Prize, hieroglyphs and catch up.

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1. Being given a bottle of wine for taking shorthand notes.

2. When I come to transcribe my shorthand, there is always a horrible minute or two when the squiggles make no sense. And then they resolve themselves into words and I can breathe again.

3. An old colleague came to give a talk at my local writers' group. It was good to see her again and to hear all the gossip.

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