I must say that I rarely get writer's block. Usually I have the opposite problem, that of finding enough hours in the day to write all the stuff I want.

However today, sitting at my desk, freezing cold (I am already wearing four layers) I felt rather sorry for myself. I needed to write an introduction to chapter 13 of my book on herbs and it wasn't going well.

Personally I'm not sure I can think very well in extreme cold - let alone type. Anyway, in the end I took Rudyard Kipling's advice from his poem the Camel's Hump. For anyone who is interested, here it is:

THE Camel's hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the Zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump-
Cameelious hump-
The hump that is black and blue!

We climb out of bed with a frouzly head,
And a snarly-yarly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys;

And there ought to be a corner for me
(And I know' there is one for you)
When we get the hump-
Cameelious hump-
The hump that is black and blue!

The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And dig till you gently perspire;

And then you will find that the sun and the wind,
And the Djinn of the Garden too,
Have lifted the hump-
The horrible hump-
The hum that is black and blue!

I get it as well as you-oo-oo-
If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo!
We all get hump-
Cameelious hump-
Kiddies and grown-ups too!

I didn't actually go out and start digging, but I dig grab some secateurs and a couple of bin bags and start pruning and tidying up the garden. And by the time I came back indoors I was no longer cold, and I'd worked out exactly what I wanted to put in my introduction!