While I should be writing

For example, at this very minute I’m not looking at English fields or sheep or lambs. Even more strange, yesterday I didn’t visit a single bookshop and you know what – I might not even do it today either.

I don’t think this is the way life’s supposed to be, do you?

The only good thing about being home is that all the lovely books I’ve bought is catching up with me again. And that I’m behind with my blog, so at least I’ll get to revisit some great bookshops in the near future.

I naturally took Jane Austen and Princess Louise out for  a drink, and then I couldn’t decide which of them I prefered.

Well, three days is a long time to go without a bookshop, and sometimes you just need a break in the editing, and … well, Katie Clapham of Storytellers Inc. (more on that later) asked me whether or not I had been to Sam Reads, and I naturally changed my plans so that I could do so.

I am certainly grateful I visited. Such a beautiful bookshop, such a great selection of books, such a passion for poetry.

At Sam Reads I also got my very first poetry recommendation: Division Street by Helen Mort and Shadow Dispatches by Polly Atkin.

Sam Read Bookseller has existed for some 150 years in Grasmere, ever since Sam Read followed his name to the obvious conclusion and opened a bookshop.

I had decided before to take three days off in the Lake District to get some writing done (formal reason) and to just hang around in the area where Beatrix Botter wrote and drew and that she worked so hard to protect (true reason).

And I defy anyone to find a better place to edit your book. One day I’ll come back here and write another.

Naturally, I also visited Hill Top Farm, where I immediately became a member of the National Trust. “If you’re from Sweden you might not get that many advantages”, said the lovely woman working behind the till. “But otherwise there’s free admissions, and free parking…”

Which is kind of sad, now that I think of it, that people only agree to help protect our beautiful places and historical landscapes if there is free parking. “We look after the places you love: historic houses, gardens, mills, coastline, forests, farmland, moorland, islands, castles, nature reserves, villages….” – “Yes, yes, my good woman, but the parking.”