Two toothless tree fellers
A few years ago, a national symbol of the North — which also featured in Kevin Costner's 1991 blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves — was cut down by two low-life nobodies in the dead of night.
I'm talking about the Sycamore Gap Tree:
As fate would have it, I drove past it only months before it was brutally felled.
Needless to say, given that the UK is an island, it naturally made national headlines. The guilty pair were (by all accounts) glued to the coverage — firing voice notes back and forth about the public outrage — and revelling in their newfound notoriety.
Fortunately, good prevailed, and the bastards were caught and handed four years and three months apiece for their cowardice, which is considered "good" by British justice standards.
Though they were probably among the many thousands pouring out of prisons last week in the government's controversial 'Early Release Scheme.'
Sigh.
On to better news…
According to recent reports, shoots are sprouting from the stump, sparking theories that the tree is making a comeback.
One person commented: "You can't keep a good sycamore down."
Others claim it was always inevitable, as sycamores are like the weeds of trees.
Personally, I much prefer the former, if for no other reason than it makes a better story. Maybe it's the fantasy author in me. Or maybe it's my stubborn resilience as I continue to stab away at the keyboard despite feeling like a bag of compost.
Yes, your Overlord & Saviour is ill.
One of the many joys of owning two little monsters known as children is that when they get ill, they take you down with them.
And by Mordor, have they.
Master Nathan has run up a high temperature and a snotty nose, murdering any chance of sleep. Liam has had a funny belly for the past week. And now Lady Laura sounds like a toy that's lost its squeaker.
(I love you, dear.)
I thought I might have come out of it unscathed, but all hopes of that were dashed over this morning as I've been overrun by headaches.
But I'm chugging along, one keystroke at a time and popping ibuprofen like they are Smarties. So far, so good. Like the sycamore tree, you cannot keep me down.
And as I continue my adventures into Book 7 of The Divided Region, it seems you can't keep Darius Rarkez down either.
Despite having been exiled, spat out of his kingdom, forced to overcome grave injuries, and navigate forests with a mortality rate higher than Tennessee's lethal injection…
He keeps trudging forward.
If that's the type of protagonist you enjoy following, then you and Darius will surely get along.
You can begin Book 1 here:
https://djjwatson.com/books/exiled
DJJW