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| Sunrise at Bordeaux Harbour |
This exquisite sunrise was sent to me by Guernseyman Robin Banneville, a brilliant amateur photographer who captures the island just as I always remember it. The first thing I saw when I opened this photograph was a ghost staring out from the sea. Just my imagination? Maybe.
But where would we be without our imagination? When I was a child my parents would take me to watch Guernsey's famous sunsets, and afterwards I really believed that the sun had fallen into the sea.
As I grew up, the power of make-believe made me want to write, and thankfully nothing has changed. Children are born with an innate sense of make-believe but some are in danger of losing this ability in an increasingly computerised world.
The lines between fact and fiction are becoming blurred as two and three-year-olds sit in front of the screen, entertainment taking the place of early education.
I've just discovered a wonderful children's book 'The Chimneys of Green Knowe' written in 1958 by Lucy M Boston and reprinted in 2010 by Oldknow Books. This simple story, of a young teenager sent to live with his grandmother during World War Two, was transformed for the screen by Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes. 'From Time to Time' starring Maggie Smith, and featuring Hugh Bonneville, Timothy Spall, Dominic West and Pauline Collins is one of the most moving adult films I have ever seen.
'Don't tell fairy stories,' my mother used to say when I was sparing with the truth.
I'm glad I didn't listen.
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Thanks, Robin... |
