Saturday July 13th 2024

Dear Diary,

What a MAGICAL day!!! Hundreds of treasure seekers flocked to the Regent Arcade for my magical treasure hunt today… from far and wide! It was incredible to see the smiles on their faces as they raced around the shopping centre, solving the clues on their treasure hunt cards to collect their badges and be entered into the prize draw. And some of them were SO fast. We blinked and they were back with all the answers!!! How did they do that?! There must have been magic at play. There’s no other explanation. I couldn’t believe how many of them returned to the event space at 3pm for the prize draw, either. (I did notice that a few of them ended up spending pretty much the whole day there! Which was great to witness.) I hope those who didn’t win prizes weren’t too disappointed.

It was lovely to see Holly, Reuben, Bella, Madison, and Seb again today. (I’m beginning to wonder whether I might have a few fans.) In fact, there were so many familiar faces today that I’ve realised I must get better at remembering names! Many of the children had seen me during my recent school visits and knew MY name, but I couldn’t remember all of theirs. It’s a real treat to have the memories of such a magical day documented, to be able to look back on them in years to come. I’m so grateful to all the parents that allowed us to take photos.

It truly was a day to remember, and I hope all the children (and parents) that were there today enjoyed themselves as much as I did! Fingers crossed this won’t be my last shopping centre event, and will instead be the first of many. But for now, I must head to my bed – as I’ve another week of school visits to prepare for before slowing down the pace for the summer holidays (which will hopefully then give me time to get book three written). Not that I’ll be able to switch off and sleep now, with my brain constantly replaying this wonderful day on loop!