Poems, letters and birds

I return from cyber silence with a burst of good news. First, what could be better than having a poem in the Scottish Poetry Library's choice of this year's twenty Best Scottish Poems? And then the post box delivered up three exciting brown envelopes: one containing the page proofs of my novel, The Last Bear, due out in March 08; one containing the signed contract for Paper Trails, my non-fiction book about the paper industry, due out in July 08; and one with a letter from the lawyer confirming that I am one step closer to registering legal title to the house site.

As if to warn me not to fly too blindly amid these thrills, when walking this morning I found a coal tit unconscious beside the road, still warm, presumably stunned by a collision with a vehicle. I carried it gently back to the croft and tried to keep it warm, but it has not come round.