anyway, now is the time to say goodbye...as Pete and Dud would say. See you after Christmas. Hope you all have a fabulous time.

A bit of shameless self-promotion, or...

...I sold a story! Yippee!

I don't want to be uncool about this, but it seems to have been so long!! - well, to be fair, I haven't been sending off much in the last eighteen months but still, lovely to sell just before Christmas. And even nicer to sell to the lovely Jill Finlay at The Weekly News.

A while ago, in a discussion on writerly etiquette, someone more experienced than me said they didn't thank editors for buying their stuff, as it was a 'professional transaction'. Or words to that effect. With this in mind - and I can't quite bring myself not to say thanks at all - I limited myself to a very prim 'Thanks very much' when what I wanted to say was: 'Yay, you're such a sweetheart!' Or something like that. Still, don't want to scare her off, do I, so probably best I didn't.