When I wrote that tenth birthday post for the blog, back in July 2021, I didn’t intend to take an immediate sabbatical – but life sometimes just happens that way. You may have assumed, based on my silence, that I was finally living up to my name and being idle. If only that were true! In fact, things have been a bit mad, in the best possible way. Since I last darkened your digital doorsteps, we’ve got married, sold our flat, rented another flat, and bought a house (not necessarily all in that order). That has involved the sheer, unutterable joy of moving twice in under a year – trust me, you never realise quite how many books you own until you have to cart them around Greater London in cardboard boxes. In fact, over half of them are still boxed up in my parents’ garage. And then, of course, there’s work, which has been extremely busy for reasons which I’ll get round to explaining at some point in the future.

I suppose this post is a way to break that silence and a promise that I will be back in the Idle saddle soon – once I’ve got my books back, and some of the chaos has subsided. However, I haven’t been completely absent from the internet over the past year or so. I can’t go for long without developing new hobbies and, in a period where our full-sized home has been the cause of much stress and anxiety, I returned to a childhood interest: dolls’ house miniatures. It’s been a revelation to learn about the terrific work being produced by miniature artisans both in Europe and the USA, and obviously I got carried away and have bought far too much. If you fancy a bit of diversion while I get my act together, you can have a look at how our collection is coming along.

So, forgive me for vanishing for so long, and bear with me while I get things straight. I’m already looking forward to autumn evenings curled on our new sofa, reading a book under a blanket by the light of our wood-burner…

With love,
x