Called the garage yesterday. Yep! The RAC Patrol man was right. Our little purple Nissan needs a brain transplant. Parts, labour and VAT come to £621.71 – more than our R-reg Micra is actually worth. Pity really. Other than the NATS going a couple of years ago, this car has been brilliant and highly reliable. A little hole in the sill led to a bit of welding in order to pass last year’s MOT, but nothing else has ever been a problem in the 6 years we’ve had it. (It’s not a she or a he, since we’ve never named it!) Wouldn’t be able to get another car as good as that one for six hundred quid (especially since ours has only done 70,000 miles) so gave the garage the go ahead. Hope to be driving it again tomorrow.

To be honest, I can’t say I have really missed it. In fact not having the car has forced me to think differently, which is good since I had a brilliant idea for a new play.

I’m entering the Guildford Play Writing Festival, a new part of the Guildford Book Festival. I found out about it through my writer’s group a couple of weeks ago and set about trying to think of something. The judges are looking for “contemporary themes or the exploration of modern issues” and being as none of my work so far fits this criteria, I knew I’d have to come up with something from scratch. Not easy. With me inspiration strikes when it feels like it. I was beginning to wonder if it ever would; the closing date is the end of the month.

Saturday afternoon an idea popped up whilst having afternoon tea with Richard in his studio in the garden. So far it’s had four titles and lost two characters, but it’s shaping up really well, and I’m very, very pleased with it. Spent most of Sunday writing, 12 hours on Monday, and yesterday afternoon and evening. Still a lot of work to do. This play is coming out in a completely different way than the others I’ve written. There are elements of sytle I have used before, but it’s doing it’s own thing. The characters appear much more real to me than in previous pieces. I think it’s something to do with it being the ‘modern issue’ or the ‘contemporary theme’. Or maybe I’m just getting better with practice. I’m loving it. Richard is pleased that I’m writing again. He says I’m much, much happier when I’m writing.

Time I was back in playwright mode…

Oh, nearly forgot. The excellent Stephen Fry programs are being shown again tonight and tomorrow. Well worth a viewing if you didn’t catch them the first time round.

Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive. BBC4. Wed & Thurs. 8pm