A NEW decade has begun and if it’s anything like the last one it will be full of surprises.

I had hoped life would be a little gentler in the first month at least. Fat chance. Last Sunday it was rehearsal and casting for the Rose Community Theatre’s March performances. Monday it was clog dancing, a bit of which may be featured in the show. Tuesday more rehearsals, while on Wednesday I went to a WI meeting, my first. Like many people I’d thought this great British institution required an interview and followed a strict dress code of tweed skirt, twin set and pearls, not to mention a degree in jam making. I can reveal that it’s not like that at all and I felt right at home. We watched a film called The Bucket List - a story about fulfilling lifelong dreams before you kick the proverbial bucket. I want to orbit the Earth (doubt I’ll do that as I don’t have the cash) but hey, perhaps I can have my ashes scatted in space. I’d like to walk on the Great Wall of China, hold at least one great grandchild and cycle down the Pacific highway in America from Seattle to Mexico (I’m working on that one). But the big one is, to have a book published. Trouble is you have to be a celebrity or do something rash like hold up a bank in order to win the necessary notoriety it takes to get a book published these days.

On Friday it was Quiz night. A fundraiser for Sedbergh’s Pulse Community Gym. My husband Keith was quizmaster and a very good one he is too. The evening was a great success and it prompted Keith and I to recall what happened during the Town Twinning programme when we organised a quiz to entertain the Slovenians: “A quiz,” said Zdenka, the group leader, “Like at school in an exam, you mean you all sit down and write answers to questions?” The Slovenians were astonished that we would do such a thing on a voluntary basis. However, I wouldn’t mind betting they hold regular quiz nights in Zrece these days as they had such a good time that evening.