Having words!

Thought you'd like to meet my guest today, since he comes in often despite being a very busy man at the moment - Stewart Collins, artistic director of the Henley Festival. Just days to go to his big event, headlined by Will Young, Bryn Terfel, Nigel Kennedy, and Ronan Keating! Just seeing that picture reminds me that, if I'm going to put daily pix on this blog, then I'm going to have to pay as much attention to what I'm wearing as when I am on the telly. I've worn this jacket rather a lot recently!

Words.

Don't you just love them? Heard a new word today. Anatidaephobia. Ever heard of it? Its definition is "the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you". I doubt I'll ever need it again (although I'll try!) But today I learned it from an eleven-year-old, Zak, who was off to the Grand Final of The Times Spelling Bee.

He and his team mate, Akash (who spelt Triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number thirteen - perfectly for me) from the Herschel Grammar School in Slough, take their spelling very seriously. Their tip - you have to "visualise" the word. As a lover of punctuation and spellings, I was just happy that kids of their age still care - especially since we seem to live in a world dominated by txt spk.

Now I look back on that sentence, I see it's particularly convoluted. But I like my punctuation that way.

My eldest son is always rebuking me for using too many exclamation marks, but I just love 'em!!! Best of luck to the lads from Slough. As soon as I hear how they got on, I'll let you know!