The Writer and the Piper
February 17th, 2009
Last Friday evening, I sent off the first draft of the book. Usually that results in a huge sigh of relief, but unfortunately I heard four days before that the Spanish authorities want to push a new ringroad around Aracena, my local town in Spain, and it will pass by my house about 100 yards away and about 100 feet off the ground. That’s not the real problem, though. The Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche is the most beautiful natural park and many of the farming practices there are centuries old – small ‘huertas’ (vegetable plots) and smallholdings which are still tended by their owners, who walk out from the town every day. There is a fair groundswell against the project and I’m heading out there at the weekend to try to do my bit.
On a lighter note, one of Scotland’s top pipers, Duncan MacGillivray, was playing at a funeral in the north of Scotland three months ago, and I happened to be there, sporting a pretty gaudy pair of kilt socks. Duncan was extremely envious of them, but I had to tell him that there was little chance of him getting a similar pair because they were knitted by the Famous Authoress herself, Rosamunde Pilcher! It is another of her great talents, and she is presently handing the art down to her granddaughters, who so far are proving themselves to be rather inept at the task! When I told Ros about Duncan’s comment ( and also told her that there happened to be a huge hole in the heel of one of his own socks!), she picked up her knitting needles and rattled him off a dark red pair which hopefully will ‘accessorize’ the stripe in his kilt tartan. Anyway, the parcel went off to Duncan yesterday, so we’re expecting by return a specially-written pipe tune called “The Knittin’ o’ Rosamunde Pilcher.” T’would be a fair trade, don’t you think?