Three Stop Hop

I seem to have lost my writing mojo lately, maybe because of all the letters I've been writing to heartless landlords, estate agents and MPs. However today I am pretending to be sitting on this mountain top on a sparkling Autumn day and writing rather nervously as it is the last Friday of the month and the land agent is due with a nasty letter. The fog is clinging heavily to the hills and the drizzle encourages moss on every surface, it's the kind of day for being in by the stove with something baking. It's still beautiful; I find it hard to make people understand that it is days like these that make me love living here. maybe I just like to be awkward...It's been a busy few weeks which is also my excuse for not writing. Another house hunting trip to the Lake District saw me staggering to the top of Place Fell on the most perfect Autumn day you can imagine; misty ribbons hung in the valleys with polished mirror lakes and wet roads from the previous night's rain looked like rivers in the bright light. Crazy people were carrying their bicycles up the steep path and I felt secretly relieved that since my bike got nicked Rupert hasn't been able to suggest such madness! We didn't find a house.Two days later I found myself in Bristol, visiting my lovely daughter at last. What a contrast! But I loved Stokes Croft, full of quirky independent shops, vegan cafes, graffiti and wonderful buildings. This is the view from Sara's student flat, the building is only lived in by pigeons but it made you dream...so many possibilities. It seems so crazy that places like this are empty when people are homeless, I wonder what will happen to it. It was so good to spend time in a place where it wasn't the biggest crime in the world to be a vegetarian and an artist, where not everyone wears tweed and drives a 4x4 ( yes my heart may belong to North Yorkshire but that's because of the landscape not the prevailing attitudes). We went to see Mr Turner and The Imitation Game and got lost in a wood full of badgers, met the lovely Jane Ormes in her little gallery/shop and I learned that when getting the bus one must ask for a Three Stop.Snuggled up in bed Sara and I made creatures out of "Sculpy"(?) and I've come home wishing I had a kiln and could make bears out of clay.Well it's almost time to go and grind some beans for coffee but first, have you heard about Just A Card? It is a campaign started by print maker Sarah Hamilton in conjunction with Mollie Makes and the Design Trust and the sentiment is really close to my heart because so many people have said " I love your work but I can't afford it" or come in to the gallery where I work and not realised that even if they can't afford the painting they liked, buying a card by the artist is helping that artist or maker keep going, usually for less than the price of a cappuccino. Anyway, it seems like a good idea although of course everyone should feel comfortable walking in to a gallery with empty pockets... I'm amazed at the amount of people who ask " is it ok if I come in?"  why is that?While I was writing that last bit the postman came so I'm plucking up the courage to see what he brought. Thank you to the 1,024 people who have so far signed our petition against eviction...you are wonderful x.....it was a solicitor with my eviction notice