I have lived in Southwest Scotland for five decades. I pretend to strangers that I am a native Scot but my accent always gives me away. I was born in the United States and went to college there before coming to St Andrews as an exchange student – and falling in love with everything Scottish, even the weather.

I have worked as a guidance teacher, stress counsellor and English teacher. I also taught maths in a convent, philosophy in a very posh girls’ school and conducted drama lessons in a disintegrating shed for several months until it collapsed. I tried for a career as a taxi driver but didn’t make the cut. My greatest work success was founding an experimental charity to encourage outdoor learning and increase the connections between young people and their local environment, while trying to help them find jobs.

Reading obsessively and writing in all sorts of genres is one of my ways of entertaining myself and keeping awake on those long Scottish evenings which can start around 3 pm in the middle of winter. Wild swimming is my greatest claim to eccentricity. My delight in discovering that a wet suit means you don’t have to give it up in the winter has been considerable.  Although I really prefer swimming in warmer water.

I consider myself lucky to have friends and family scattered around the world, so I have a good excuse for frequent travels. However, I do try to fly less and I am currently loathe to visit Trumpland.  I love really good hotels, preferably those with outdoor swimming pools and first-class steam rooms. I usually spend time in Japan visiting family there when I can.  Currently I would barter a good part of my soul for a day in an onsen, a Japanese spa with volcanically heated water and all the trimmings.

I have children and grandchildren, chickens, a husband, an enormous garden and my house has a brilliant view of the hills of Lowland Scotland. I love cycling and walking in that landscape, even when it’s raining, which is, of course, usually the case.