Twenty years ago, I was living in a lovely cottage on the edge of Dartmoor but I couldn't afford to run a car.

Looking back, I understand that I was teaching myself to write.

I remember the evacuee children from towns and cities throwing stones at the farm animals. When we explained that if you did that you wouldnt have any milk, meat or eggs, they soon learned to respect the animals.

Twenty years ago, I was living in a lovely cottage on the edge of Dartmoor but I couldn't afford to run a car.

That image of the countryside being a threatening place still exists. People continue to resist the challenge of learning about aspects of life they don't understand.

My father was a soldier and my mother was a great mover. She once counted up how many places she had lived in during the first 25 years of her marriage and it came to 20.

Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety.