Cavorting with Corvids

It's dreadfully hot, here in London (which means, not nearly as hot as in Spain, Egypt or any other hot place you can name). Very few houses here have air conditioning, because our weather is so variable that it's simply not worth the investment. So we swelter away, moaning. British people do love to moan about the weather and the TV's awash with dire warnings about the 'dangers' of the heat. In all honesty it depends how you earn your living, if you're fortunate enough to be able to do that at all. Living on the first floor as I do, very near to London's ancient Epping Forest, it's a pleasure to write or edit in a cool flat with all the windows open. The raucous croaks of the rooks in the nearby trees are a great backdrop for anyone writing historical fiction.

Still when I'm not cavorting with corvids or editing my work in progress, I'm finding it an absolute pleasure to get out and shop, walk or write in post-pandemic conditions. My diary entries on this date two years ago contained such sad comments as 'Had to buy a coffee and drink it on the street bench, as all cafes are closed.' Overjoyed to see my local pub, with its real ale and Sunday roast lunch, open again. 

On Friday work took me to a part of London I really love - the River Thames, around the Tower of London. At present the Tower has millions of gorgeous flowers planted in the moat, providing a little more joy to the bees and a lot more to the humans. The Tower speakers are playing 'Music to Grow Flowers'. It's a specially commissioned piece, by composer Erland Cooper. It is said that the ancient Egyptians used music to make the corn grow higher and faster. Wonder whether the Tower's flowers will, in fact, grow better as a result of Erland Cooper's creativity?

Over the past month I joined NanoWrimo's Summer Camp - in which you give yourself a month to work on a treasured project, usually a novel, consistently just as though you were away at camp. I like to imagine I'm genuinely sleeping out under the stars, in the desert maybe, for that short period. 

Sleeping out under the Stars - Image by Shutterstock

During CampNano some writers edit the novel they drafted manically during NanoWrimo's famous November event. This year, I concluded the final chapter of a long-standing project. It's been bugging me for a while - and best of all, a short extract of that story has won 3rd prize in the Foxes' Retreat Summer Solstice Writing Competition. Yay!

Jennifer Pittam, published in: Aquarist & Pondkeeper, Astrology Monthly, Cosmopolitan, Ether Books, People's Friend, Prediction Magazine, Romany Routes, The Lady

Competitions won: Coast to Coast Short Story Competition, 2nd Prize; Writers' Village Flash Fiction Competition, 1st Prize; Foxes' Retreat Summer Solstice Writing Competition, 3rd Prize