Here I am in England after a nine year gap. Having only landed yesterday, jetlagged to the max, I have nothing to report on the place yet, except to say that my friend Diana has made me very welcome and I've been shopping in Sloane Street:-) Oh, and they don't sell Psyllium husks here, dammit. I had a feeling that I should have brought some from Oz, but as so often happens I let my thinking override my intuition. You can buy Psyllium husks and seeds packaged up all fancy -like for medicinal purposes, but the asking price is outrageous. I think I'll just let the cholesterol go up for now!

In Perth, I caught up with a dozen or more friends, including Helen, who had just finished the amazing Clarion South writers workshop. (What, envious? Me?) Helen is one of several good friends I met at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Greenmount. KSP runs wonderful workshops and classes for would-be writers and they have some fun activities too. On 10 March they have an open day - if you live in Perth and are interested in writing, get yourself up there and find out about the place and what you can do there. Several really fine writers are on the KSP literary board. I have learnt so much from people such as Lee Battersby, Stephen Dedman, Dave Luckett and Juliet Marillier that I'll be eternally grateful to KSP for sponsoring their workshops. And the workshops are never very expensive, either!