Below Your Feet

The cast is off my hand at last. It’s still too tender for prolonged typing but all being well I’ll soon be running out of excuses not to get down to some serious writing. Although yesterday my Bluetooth keyboard stopped talking to my computer which caused all sorts of problems. I was beginning to think that someone somewhere had put a hex on me but I found an old USB keyboard as a temporary replacement. It’s very clunky though and I hate it.

When I was doing the A-Z Challenge back in April I did underfoot for my ‘U’ post and took some pavement level photographs. This struck a chord with my poet friend who gave me a copy of the I-Spy book Below Your Feet (she’d already given me the companion volume Above Your Head).

It helpfully reminds you to take extra care and never stray into the road to take a closer look…

Interestingly (to me at least) on my recent trip to Paris I noticed they’re very keen on spray painting slogans onto the pavements so, with my I-Spy book in mind, I took some photos. Regrettably however there are no points for pavement graffiti so I won’t be sending off for my badge any time soon.

Paris

I’ve just returned from a short trip to Paris by train. Conveniently trains from Leicester pull up at St Pancras next to the Eurostar so there was no dashing across London. Very civilised. As we didn’t have much in the way of luggage we walked from the Gare du Nord to our hotel in nearby Montmartre. Less hassle than flying.

The threatened rain didn’t materialise so we had a great day out at Versailles. The place is very photogenic and it’s hard to take a bad photo. The biggest problem is large tour groups getting in the way especially inside and I ended up taking pictures of the ceilings. Here’s a small sample.

A post A-Z post

Some tulips from my garden.

So the A-Z Challenge is over and everyone who’s taken part deserves a big pat on the back. There have been some amazing blogs out there, I’m only sorry I didn’t manage to visit more. I can’t say I’m sorry the pressure is off but I think I must be suffering from withdrawal symptoms as I felt compelled to post again today. No buildings this time, although you haven’t seen the last of them. They are now officially an obsession of mine and they will be back.

As a relative newcomer to this blogging lark the A-Z has been a useful exercise. If nothing else it’s taught me to be concise. As a writer (or a would be writer) this is an important lesson. So I’ve vowed to keep things short and sweet. Less is more as they say.

While I’ve been out on my peregrinations taking pictures for the challenge, spring has arrived with a vengeance in my garden. Much as I’d like to get out and get to grips with the digging and pruning, I very stupidly managed to fall over and fracture a bone in my right hand.

It’s a real pain, both in the sense that it hurts and in that my left hand is quite pathetic at doing stuff. It’s been over a week now and I’m glad to say it’s getting better. I must say typing left handed certainly encourages one to be brief but I don’t recommend it as an editing tool.

Good luck to fellow Phoenix Writers members Maria and Wayne who are doing a 15K in May Challenge. You can follow their progress at http://www.firstdraftcafe.blogspot.co.uk and http://mrkelly2u.wordpress.com or Twitter (#15kinmay)