Thor is the name of the guy I speak to this morning on the helpline when I can't send e mail. Sky is the name of the guy who installs my wireless router. It's good to know these great forces are on hand to help with technology.

Last night and today must have made up for the absence of rain this summer, surely? It's been battering the glass and the sea last night was wild, the wind tunnelling up Waterloo Street when I dropped a friend off there, strong enough to wrench the car door open.

But I must buy stamps, bread and cheese, so I'll have to dodge the rain. My daughter says she prefers winter. She likes to curl up on the sofa with a book and a blanket and the fire roaring. Yes. It feels right now to have a change of season and pace. A different kind of light.

I woke up thinking about my old maroon velvet curtains. How I'd meant to dye them over the summer. I bought them about 20 years ago from a shop in Aldershot. They were secondhand and are very old, lead weights in the hems. Striped now, where the sun's bleached them. But fantastic for keeping out the draughts. I'll have to wait for a drying day, now, or a day that's cold enough to put on the heating.

I have a reading coming up at the Guildford Book Festival on October 19. I'm looking forward to trying out some new poems. To getting a feel for the shape and pace of the new book. A friend read through it the other day. She said it was a woman's book and optimistic. I hope so.

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