While the more eagle-eyed among you may have noticed recent comments from me scattered across a handful of stories, it actually marks a 'soft' return from a prolonged absence (from here - those who frequent the BCTS group on the Book of Faces will probably have seen me quite frequently...) of about 3 1/2 years (before which, I read a heck of a lot and even wrote the very occasional piece of fluff - a great author I am not - I'll occasionally come up with a story idea, but then typically get so bogged down in thinking of details / working out how to get from A to B / taking it beyond the opening scenario when plotting I lose motivation).

At the time (December 2016), I was starting to pack everything up from my rented maisonette, pending a move into my first (owned / mortgaged) home - albeit I took the mad decision to slowly, over the course of six weeks, pack things up and transport them to mum's before the final "move out", followed by three weeks living at mum's before completion (and my sister's boyfriend hiring a van to minimise moving in trips).

Of course, once moved in came the DIY - gradually moving around the home, stripping the dark yellow painted, textured wallpaper and underlying backing paper from the walls before repainting in white. Often I was too tired to read a lot, so never really ventured back.

However, around a year ago, I treated myself to a Kindle, and around 95% of the tales on there are courtesy of a little known publisher called Doppler Press {grin} - and now, courtesy of the extra time in the day from not commuting to work (a certain naughty little virus has introduced me to a lark called "working from home" - and for an introverted asexual singleton, what's not to like - flexible hours, no-one breathing down your neck, clean loo [amazing how many professionals seem to have difficulty aiming...], large and well stocked kitchen [rather than a converted cupboard barely wide enough for the sink and drainer]).

Meanwhile, I have saved tabs for Bailey's Jem and FTL, have since caught up on Shiraz' and Snowfall's tales, am working my way through WolfJess' tales plus others as I find or rediscover them - although for obvious reasons I doubt I'll be catching up on our very own soap (with over 1,000 episodes missed!).