It's important to mark the importance of Black Friday with one of those essentials that every family should have for Christmas.

Once a fortnight, I go to visit an elderly artist who is now blind to give her company. Yesterday she gave a whoop when she found we share a love of Janacek's Sinfonietta. Life should be full of whoops, don't you think?

Three unprepossessing young adults riding a pony and trap coming this way. I stopped the car and waited to let them pass. One of the lads yelled "Hi fives" and after a second insisted, 'No, hi fives!'. I wound the window down and got a grateful slap. Common courtesy. Meaningful human contact.

So looking forward to chatting to fellow country diarist and author @derekniemann.bsky.social about nearby nature, local landscape & chronic illness at #Heal #Rewilding in #Somerset next Tuesday. If you're in the #Frome area, do come along and join us! 🦫🐛🦉🦔 www.tickettailor.com/events/healr...

#naturewriting Giddily happy this morning after such a parched, droughty summer to find the soil just a few inches down full of little worms. Earth's little wonders thriving after all this. Such joy.

This is the most exhilarating thing I've read all year. Spread the word. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The secret to happiness? Finding joy in others. It’s free, simple and will gladden your heart | Nadine Levy

When we rejoice in others’ success, the Dalai Lama once said, we multiply our chances by billions. These are good odds!

theguardian.com

What, just what, does the UK's leader of the opposition tell her kids about how she justifies this? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Talking to my bro last night about how we still - nearly three years later - find ourselves thinking 'I must ask mammy about...' again and again. Parents don't die; they just stop answering our questions.

Just in case anyone is interested in an online course from Cambridge on creative writing, here are some of the tutors telling more (inc yours truly). Do follow the link: ice-cambridge.my.salesforce-sites.com/events/targe...

I went in to the fruit and veg shop just now to buy an apple, orange and banana for a homeless lady begging on the street and the young Egyptian guy refused to accept any money for it. Ah, the kindness of people. May his god bless him a thousand times.

Message to the whole of the UK: if you're expecting post, keep expecting. We have just had a basket-full on the doormat including 8 items posted first class in November. News out this week that a fifth of people have stopped sending Christmas cards. Rising prices for falling service.

#naturewriting In ever stormier futures, we'll need to be more acutely aware not just of wind strengths but also changes of direction. Westerly Darragh at 65mph did nothing to our garden; as a 45mph northerly, it flipped a stone-weighted compost bin over two others and gave us a tree decoration.

#naturewriting Guardian country diarists have our annual virtual meeting tomorrow and have two minutes each to give our highlight of the year. Mine to follow on here after the session, but what would yours be for 2024 within the confines of a single tweet?

The Rubery Prize - international book award seeking the best books by indie writers, self published authors and books published by independent presses. Please share

Watching leaves shower down from the storm-stressed trees has got us wondering #naturewriting. Once, we'd have seen this as a storm-driven thing. But could it be that trees have sensitivity to high winds and will actually choose to jettison leaves faster and thus reduce the risk of wind-throw?

Moving into a raven area prompted me to splash out on the classic Poyser monograph by Derek Ratcliffe to benefit from an expert's deep deep knowledge. Does anyone #naturewriting have special favourites from this series, now under @chiffchat.bsky.social and about to publish in Dec (marsh&willow tit)?