Define pleasure.

It is funny how one book can sell very well but others do little. Why is it that medical stories attract more interest than gardening? I mean most people have a garden and can relate the odd humorous anecdote about events that happened to them while in their rolling landscaped garden or back yard. I had considered this a topic worth covering but now I’m not so sure. While A Fly on the Ward sold well, so far, A Fly on the Garden Wall is no where near being as successful. Why I wonder, is it because deep down we like to laugh at the misfortunes of others and hospital stories meet this criterion?  Could it be that many people have not endured the care of the medical profession and so wish to discover more about a world they have no knowledge of?

Perhaps the subject of gardening is too boring for today’s hyper electronic inhabitants, possibly the hobby or chore of tending one’s garden is not as widely appreciated as the television gardening experts would have us believe?

I admit I no longer find much joy in spending hours rooting around in the earth and removing weeds, or cutting that damn lawn yet again, or being attacked by a rampant rose bush. However I really cannot say I like being incarcerated in a medical meat factory either and would hope I never have to experience the dubious joys of the National Health Service ever again. Given the choice I would avoid both subjects and choose something more pleasurable, and so I have.

My next book which is at present under construction, strain and a pile of waste paper, will be entitled, A Fly on Deck. This time the subject matter will concern the art of sailing, and boating, possibly sinking but certainly all things nautical. Most people envisage a beautiful sunny day, calm seas and a splendid white yacht shining against the golden sands of a small Pacific Island. So surely this will be a happier and more favourable subject than hospital or gardening? One would think so, wouldn’t one?

We’ll see . . . .  watch this space.