Prompt: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

Oh my, this is a tough prompt today! I think I commented back on day one that this year wasn't noteworthy for its bright moments. I was tempted to flunk out altogether by simply stating there never was a moment when I was truly, conciously alive this year - I was too busy keeping my head down and plodding onwards! I admit there was one occasion that leaps to mind, but it's still too painfully raw to commit to the gaze of strangers so I'm not going there today.

What does that leave me with? Faulty, incomplete memories and impressions like polaroids arranged out of context. Rare but happy days with warm sunshine on my face, the scent of mown fields and the precious sense of peace and quietude one finds in the woods. Far, far from the madding crowd, thank you Mr Hardy. There were times of love and beauty, fullfilment and thrill, but I honestly can't pinpoint any one specific moment in time and say that meant more than all the rest.

I think I've chewed this prompt over too much in the hours I've been dredging my brain for something worthy of mention. And after all that I've simply come to the conclusion that there wasn't one unique moment, but a whole motley crew of them.

I suspect I still flunked this one. Maybe tomorrow's prompt will fire the synapses more constructively.

(Hell, I'm just chuffed I've managed three consecutive days!)