Dick, Deadlines and Racing Down to Paignton

It has been such a busy time. Apart from being totally obsessed by the weather - something that is natural as I am English - all my deadlines seem to have come together. It was a foul day when I had to drive down to Paignton to interview Dick Francis and his son Felix. Dick lives in the Cayman Islands and was on a regular family holiday at the same hotel he had been staying at for well over 50 years. I read a couple of his books before I went and remembered how much I enjoyed them. There is a background of racing but the protagonists are usually in entirely different professions. Felix, who now writes the books with his father, made an interesting comment. He said his mother taught him about the importance of rhythm in writing and that sometimes he would work for an hour on a sentence to make it sound right.

After leaving the Francis family I called in for lunch with very old friends in Bishopsteignton. I have known them since I was three and I was their bridesmaid! It's lovely to know people for so long because they become as close as family. As you might expect, we picked up on conversation as though we had been chatting away yesterday. Then it was back on the road with heavy rain and wind making driving home a miserable experience.