I live in a thief’s paradise. On Sunday, I was about to drive my car out of the garage when I noticed a suspicious squirrel. It shares that guilty look with our cat. You know they have done something wrong but you are not sure what. The offending rodent stopped suddenly. It had dropped its prize - our one and only large ripe strawberry.

It’s the same everywhere. The rabbits eat everything and there are 100000s of them. They breed like, well, rabbits. Foxes leave us presents everywhere and the black backed gulls, carrion crows, magpies, jays, and pigeons (in strict pecking order) fight for anything worthwhile. You have never seen such sleek, well-fed birds. I feel sorry for the young sparrow hawk trying to learn its craft. The one thing we haven’t got is deer. My mother had deer in her garden and they ate tulips and anything else she treasured.

Our cat does try to keep the rabbit population down but she is fussy - only the small, tasty ones are up to her standard and she does like to bring her work home. Sometimes we find her leftovers behind the sofa. The smell!

You probably wonder where this is leading. Well to be honest, nowhere but I was looking forward to that strawberry.

Plans for 2009

Next year, we have some fabulous sheets shaping up. We celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the Mini with a striking sheet produced in association with the Heritage Motor Centre. That’s the Museum that owns Mini One, the first ever Mini. We have a great autograph lined up for that one.

There will also be superb Aviation sheets marking the 40^th Anniversary of Concorde (with a fantastic autograph which we have never offered before) and the 60^th anniversary of Comet’s first flight. The Comet sheets are being signed by the first test pilot, John Wilson.

As well as Concorde and Comet, there are a number of important air and space anniversaries next year so a great year for air buffs (whatever that means).

If railway is your passion, you’ll love the sheet we are producing for the Great Little Trains of Wales. There are 10 steam engines in the group, making a perfect sheet (different train for each of the 10 labels). Cath is just waiting for one more to finish the design. It is fantastic, I love it. We are also doing a set of 10 covers as well.

Oh, I've also had some good news for Paddington Bear fans. Michael Bond has been staggeringly generous and agreed to personally sign a few more Paddington 50th Anniversary stamp sheets for me. I think we have a bit of a waiting list for these but if you want to grab one, go to www.buckinghamcovers.com

More news from me soon!