Sunday 9^th August 2020

So I managed to throw fizzy drink all over my keyboard late last night. I cleaned it as best I could but this morning, my keyboard was acting like it had been possessed. I ordered a cheap temporary one to pick up when the shops opened and took myself out for the day.

I’ve not been properly out since before lockdown. I’ve been grocery shopping and done a couple of rounds of town playing Pokemon Go, but actually going out somewhere – anywhere – has been a very long time.

I fancied going somewhere scenic today. One of my favourite places in the world in Brean Down near Weston-Super-Mare, but it’s the middle of summer and parking is terrible at the best of times. I wonder just how much social distancing you can do on those stairs.

So I went to Uffington White Horse instead. It’s got a big car park and loads of open space so I felt confident that this could be a safe trip out.

I started by going to an ancient longbarrow about a mile away called Waylands’s Smithy. If I remember correctly Wayland has links to Odin. I think he’s the Celtic Odin. I wrote about this location and Wayland in a novel draft a did a few years back.

Likewise the nearby Uffington White Horse and Dragon Hill also feature in the book. It got me thinking about that project and wondering if I should possibly revive it. It needs a second draft and I found myself already preparing some ideas on changes.

Since 2020 seems to be the year I’m big on theme, I was wondering what the theme of this novel actually is. I was wondering further if I should load up Scrivener to actually pull it to pieces.

But then I remembered, I’m having some time off new projects.

It was as I was walking back, I saw a crop circle at the bottom of the hill. Now I’m under no illusion that these things are man-made but I’d never seen one before and posted it to Facebook.

I then got a message from a friend that I’d not seen in ages that he was going to go out and get some drone footage of it. So I turned the car back around and headed for a social distanced meeting where I got to see him using his drone. I’d love one… but the regulations seem to make it prohibitive.

Still it was good to catch up and see his drone taking video and photos of the site. I then headed back home via the shop- to pick up my temporary keyboard.

I’m still thinking about reviving the project. And am actively having to fight the urge to load up the Scrivener file to see if I can work out the theme. I found myself wondering if the girl in chapter 1 makes a reappearance later in the novel, because that would certainly need to happen. Did I make it happen in the first draft? It’s been so long I can’t remember some of the details of the novel.

But, whilst I already can think of a load of faults… it’s definitely a good project

All in all, quite an adventure and the first one in quite a while.