It’s been an interesting couple of weeks – as a sci-fi writer more in sync with a solitary lifestyle and ensconced in a silent office at home in a rural setting, it came as rather an aural shock to spend several days in the full hustle and bustle of city life while we got our signatures witnessed and various official forms lodged in our quest for a new house.

Getting up early is not problem, we rise between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. on weekdays simply because my husband prefers to be at work by 7:00 (so he can finish earlier to gain us some semblance of an evening together) and needs to travel two hours each way into the city and out again. So, we were out of the house by 5:00, dodging kangaroos in the predawn light and admiring mist in the valleys and various town lights as we drove through them. I don’t often get to see this, so all of it was wonderful, but at 7:00 a.m., I was released into an unfamiliar shopping mall to find my own way and to wait the day out (ten hours).

It was interesting and different, although I admit it grew into a field of noise and distraction. I hunted out quieter zones between coffee and pit stops as I bided my time without turning the whole into a shopping-fest. I’ll have you know, I did very well. I know it sounds like a Whoopie moment with much shopping and merriment, but it was not that sort of visit. I bought a bunch of crossword books (Killer Sudoku, Kakuro and Cryptic Crosswords) which kept me quiet and mostly out of harm’s way.

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