Gnarly trees

I rang my old friend Denis yesterday. Denis was deputy news editor on the Huddersfield Examiner when I worked there many moons ago. He taught me a lot about writing. He's had quite a few novels published over the years but his latest hasn't sold much. It was the first of a trilogy but he's worried that his publisher might not be around long enough to bring out the other two books. "It's a bad time to be coming in to this business," he said.

I'm thinking that my master plan to look after my declining years with a few books is up the creek. Anyway I spent most of the day today researching and contacting prospective agents. I also looked over the proofs of the FT yachts and marinas special report that's out next Wednesday and was delighted to see they had used one of my pictures of Porto. It wasn't bylined. They probably hoped I wouldn't see it, so they didn't have to pay.

I was planning to go to the Monaco Yacht Show next week but that's stalled now over costs. We took the dogs to the military land but I forgot my camera bag and only had the big lens. So I went out again to Old Woking and found these gnarly trees lit up for just a few seconds when the sun poked through.