On a bright cold morning I walked in my best medieval cloak through the already packed streets of Ludlow to the Castle, unpacked my basket of skulls/snails/parchment etc and was writing my first spell (for Swordsmanship) all before I could get the Thermos undone.

People lined up, asked me if the sheep’s skull was real, whether the pocket watch was also an alethiometer, where such big pine cones came from, lifted the lid of the cauldron to check on the snails.  One live snail and three ‘ghost snails’.  It was hard to find live snails after a frost in late November.

I wrote spells, spells to remember things, spells against indecision, a spell to unlock all doors, a spell to see a goshawk, a spell to get a man out of a bar, a spell to get a man, a spell to get into an oak tree… got inkier and inkier, didn’t notice I’d missed lunch…

Back again tomorrow!