It was a month of ups. It was a month of downs.

It was a time for looking forward and a time for looking back.

I was delighted that my youngest daughter has taken up her place in the UK, where her two sisters already study and work. But it leaves the house rather empty as the seasons begin to turn from glorious summer to a grey-skied and chilly early autumn.

My wife and I and our two youngest daughters vacationed in Florida, while my eldest took a driving tour around Europe. Her tour was dented by the car’s air-conditioning failing from day one in the hottest European summer on record. But she persevered and overcame the discomfort. (Takes after her dad!)

The Florida vacation was partly a sentimental journey as we spent part of our honeymoon there, 25 years ago. Yes, it’s very much a time for looking back as well as forward. Twenty-five years…

The vacation had its ups and downs. We had a wonderful time; the weather held, we relaxed by the pool and explored other Floridian offerings as well as a few days theme-parking. It was what we all needed. But…

My youngest lost her iPod (permanently) and the airline lost her suitcase (temporarily). I damaged my knee along the way and came back on crutches, to find my desktop pc had given up the ghost and – independently – my scheduled blog posts had failed. I have been struggling along on an ancient and tiny netbook (long live Windows XP!) until I can get a replacement desktop delivered.

Hence my long blogging silence.

However, there’s more to add to the upside. I heard that my first published short story, “Finspace“, will be reprinted and another short, “Homo sapiens inferior“, was accepted by a UK anthology. Moreover, I have joined the excellent authors sharing the Paradisi Chronicles universe, to write my own contribution to the canon.

So, as soon as I get fully-powered in body and bits’n’bytes, I’ll be hitting the backlog of posts and fiction-writing.

See you soon!