The world from my window

A friend of mine has run into a spot of bother. He's been quoted in a national newspaper article highlighting the negatives of living in rural and coastal areas like this one. Anyone would think he was the Antichrist, the way his comments have been received. But, in broad brush terms, I think he's right. This corner of England, this land, is the closest things to heaven in the world.                We have amazing cliffs and coastline, rolling hills and hinterland, and we're continually featured in the media for this wonderful landscape and the feel-good vibe.        It's what I missed when I was away from it for a year in Corfu. It's what hundreds and thousands of people come to visit each year. It's a rural idyll. But is it? Is it really? Beneath the veneer there is something else. Something you will find in similar places up and down the country. There are drugs, there i...

I am for ever being told I ought to make my blog into a novel. 'You have such a way with words,' Mr Grigg tells me. 'If I didn't live here I think you'd made it up,' Mrs Bancroft says. 'You write much better than some of the people on The Observer,' an earnest Pelly Sheepwash says. And little Tuppence, dear elfin Tuppence, she of the leggings, Goth gloves and an asymmetric bob, smiles a big smile and says: 'Just go for it Maddie.' Doggers on Bluebell Hill, dreams of Gingsters pasties stuck where the sun don't shine, a begonia allergy and a cast of colourful characters as long as Mr Grigg's tongue when Posh Totty trots past, it's all here. The trouble is, I need a plot. And I think I've lost it. That's about it. Love Maddie x

I'm taking a break today and I'm sitting here with laptop on lap, four-year-old grand-daughter cuddling in to the left of me, black cat Lou-Lou curled up next to us on the sofa. Balamory is on the television and we're thrilled because today's main character is Archie the Inventor. He has red curly hair and sideburns, a posh English voice, wears spectacles, a pink jumper and a kilt and lives in a pink castle. He's our favourite even though the things he tends to invite are pretty rubbish. He has just given Pocket from the shop a rope to help her swing around. Duh. He then made a telephone out of a polystyrene cup and a piece of string. Clearly no Alexander Graham Bell. Watching Archie made me wonder about the actor who plays him. The beauty of the internet is you can find out all sorts of things, some more useful than others. So I have just googled Archie and found an interview with Miles Jupp . The article from The Scotsman is five years old but the actor comes ac...