Illness and holidays get in the way of blogging, but bring a much-needed new perspective on life.
I’m still reading and writing as much as I can, but not too much. Which was why I was ill in February and had to take to my sofa/bed like a neurasthenic Victorian heroine to rest. Ah the bliss of doing nothing but listening to music and lighting log fires. Pyrotherapy (have I just invented a new word?) should be part of a new approach to mental health. There’s certainly a therapeutic effect in building the layers of paper, kindling and garden logs then the feeling of success when you apply the match and it gets going. The hiss of the wood, the constant movement of the flames, the colours.(You’ll tell me I’m contributing to global warming or adding particulates to our already polluted air, but I’ve given up driving and try to shop on foot/buy local, so don’t get all green police with me!) Sadly I’d run out of logs by the time the snow came, so it was back to the central heating…
And of course a holiday, a proper break, made the crucial difference – NO writing allowed, only travelling, looking, exploring and talking. And eating new food, new flavours. So I’m back from a tour of Morocco (with the company Explore) – five imperial cities in ten days. Exhausting, but in a good way (and I did get a short story out of it, I confess).
In Dickens Tale of Two Cities Dr Manette is released after many years in the Bastille – he’s been recalled to life. On a smaller scale that’s exactly how I feel.
Ali Thurm 