in which the magic forest begins to thin strangely out, revealing ghostly everyday furniture among the silver and golden trees

Well, today is the 11th and I have just bundled the baroque sister into a car to be taken to the airport and away from me. It seems implausible at the least; I had got used to having her around, even the smell of fags that now permeates my boudoir, and my balcony seems to belong to her, gazing thoughtfully out over my North London vista as she exhales. Now I have to get used to living here without her again, and - like - just being home alone when the kids aren't here... I even think in her voice now.

Also, it's now almost two weeks since I was last under the knife: really, time to be getting better, don't you think? And finishing all my outstanding articles (the MacNeice, the Ruth Fainlight interview, the other stuff) and editing my manuscript, and taking full responsibility once again for my blog? And putting all that never-managing-to-do-anything phase behind me?

So that's what I'm doing! This post is step one of my fifty-part plan. Thanks for being there.

Oh, and the other thing I'm going to do, now she's gone, is go back to bed & start acting the way I feel - that must be what everybody's been talking about when the tell me to "take it easy" and "look after myself" and "give myself a chance to get better." I've been planning it for days, as my activity for after my sister's departure, but last night clinched the deal. It was Ms Rational Self-Determinism's birthday (I won't even tell you how old she is!) and I kind of, in the course of festivities, forgot I was supposed to be sick... It was great! We were in an organic pub in Victoria Park! (The Lauriston, before you ask.) It was tons o' fun; we'll probably laugh about it for weeks; and I'm going to be pretty damn happy to crawl back into my bed.

Tomorrow if I can be arsed to let a languid arm peep from under the bedclothes I will take my guest bloggers off the roster; in the mean time they can do as they list. It will be lonely around here.