Flood distraction but still overachieved with my highlighter pen edit

44. Thursday 12 March 2026

Wow, it really did rain and blow a gale today; quite the distraction. I highlighted up to the end of chapter 32. I’ve abandoned “edited” as highlighting seems a lot easier than actual editing and rewording/reframing/rewriting. I’d have thought I could highlight more than 12 chapters but it’s strangely tiring because I am trying to concentrate on considering every word. I am kind of enjoying it though and I like liberal highlighting of a chapter, then doing a chore or having a break, then going to the next chapter. I am fairly focused on finishing – gasp – the highlighting phase over tomorrow and Saturday. Or Sunday if I decide to go out on Saturday. Hmm, then that would mean actually addressing the hundreds of highlighted section from next week and that will be a big job …

Normal - driveway bridge facing south

Today - driveway bridge facing south

Normal - driveway bridge facing north

Today - driveway bridge facing north

In other news, I largely obsessed about the amount of rain and river water and checked on the river that flows under the driveway bridge. We’ve had higher water levels, but it doesn’t get this high particularly often. I did some minor chores in my breaks (including cutting dead bits from pot plants and struggling to bring the wheelie bin back in the strong winds). My friend Fiona and I had a hysterical exchange about smutty emojis, which was triggered by her sending me a screenshot of a funny mishit at work (steno for a verbatim transcript). I fed the birds more than usual because I felt so sorry for them in the dreadful wind and rain.