I put on yet another of my non-existent hats today. As a member of the committee of the Guildford-Freiburg Society, I was roped into helping out at the Christmas Market in Guildford's beautiful Guildhall, which is held each year to promote Freiburg, Guildford's twin in the Black Forest area of Germany.

My shift at the toy stall was no hardship. The Guildhall is one of Guildford's treasures, rendered even lovelier when viewed through a glass of hot Glühwein. The attendance was good too, many people were lured in by the promise of German Christmas biscuits, wooden toys and candles from the Black Forest and, of course, the Glühwein. But I suspect the wonderful old building itself was as much of a draw as the market. It's not always open and many people, including tourists were quite awed by its splendour. 

This shows the wonderful vaulted ceiling (as well as the candle stall) and the panelled oak walls.

And here are two of the great oil paintings.

You may (or may not) have noticed that I've relabelled this page as 'My Blog' rather than 'Blog'. Why? Because as it stood, I was only reporting on book-related matters. I want to broaden it to cover other areas of my life. I used to blog on MySpace, which transferred automatically to Facebook. However, Facebook, in their wisdom, have stopped this facility, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to start my own transfer - to this blog!

Let's get this straight - I'm not a regular blogger. I don't feel the need to pour out my heart to the Virtual World. I just jot down events and activities whenever the mood takes me.

The mood has taken me to orchids. Everyone is commenting about how many are flowering at the moment. Mine and Joe's are no exceptions. We each have a kind of north-facing window ledge downstairs and have both gradually built up a nice collection. I never buy orchids at their inflated retail prices. I either wait for a sale or I pick out those that have flowered and are being sold off at knock-down prices, and then I wait to be surprised. Joe is less frugal. If she sees one she likes, she pounces.

Joe and I went to a talk at Wisley earlier this year, about how to care for your orchids, and this was very useful. They've followed up the talk with a long article in this month's Garden Magazine, so if you want to have a go at these fascinating plants, it's worth taking a peek.

So here are some of mine that are currently flowering:

This was one of my bargain buys - I had no idea what it would turn out like. It's a Phalaenopsis  (moth orchid). The blooms are huge.

This is another one that I bought post-flowering. I'm thrilled with it as it's a different variety - if anyone can help to identify it, I'd be grateful. It's got two stems full of flower now, almost like a breath of spring.

And finally this orchid is my favourite. I bought it for a fiver from Sainsburys in 2009 and except for one very short period when it was in bud, it's never been out of flower. It currently has two magnificent spikes of blooms. I just hope it doesn't wear itself out.

I've also got a very delicate cream one in flower - but it's just impossible to photograph the colour accurately. I'll keep trying.

Next goal - to try to obtain a fragrant orchid. They do exist, though I expect they are expensive and difficult to nurture.

It's very satisfying and makes a break from writing novels and preparing Indian art presentations!