Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things.

"It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe."

I like Robert Service already - poet and writer, 1874-1958, born in Preston, Lancashire, known as 'the bard of the Yukon' - yes, he did go to Canada or that would be too bizarre. I like him because of this picture, as well as the quote.

It's the sort of place I dream of as my writer's sanctuary.
Bet it has really good internet access too.

Anyway, all this about petty annoyances was brought to mind when thinking about the devastating drought in the Horn of Africa.

How much time I spend worrying because there wasn't much rain earlier in the year so hay is going to be at a premium for my horses - both hard to locate and expensive to buy.

How much time I spend watering the garden and the greenhouse so we can grow a glut of vegetables that we end up quite often throwing on the compost heap because we simply can't eat it all.

Really, I don't know how I sleep at nights.