Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

One family's mini firework display last night caused me five hours of distress and resulted in my dog being petrified and badly damaging her paws. Out walking Looby Loo at 8:30pm in our local park, sudden fireworks just a few metres away sent her running off at break-neck speed. I followed at a distance and searched the streets for her as rain set in and it began getting cold. After about an hour, it became clear I couldn't find her, despite the help of several locals and friends, as well as informing a passing police patrol. I turned to twitter and within minutes had been retweeted many times (it ended up being nearly 500 times). Although she wasn't spotted by anyone on twitter that get, a Facebook posting eventually got a sighting, as she finally found her way home just before 2am. An antibiotic jab, plus a plug-in to calm her down should help but Looby's poor saw paws are making even walking around the house difficult. We certainly won't be out for walks for seve...

One of my favourite people in Hitchin. Gary Crocker of The Top Pickle and Mr H's.

A very interesting evening yesterday with Ruby Wax. As part of Baldock's first Fireside Festival, Ms Wax gave the keynote talk. I was fortunate to go with a good friend who has understood the traumas my life has gone through in the last 11 1/2 months. As we drove to Baldock, I told her how I'd dealt with a flashback while driving last week. I'd basically practised mindfulness without realising it. My mind had taken me back to the moment of my car crash on 7 November last year. What I had done was simply observe that I was having a flashback and choose to continue driving as normal. What Ruby Wax was explaining to me was the benefit in living now and not living in the past. It's very similar to the book I was recommended to read by the inspirational Mr Mickey De Hara just before I went into hospital in the summer. 'The Power of Now' is a similar approach and reading it while recovering from my operation was definitely thought-provoking. Living now. The mome...

Blogging for The Best of Hitchin

Much of this week has been spent covering for a colleague while she suns herself in Croatia. It's not a job I would do permanently and this week has shown me very clearly what she experiences every day of every week. The client involved is undergoing radical change and my role was to help manage the creation of their internal communications materials to help employees understand the processes and decisions. It's been thoroughly enlightening, both in terms of doing a completely different job of managing rather than creating and also in dealing with people I am normally at arm's length from. Perhaps it's something we should all do more often - take Atticus Finch's advice in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Once in a while. Posted via my iPad

I'm refusing to be mawkish or backward looking, but it's exactly 30 years since I first walked onto a stage with The Style Council. Actually, it was the band's first ever tour and none of us knew what to expect. The audience was clearly expecting some Jam songs and shouted out titles as if we might have forgotten them. We didn't play any. It was a good gig and a great tour and some very happy memories lurk therein. Would I go back and do it all again? Absolutely. Would I change anything about where I am today? Absolutely not.

A fascinating day with one of my favourite clients in their office just outside Paris and well worth the early start. I've met several people who were previously only voices on the phone or names on the email. It was a real pleasure and such a useful day. I am fortunate to have such a wide array of clients that include this international manufacturer of fragrances and food ingredients. Very interesting people in a fascinating business. The fact that I have only seen the Eiffel Tower from a distance is immaterial. It's still Paris, baby! Posted via my iPad

I wish I didn't have to go for a walk every morning - sometimes before sunrise. But I'm so happy to have a dog in my life. Looby Loo makes me see life in a different way.

A very positive day, with lots done. It's been an exhausting week and next week looks no different.

Sometimes, just sometimes, you get the chance to interview 20 people in a couple of hours. Today was one such day and every one of those people had a great story to tell. They were all award-winners from London Probation Trust and their work is truly outstanding. Such stories! And in such a great setting at the Natural History Museum.

There are some truly inspirational people in the world and there are some great ideas for business development. I met some of those people and heard some of those ideas tonight and it has provided much food for thought, When you are your business, it can be hard to think of goals and targets but within a few minutes, I began to formulate some more concrete ideas. I came away from the evening with a set of objectives: the next few days and weeks will see how they cement themselves in my head and in my actions. Posted via my iPad

Sunshine and a long walk with the dog in beautiful countryside. Posted via my iPad

A wise man reminded me today that I'm a survivor. It took a relative stranger to suddenly make sense. I'm not defined by the disaster-ridden few months of car crash, broken shoulder and tumour. I'm the same person I was before. Time to move on with all the great things my life has to offer. I seemed to get caught up with being lucky to escape disaster but not able of re myself from it. Time to fill my head with stuff apart from hospital appointments, drug schedules and feeling unwell. Time to get my sax out. Time to get my novel written. Time to be me. Posted via my iPad

Tomorrow will be nine weeks since my op and you can barely see the scars. Apart from getting exhausted very easily, and having a tiny appetite to match my tiny stomach, recovery is going well. It feels as if I've turned a corner and October is heading in the right direction. How I will feel when we get to 7 November and the anniversary of my car crash remains to be seen. I'm trying to rise above it but it had such a major impact on my life that it's hard to ignore. Posted via my iPad

On Saturday morning, I turned up to help out on a community awareness stand in my role as Community First Responder. And this is what I was supposed to stand in front of for a couple of hours: It was scary at first, to be confronted by a car about to be cut open by a team of firefighters. It took me right back to 7 November, when I had to be cut out of my own car. Something about seeing it happen to another car was a useful experience in helping me get over it. I also had a chat with one of the guys involved who, it turns out, was the lead man on my incident. He shed light on the barrel which I had to avoid, telling me that they had found more dumped on the same bit of the A505 a few weeks later and they realised they were not builders' kit after all, but from pop-up car cleaners. Turns out they dump the barrels when they're finished with them. So I won't be using any pop-up car washes any time soon. All in all, a very interesting time on Saturday that's helping...