I manage to write more in winter, because there’s not the pull of the outside and nature: swimming, walks in the sun by the sea and all that to tempt me. It’s always been a problem for me, the attraction of outside activities versus the obsession to work on my writing. And it’s not always easy to find a balance. Now, I love the feeling of being inside, safe and sound, and warm, while watching the rain sleeting down outside the window. That’s why I choose a table by the window, if possible, when I work in the Pavilion next door to where I live. It’s a question of the early bird gets the worm, of course, as the best locations are popular with other laptop workers, too.
Upstairs is a wine bar, which opens at 12 pm, and is a lovely place to welcome friends for a bite to eat and a drink. The decor is fancy, old-fashioned and includes a “Mad Professor” theme in glass boxes, with natural specimens such as birds’ eggs and ancient bones inside to look at. It reminds me of my husband, Mark Onslow, a professor in Speech Pathology, who fits in well there, with his scholarly ways of deeply examining everything in his field of study.