This is my Great Uncle Joe. He died in WWI, along with his younger brother, William. They were the influence for my story ‘Piccalilli’ . My dear sister has an ongoing project of scanning all the family photographs into her computer. I wanted to find a photo of my great aunties, Margaret and Nellie to add to this blog. I am not the best at saving a file to my laptop, and finding it again. The reason I wanted to share their image, is I met them.

Funny things have been happening in my house all week. Occasionally, I smell a strange smell in the kitchen, I can’t identify the source but it reminds me of Auntie Margaret and Auntie Nellie’s house (they were spinsters who lived together) sometimes, the smell reminds me of my Grandad’s house. The other day, I poured green bathroom cleaner onto my bath, as per instructions, left it for a few minutes. After cleaning the mirror in another room, I returned only to find my green bathroom cleaner had disappeared, as though someone had scoured the bath for me. Yesterday, during the grumpy morning routine, my daughter ran back into the house in an overly distressed state ‘I can’t find my de-icer spray! Aren’t you going to help me!’ We searched her car, pulling both seats back and forwards, it just wasn’t there. She drove to work, but returned at lunchtime. When she set off to return to work, she said ‘Mummy!’ (yes I’m still mummy) ‘Come and look at my car!’ And there, on the passenger seat, was her de-icer spray and scraper, where they honestly hadn’t been where we looked earlier. A similar thing happened about a year ago with my wedding ring. One morning, Martha the puppy had lined up all her toys in her puppy cage. We’ve either got a tidy dog, or a helpful ghost. Or both. I feel a short story coming on…

Happy writing, Samantha