Yes, agenda: I thought of this as I swam this morning, gradually picking up the shreds (pieces, remnants) of my life and carrying on. Soon, the glass will be half full again - my normal view.

So the agenda this week, apart from fiddlies which are always with us, is the creation of a fresh nine-beat structure for my WWII movie, based on the book by Carolyn Gossage (The Accidental Captives, Dundurn Press). I remember reading a long time ago that the best activity to accompany a period of focused, creative thought is something mindless like tossing pebbles into a pond - repetitive and physical but not taxing. Housework fits the definition but it's not much fun.

Oh, fun! I remember a Peanuts strip. (Does anyone remember Peanuts? Charles Schultz was determined to let it disappear with him.) In every segment, Charley Brown is shuffling through a pile of leaves, back and forth back and forth. In the last box, he says, "I don't know why that's so much fun." I think I used to say that about making love, too, but I have a fading memory. Now, there was a creative activity! (If memory serves.)

Anyway, the agenda for today, after laundry and phone calls for appointments and I'm making pea soup with a couple of pork hocks (do you know how hard it is to find pork hocks these days?), the prime agenda is the 9-beat structure. My partner (Gossage) will be glad to see me back on track.

I hope you are, too.

It's time I took a look at language and writing again - others' as well as mine. So here are some more pet peeves, often repeated, by me, complaining and by others, committing.

Is anyone going to learn the difference between may and might? Npwadays people seem to think the two are interchangeable. Not. The biggest difference is that might is the past tense of may. May involves permission and possibility; might involves conjecture (what might have happened). That's enough. You may look it up. Google makes everything possible.

I absolutely give up on lie and lay, that is, trying to correct people. I will keep on using them correctly. I've had this discussion before.

If you don't think words and language and writing and clear expression are fun, then you've already stopped reading this bleat/blog. I think there are more people who are interested than we realise. I mean, look at all the quizzes that keep popping up on Facebook. And not just words, of course. You can test yourself on historical facts or people, or movie icons, legends and famous lines - fewer of those now, with so many different sources of experience. Some of the great lines...will be considered at another time.

My son Matt just walked in for lunch and we're going to a movie. I have my priorities straight. I might get back to you today, but I doubt it.