With the temperature at 28 - or 82 in old money - I am even more thankful than normal, that I am no longer confined to an office/classroom in order to earn my daily bread. When I visit schools to give author talks, one question that crops up over and over again is: if you weren't a writer, what would you like to be? And I really have to strain my brain to try and think of any form of employment that beats this!

I can get up when I like, work when I like - and even where I like thanks to the marvel of the laptop. When, last year, we had a holiday booked at a time when I was expecting to have finished a book but was running late - I just packed my trusty computer and finished the manuscript overlooking the pool. When I feel the need to see another human being in the course of the day, I just pick up my laptop and trundle down to my local coffee shop and carry on working. And today, when the sun has descended on Britain in all its glory, I have been fortunate enough to slap on the factor 15, pour myself a long cool glass of fizz (water that is, not champagne) and sit in my garden all day typing away. Bliss!