Wednesday 23rd. Last week the lovely people at Arachne Press published Liberty Tales. Think Magna Carta, maybe think all those kinds of liberty that we need to keep our eyes on right now.

I’m in London on Wednesday to read ‘Border Country’, my story from this terrific collection of stories and poems. Lewisham Library 7pm, along with Jim Cogan, Liam Hogan and Cherry Potts reading their work. Hear about Buck, Rhys and Lewis ('Call me Dolores', A Baker’s Dozen) off on another escapade.

This after a grand few days, our last in France until the New Year. A lovely dinner with friends, a terrific 25k autumn walk in the Montagne Noire, a meeting with a surveyor to finally mark out our boundary against the opposition of our nasty neighbour – that’s a story to tell another day. The week ended with an afternoon of shooting outside the house - the local hunters dispatching the pigeons that have been getting out of hand again. All legal and approved by the French bird people.

And before you know it, 21 December, two more of my stories are in Arachne’s Shortest Day, Longest Night. One of them, ‘In the Gloaming’, is being read with music at Solstice Shorts Festival 2016 in Greenwich. ‘Mouse’, my story from last year’s event, is in the book too.