Apparently, the New York Public Library has spent $1million USD on ebooks and is planning a major re-design of the old building which will create large, airy spaces, a cafe, and remove old and hardly-used books to stacks in the basement. Closer to home, Liverpool Central Library is already undergoing a major structural overhaul, which promises to look amazing once finished and I'm looking forward to seeing it re-open. Wirral Libraries are also changing.  In their draft strategy  for the future, they write, "The Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport quotes a decline in the number of visits to library premises of around 25% over a 16 year period, and a steady decline in the loans of adults’ books over the decade prior to 2008/9 by more than a third." It goes on to define the library service as: "4 .1 - Wirral library is a friendly, accessible place that provides a safe, trusted and welcoming resource aimed at meeting the needs of the local ...

I filmed this on my Kodak EasyShare C340 camera on a grey and blustery but pleasant day earlier this week.  The place looks different again in summer, and with a different quality of light.  In the summer, when the beach is plastered with sun-worshippers, or when the marina is in use for various watersports, there's another atmosphere altogether.  But I like the place when it's nearly deserted...  Anyway, the video shows one of the locations from Rowan: An Artisan-Sorcerer Story, and it pans round to show Little Eye, Middle Eye and Hilbre Island which feature in several of my stories.  I don't suppose it really matters if a reader can view real-life footage of a place used in fiction but it can be fun all the same.  And besides, I enjoy tinkering with my camera. Meet Alice!  She's the newest addition to my small collection of dolls.  She was made by Pedigree sometime in the 1950's, which means she's classed as vintage rather than as an ant...