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Thursday December 18, 2008

Goats from a small island-Grabbing Mallorcan Life by the Horns


The time has come to announce the forthcoming tome. Sorry dear readers but there WILL be another and this time I am taking Myotragus as my theme. My, er, WHAT???? You might well be forgiven for not knowing about this little creature, which translated from the Greek means, ‘mouse goat’. Until about five thousand years ago this dwarfed little goat roamed Menorca and Mallorca and had been successfully doing so for 5 million years. Man arrived and it became extinct. Common thought is that Myotragus died out because of environmental and climatic conditions, not because it was hunted by man.

Anyway, there will be rather a lot of goats (and silly old ones) knocking around the new book, as well as the usual suspects and the beloved Scotsman. It will be published in July ’09 and the wonderful illustrator, Chris Corr, has come up with a fantastic front cover design. The man’s simply a genius…and more importantly, loves toads and all amphibians, similarly to me.

I have been bowled over by the lovely e-mails and kind help many of you have given to the Sri Lankan orphanage that Alan, Ollie and I support. We shall be off to London today and then flying on to Dubai Saturday morning, arriving in Colombo on Sunday. We are bringing heaps of childrens clothes, toys and over 1000 pounds in cash for the devoted nuns who run Jeevanie Orphanage. I completed the Athens marathon in 4:11 and I can tell you that it was incredibly hard work but so worth the effort. No only did it raise lots of dosh for Jeevanie but also stopped me from being a slob. We loved the warm welcome from the Greek spectators and the grand finale in the Olympic stadium in Athens was one of the most memorable I have experienced. I’ve now chalked up 6 marathons so feel compelled to go for ten.

So, without more ado, I hope YOU all have a wonderfully relaxing, healthy and happy Christmas and New Year. I look forward to being in touch with you in 2009.

Warmest regards,
Anna



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