As it turned out, once i got something (an empty plastic bin from the little kids' play area, as it turned out) to use as a "desk" on the bench, it was a pretty good writing environment. I'm still getting used to the cramped keyboard (well, they keyboard per se is not the challenge, it's that area just in from the space bar that thinks it's a mouse and insists on doing stuff when my thumbs end up resting on it!), but it was certainly OK for a first go.
The bulk of the previous two postings were written there ... with just edits made once transferred over to my main system. I now have just thirteen books awaiting my reviewing attentions.