The motorway coming east from Manchester was closed for a ways on Sunday. It may be closed today too for all I know, but Sunday was when we were coming this way.

So we got off the motorway and drove through numerous villages en route to Kate’s home. My favorites (or should I say, favourites) were Great Heck and Little Heck. I don’t know what Hecks were when they were at home — and got villages named after them, but I found the names very impressive indeed. (I was also fond of Snaith, but today we’re talking about Hecks).

There was, however, no middle Heck. I feel this is a shame. The world cries out for a Middle Heck. Also, perhaps, a Lower Heck and an Upper Heck and a Heck If I Know. But they are not there. Yet.

So, I’ve solved the problem of the missing Hecks by naming Kate’s resident hedgehog family after them. There are, as she’s told you, 3 generations of them. And last night they all appeared to enjoy the cat food Sid & Co didn’t finish.
The chap at the top of the page is Little Heck. He’s a newbie in Walker Household hedgehog terms. The guy or girl on the right in the middle is Middle Heck. And the one who has taken exception to being photographed and is hieing off at a rate of speed (the one who reminds me of the three-legged Manx chap) is Great Heck.

I never thought hedgehogs had long legs. I certainly never thought of them as having knees. Apparently they do. That seems like it would be a good useful simile — as shy as a hedgehog’s knees. Or something. Anyway, I am delighted that Blogger has allowed me to post them and I hope you enjoy them all. And I hope any hedgehogs currently residing in the Heck villages do not take offense at having their village name usurped.

Stay tuned. We’re off to London tomorrow.

So, here they are. The pictures that I couldn’t post yesterday.

First we have the Famous Author Kate Walker admidst her office chaos, looking kind and benevolent and exactly like someone who has just bestowed a copy of a Hugh Jackman magazine on a grateful jet-lagged friend. This is Kate’s newly refurbished office — not that you can tell. But the new bookshelves and carpet and lovely settee are worth remarking on (if not photographing).

And then there is Sid — A Cat Of Superior Breeding — who has made me very welcome and who has deigned to let me scratch him behind the ears and under the chin and let me feed him Greenies and salmon, and who even came in and tromped across the bed last night.

And then there are the hedgehogs. We have here Mr Tiny Hedgehog. He was the only one who came out the first night. But last night all three generations were represented. I will, Blogger permitting and camera being found, post some of last night’s pictures later today. I have a particularly interesting one of Mr Giant Hedgehog hightailing it off with one of his back legs clearly visible and reminding me of those three-legged running Manx symbols. Do you suppose they are based on hedgehogs?

Also, I have a new ClustrMap. And things are really getting red and blotchy. I’m very impressed. However, I could certainly use someone in Perth, Western Australia to show up. And China. China would be nice. Lots of places in Africa under-represented so far. But I’m very glad to see all those new South American dots. I keep hoping one will appear in Fortaleza, Brasil because one of my sons went there with a Brazilian friend when he was working down there. He loved Fortaleza and brought home great pictures of the area.

In the meantime, North Lincolnshire hedgehogs on the internet, you are vastly under-represented on my ClustrMap. So let’s get busy. Get online. Visit! And I will post more pictures anon.

Still trying to think of a new first line for Spence. Hmmmm.

Made it.

Considering the state of air travel these days, my trip to Manchester on the weekend was remarkably swift and painless. Certainly far more painless than trying to get home from my son’s wedding last month was.

It was not, however, without its moments of interest. I was supposed to meet Kate Walker and her husband at the coffee bar outside the customs area, which is where my husband and I have met them every time we’ve come to visit and flown into Manchester. It was, in effect, the one thing we were sure of.

But when I arrived, I found that things had changed. Updated. Moved. The coffee bar was no longer where I’d left it. Nor was anything else. But airports do that. You can’t trust them that way. They are always reinventing themselves. So I wasn’t surprised, really. (Dallas-Fort Worth, for example, creates an entirely new airport every time I go down there. It’s amazing). Still, I found the coffee bar. And I waited . . . and waited . . .

And half an hour later, a lady sat down beside me and made a call on her mobile phone and I overheard her say, “Yes, luv, I’m just waiting for George by the coffee bar in terminal 3 . . . ” and I thought, Hang on. Terminal THREE? Is that’s what’s changed?

It was. I discovered that I was accustomed to arriving in Terminal ONE. Which is where Kate and her husband were accustomed to picking me up. So I trundled myself and my suitcase to terminal ONE — and there they were. Disaster averted. Until we reached the car park and the level FIVE they were sure they’d parked on was in fact the miles per hour one was supposed to not exceed. Life is like that sometimes. But I’m happy to report we did finally get to Sid’s house.

Sid was front and center, ready to greet me. He was delighted to get the Greenies I brought him and his cohorts. And he’s stomped across me several times since, head-butted me in an effort to move me closer to the open bag of Greenies when he’s decided he needs more of them, and is in general making me feel right at home. Or as at home as one who has three dogs can feel in a house full of cats!

He even laid on an evening of hedgehog entertainment. And tiny Mr Hedgehog obliged by not running off when I took his picture. In fact, he turned toward the camera and preened.

So it’s been a lovely start to my visit. I even have a Hugh Jackman magazine courtesy of Kate (she’s going to tell you I stole it, but it isn’t true — she gave it to me in a fit of kindness and generosity. She just doesn’t want anyone to know!). Sadly there is no Hugh-in-a-towel in it, but the photos are very nice indeed.

I am working, though, I want you to know. We talk writing ALL the time — and I’m trying to come up with a new first line to my book since my editor has now rendered the previous first line obsolete. A writer’s work is never done, I tell you. Never!

I intend to put up a pic of Kate at her desk, a Stunning Picture of Sid, and a hedgehog having dinner. But at the moment Blogger is resisting all efforts to add pix to this entry. So, for the moment, you just get text. Sorry about that. Come back soon. Maybe the pix will make it by then. I hope so.