The world from my window

Only time for a short post today. But I think it's worth it. Here's a photo of Mr Grigg and my cat in her favourite spot. Now, no smutty captions please. But you won't believe her name. It's Lou-Lou. That's about it. Love Maddie x

The village square is deathly quiet. The red pelargoniums around the village pump are fading now and the white nicotianas outside my house look like long, spidery tendrils and they've given up the ghost. The shop has been closed now for almost three weeks but still cars pull up, drivers get out, try the shop door, then look at their watches, shrug, get back in their cars and drive off again. I've just had an email from a local councillor, pointing me to a Lottery-funded scheme to set up local enterprises. 'I'm sending you this because I hear your Village has closed.' He's missed out a word, but it sure feels like it. And now it's raining. That's about it. Love Maddie x

The fantastic voyage is over, for the moment. But now a new journey begins. Here in The Enchanted Village, there is a watercolour tinge to the air and the artist has smudged a bit of paint where the horizon meets the sky. There are rooks and pigeons everywhere, trees laden with sloes and squelchy ground underfoot. The square is quiet now that the shop has closed for good. And my hanging baskets have gone mouldy from all that rain. Bu the dream of Greece is not forgotten. In just over a week's time, I will be flinging a school bag over my shoulder and heading for a year of postgraduate study of Hellenistic culture, with a bit of magic, witchcraft and ghosts in the ancient world thrown in. I'm off to do a masters degree in classics and ancient history at the University of Exeter. I'm terrified and excited. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye. I'll keep you posted. But in the meantime, have a look at some of the holiday snaps on my other blog, The World from M...

Last night I dreamed of Oompa Loompas.  To find out more, swim across to my other blog, The World from My Porthole . I shouldn't be at all surprised if Mr Grigg doesn't dredge up a Coelacanth. 

The square in The Enchanted Village is eerily quiet. Meanwhile, on our holiday in the southern Ionian, we were quiet too. And then the Putters arrived. Find out more by going to my other blog, The World from my Porthole . That's about it. Love Maddie x

Join me on a journey to the singing ringing tree of ancient Dodona and a surprising hotel in the middle of nowhere. Hop across to The World from My Porthole , where I'll be for the next couple of weeks. That's about it. Love Maddie x

This weekend I changed my Blogger profile picture: (I'll explain later).   Now if I'd been wearing it at last night's Mr Scruff gig, no-one would have batted an eyelid. Girls in bear hats, boys in crocheted hats, pork pie hats and baseball caps, an old man in shades with a wispy Salvador Dail-style moustache and goatee, Mr Grigg in a Wobble Control tee-shirt and a white bearded steward who looked like he could quite easily have done the James Robertson Justice voiceover in the surreal track, Fish . Trout are freshwater fish and have underwater weapons  Trout are very valuable and immensely powerful  Keep away from the trout Mr Scruff himself, with headphones atop his smooth head like a Roman emperor wearing a crown of laurel leaves. His adoring public whooped and hollered to pulsating beats and Latin rhythms. And still the Electric Palace clock said five past nine. My blog characters, all bar Pelly and Anakin Sheepwash, decided to give...