Would you believe this shot was nowhere in my brain until half an hour ago? I wandered into the garden looking for the hens so I could shut them in safely and there are feathers everywhere from a rather nasty pecking order dispute – Terri (bottom of the pecking order but the ‘young pretender’ who wants the crown of top dog chicken) has been getting one over on Milly a bit since her enforcer, Molly, died at the end of last year.

Milly has obviously decided to exert her authority and regain her crown firmly and so poor old Terri is wandering around tail-less and with fewer feathers than nature intended. This wrangling has been going on for a few days now and the garden is full of poor Terri’s feathers. Still, she should know better by now than to tangle with Milly – she does usually come out of these tussles worst.

I picked up a handful and decided to make them my subject for today – partly because although I’ve done feathers before, I’ve not really done them justice and partly because they do make a good analogy for my mood. I was carting them into the studio when this idea popped into my head and I must say I am very pleased with it. Don’t self-timers just make your day? They do mine on many an occasion!

So, I’ve said before and I’ll say again, I’m a complete coward at heart – all my bluster is just that – a front for a quaking coward.

As we go towards Thursday, I can feel myself shaking and worrying so the white feathers are perfect to sum up my mood. I must say, I can look forward to 4pm on Thursday with relish – then, one way or the other, it’s over! Hurrah!

I was loving being able to get to an evening kick-off match this time last year....a pleasure I hope to have again VERY soon!