Ste Monique
Ooh, I've had a right job coming up with a selection of books for one of my book groups. My brief was 'A recent publication' and I was told that it had to be recently published in paperback.
I decided that I would look for books published in the last 4 months, told myself to avoid the Richard and Judy list and look for two novels and two non-fiction books. The group will then decide which of the four they want to read.
I wanted something that will provoke a lively discussion so checked reviews in The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian on line - I could have used The Independent too but I didn't want to devote even more time to the task and, well, to be honest, I could have just sat and read book reviews all week and still not been able to select only four that I would like to read.
There are an awful lot of novels out there and I found that I had to avoid a) anything that was part of a series b) anything that was too similar to something we had already read as a group c)anything that was more than 400 pages.
Yes, the length of the book has become quite important to me recently as I try to read Doris Lessing's 'The Golden Notebook'. This is a novel of 576 pages, all of them in very small print and an old-fashioned typeface that isn't the easiest to read. I was delighted, therefore, to see that it is being dramatised on Radio 4 this week. I set myself to listen to part 2 last night and was sorely disappointed to discover that part 1 (which I missed) had only got as far as page 34! The end of part 2 took us to page 68. At this rate I may still be listening to the dramatisation in Janurary 2009! Still I will plough on. I'm already ahead of Radio 4, being on page 102 myself.
On my trawling through the book reviews I found an awful lot of books that are of similar formula. The most recent fashion seems to be for a novel relating to a 'traumatic' event in someone's childhood that has remained dormant in their memory for many years. Another event suddenly causes the main protagonist to delve into their past and they discover that they had been the catalyst for, or taken part in, some nastiness, usually involving the loss of a parent or sibling. I tried to avoid these too.
I found two novels I thought would be good to read and discuss with the group. 'Secrets of the Sea' by Nicholas Shakespeare and 'The Uncommon Reader' by Alan Bennett. I will say no more about them as you can look them up on Amazon should you be interested.
I turned to non-fiction, avoiding 'celebrity' biogs which all seem to be written by people who have been famous for about 15 minutes these days, and anything to do with travelling around or living in France, as all the members of the group are doing that right now. I finally came up with my choices, and there could have been so many more. Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare: The World as a Stage', which received many good reviews over recent months, and Alison Light's 'Mrs Woolf and the Servants' which has also been well-received by the critics.
The trouble is, I want to read all four, and my list of 'must reads' is getting longer and longer - I still have a lovely pile of books sent to me recently by a friend that I need to avoid until after I've seen off Ms Lessing and I still want to read all the Richard and Judy Summer Reads (bar one). I also have two more books for book groups sitting around and another several that I have wanted to read for months.
It almost makes me wish for those long dark nights of winter. But not quite. The sun has returned this week and the temperatures are soaring back up to 30 degrees. Me and Ms Lessing will be found in a corner of the garden later today. I will finish it before the BBC!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Monday, 25 August 2008
Red faced
St Louis
Mostly the time change between here and the UK doesn't bother us at all, as long as I remember what time the kids get home from school back home and their parents get home from work I can call at the right time of day.
We don't watch a lot of TV but if we do, we are dined and cleared up by 9pm, 8pm in the UK and can catch the evening's viewing.
Last night we watched a wonderful promenade concert on BBC4 with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi choir and the English baroque soloists - a beautiful performance of Bach's St John Passion. Slightly too early to go to bed afterwards, we flipped through the channels and found a re-showing of Pretty Woman. We hadn't watched it for ages and decided to indulge (it's one we don't have on DVD). So at 1.30 we finally wandered off to bed.
Figaro asked to be let out as usual at 6.30 and I dozed for a while before deciding to leave Jon in bed asleep and wandered down to the kitchen for a cuppa.
I grabbed some jeans and a top as I wanted to nip outside and, even though we aren't overlooked, I don't like to wander round the garden in my nightie. I threw on the jeans and top in the kitchen as I waited for the kettle to boil and then opened the shutters to let Misty in for a snack.
I spotted one of the neighbour's cats and shooed it away (actually, I swore at it), and turned back indoors to make my tea.
As I looked up again, a man appeared at the back door, from the direction of the garden (?). He pointed to the electricity meter and mouthed to me throught the window that he had just read it.
When did he pass the kitchen? I'm worried it might have been as I was getting dressed.
Which would account for the funny look on his face!
Mostly the time change between here and the UK doesn't bother us at all, as long as I remember what time the kids get home from school back home and their parents get home from work I can call at the right time of day.
We don't watch a lot of TV but if we do, we are dined and cleared up by 9pm, 8pm in the UK and can catch the evening's viewing.
Last night we watched a wonderful promenade concert on BBC4 with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi choir and the English baroque soloists - a beautiful performance of Bach's St John Passion. Slightly too early to go to bed afterwards, we flipped through the channels and found a re-showing of Pretty Woman. We hadn't watched it for ages and decided to indulge (it's one we don't have on DVD). So at 1.30 we finally wandered off to bed.
Figaro asked to be let out as usual at 6.30 and I dozed for a while before deciding to leave Jon in bed asleep and wandered down to the kitchen for a cuppa.
I grabbed some jeans and a top as I wanted to nip outside and, even though we aren't overlooked, I don't like to wander round the garden in my nightie. I threw on the jeans and top in the kitchen as I waited for the kettle to boil and then opened the shutters to let Misty in for a snack.
