In the middle of yet another lockdown, I'm once again reminded of how lucky I am to be living in the countryside where Mrs Shan and I can get out and about with our little ones while staying within our 5 kilometre zone. I've always loved the mix of country and city living, and usually bounce back and forth between my main home in Limerick and a little flat that I have in London, but while I've certainly missed my trips to London over this last crazy year, I'm glad that I've been based rurally, as it's made it a lot easier to keep the kids exercised and happy.

These snaps were taken in our local forest park, Curraghchase, a couple of months ago, in the lockdown just before this one. It was late autumn, leaves were cascading from the trees in the wind, and we spent ages trying to catch them. The trees are all bare now when we go up there, but the leaves will come again, and that surety helps keep us going in these hard, bleak times. The leaves will come again, and next time we'll catch even more of them. Just wait and see.

The next issue of the Shanville Monthly newsletter will come a long time before the leaves! The January one is still quite fresh, and you can check it out by clicking here: https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly