that when I was looking at something on my personal account page that a month ago I achieved my 10th anniversary as a member here. It doesn't seem that long ago, though it might to some of my readers. In those days I was only posting the odd blog here while I was still writing Snafu for Sapphire's Place and the early attempts at doing some Gaby stories on Maddy's site, then I got soaked riding my bike in a thunderstorm and Bike happened. Like they say, the rest is history and I've added my share to the memory of the servers here by 3165 episodes plus a number of other series, 70 plus short stories and the last few chapters of Snafu, which one of these days I shall tidy up and publish and which I still think hangs together quite well as a story.

In those days either I had more time or more energy, possibly both, but today I seem always to be behind with things I have to do, so desirable things like writing get left behind. Some of it is my university course and my involvement in local conservation issues, mainly dormice, and some of it might just be because I'm getting older and energy isn't quite what it was - the spirit is willing but the body isn't - sort of thing. I walked quite a few miles yesterday doing an otter survey around two nature reserves and when I got home my back was aching and very stiff. Sadly, today it still is so I've had a relatively quiet day and caught up with some of my course reading, plus started another book about Darwin by Rebecca Stott, this time, Darwin and the barnacle so I'll leave you to work out what that's about, here's a clue, (It might be in the title).