Toward is the less common variant of towards. Both are prepositions meaning in the direction of or getting closer to something. Eg todays word count of 1,237 words helps toward my goal of finishing the next Little Mallow book. Toward (or towards) can also mean contributing to the cost of. Eg each book sale goes towards funding my cake habit.

Toward (but not towards) is an old fashioned word for going on, or in progress. Untoward is not as might be expected the opposite. That means unexpected or inconvenient.

Toward is also the name of a castle in Scotland. Two actually, old Toward castle (pictured) is a ruin which the public are welcome to explore. You can get a better look round, and more information here.

Heist is a word I’ve heard, read and pretty much understood, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it – until now.

It’s come to my attention because Amazon have labelled my new book as ‘heist crime‘. That didn’t sound quite right to me and naturally I wanted to check if it was accurate. Heist crime sounds so American and fast paced. My Little Mallow books are quite gentle and very English.

Not being at home, I had to use an online dictionary, which tells me that in UK English heist can be a noun meaning a robbery. There are definitely robberies in the the story .

In American English heist can also be a verb. The example they give is ‘he heisted a Pontiac’. I’ve concluded that although I’d much prefer ‘cosy crime’ or something with mystery in, heist crime isn’t actually wrong.

Peedie is a word used on Orkney, and probably much of the rest of Scotland, meaning little or small. It’s used affectionately, rather than derogatorily. So I might refer to a friend who isn’t tall as peedie, but not to a less than generous piece of cake – such as all that remained of the chocolate brownie star the day after I obtained it from a cake shed.

Groatie Buckies is the Orcadian word for cowrie shells. It comes from John O’Groats (a nearby point on the Scottish mainland) and buccinum, which is Latin for shellfish, apparently.

I first heard the term when I spotted two young ladies clearly searching for something on the beach. Being a writer, and therefore nosy, I asked what they were looking for. I was told that local people are almost obsessed with collecting these beautiful little shells. I can understand that. As well as being pretty, they’re very tactile and said to be lucky.

Ooops – please also read this.

Rollick means to behave in a carefree, boisterous manner or to have a frolicksome adventure.

I often have a rollicking good time on our campervan adventures (I’ll spare you the details of any frolicking which may occur)

A stopple is a stopper or plug, usually for a bottle. We seem to have quite a few. I’ve no idea if they work – once our wine is open, we drink it rather than go round stoppling it.

Actually stopple is the verb as well as the noun, but however you say it, it seems an odd thing to do.

An aardwolf is a grey and black stripy, African animal, related to hyenas. It eats insects (up to 250 termites per sitting) and is nocturnal. They’re rather cute. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture – next time I’m wandering the scrublands of Easterm Africa at night, I’ll be sure to put that right.

I mention them because stories, amongst other things, are often listed alphabetically and being near the top can be an advantage in some situations and aardvarks have been overused for that purpose.

Three points are on offer to the first person to write a story titled, ‘Adam the Aardwolf’s Amazing Adventures Amongst the Agave in Aberystwyth.’