I spotted one of the neighbour's cats and shooed it away (actually, I swore at it), and turned back indoors to make my tea.
As I looked up again, a man appeared at the back door, from the direction of the garden (?). He pointed to the electricity meter and mouthed to me throught the window that he had just read it.
When did he pass the kitchen? I'm worried it might have been as I was getting dressed.
Which would account for the funny look on his face!
Friday, 22 August 2008
Silence is golden - or is it?
St Frabric
Firstly an apology for my rant the other night. I was feeling very sorry for the family who were stranded at Toulouse airport with no explanation. Now we know it was due to the Madrid air crash.
The house is very quiet, no little boys demanding food and drink, games and someone to swim with them. No music blaring, no screams and tantrums, no chicken pox spots to count, no baby to cuddle.
Yes, we are missing them.
Misty and Figaro, on the other hand are delighted to have their tranquility back. The neighbours cats who we had hoped would be terrorised into staying home but were persistently here while the family were, have disappeared at last and are no longer being a nuisance. We've spotted them but they aren't coming near - very odd.
Not long, though, for us until we see the boys again, at our daughter's wedding later in September, it will be a pleasure to see them again.
Meanwhile, there are more visitors arriving shortly, more beds to make (I feel like Su Pollard in Hi di hi), and more meals to plan and prepare. Then a few days quiet with just 'droppers-in' for the odd meal here and there.
And we MUST get back to work on the loft......
Firstly an apology for my rant the other night. I was feeling very sorry for the family who were stranded at Toulouse airport with no explanation. Now we know it was due to the Madrid air crash.
The house is very quiet, no little boys demanding food and drink, games and someone to swim with them. No music blaring, no screams and tantrums, no chicken pox spots to count, no baby to cuddle.
Yes, we are missing them.
Misty and Figaro, on the other hand are delighted to have their tranquility back. The neighbours cats who we had hoped would be terrorised into staying home but were persistently here while the family were, have disappeared at last and are no longer being a nuisance. We've spotted them but they aren't coming near - very odd.
Not long, though, for us until we see the boys again, at our daughter's wedding later in September, it will be a pleasure to see them again.
Meanwhile, there are more visitors arriving shortly, more beds to make (I feel like Su Pollard in Hi di hi), and more meals to plan and prepare. Then a few days quiet with just 'droppers-in' for the odd meal here and there.
And we MUST get back to work on the loft......
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Sleazy Jet
St Bernard
(Isn't that a dog?)
It's late.
Daughter no 3 has just called for the second time tonight from the airport. First time was to say that their flight had been delayed by an hour.
That's reasonably acceptable. Easyjet's last flight of the day is often late taking off.
Second call was to say that : a) they went to go through immigration and were told that there were only 4 boarding passes - baby had been accidentally left off (!) and b) the flight was now delayed by 1 hour 45 mins..
OK. Put yourself in their position. A six year old who is close to perfect but is getting very tired. A two-year-0ld getting over chicken pox who is over tired and hasn't been allowed to take his precious orange juice with him to the departure gate - the last drops will only get them through 5 minutes. And a baby of two months who left here 5 hours ago with lots of milk made up but who has been kept awake by strange movements and noises and now only has 1 small bottle of formula milk left. He is getting VERY HUNGRY and there is no milk left.
I am so ashamed for being grumpy on flights in the past where infants have been miserable and crying, stroppy and uncontrollable.
Now I understand how awful it must be for parents in this position.
Now I think it is time that ALL airports had a supply of FREE baby milk and kiddie drinks for such situations.
AND maybe a valium dispenser for the parents.
PS This house seems awful quiet tonight.
(Isn't that a dog?)
It's late.
Daughter no 3 has just called for the second time tonight from the airport. First time was to say that their flight had been delayed by an hour.
That's reasonably acceptable. Easyjet's last flight of the day is often late taking off.
Second call was to say that : a) they went to go through immigration and were told that there were only 4 boarding passes - baby had been accidentally left off (!) and b) the flight was now delayed by 1 hour 45 mins..
OK. Put yourself in their position. A six year old who is close to perfect but is getting very tired. A two-year-0ld getting over chicken pox who is over tired and hasn't been allowed to take his precious orange juice with him to the departure gate - the last drops will only get them through 5 minutes. And a baby of two months who left here 5 hours ago with lots of milk made up but who has been kept awake by strange movements and noises and now only has 1 small bottle of formula milk left. He is getting VERY HUNGRY and there is no milk left.
I am so ashamed for being grumpy on flights in the past where infants have been miserable and crying, stroppy and uncontrollable.
Now I understand how awful it must be for parents in this position.
Now I think it is time that ALL airports had a supply of FREE baby milk and kiddie drinks for such situations.
AND maybe a valium dispenser for the parents.
PS This house seems awful quiet tonight.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Getting organised
Ste Mylène
I did have a good clear out just before we moved here, and another one recently, but there are still many, many recipes I want to try out.
I've been looking for a way to organise them. I tried making a database but my memory has failed me and I can't remember how to make the queries work.
What I really, really want is to be able to feed in my recipes to a program and then when I can't think what to cook, tell the computer what ingredients I have and let it suggest recipes to me.
Surely that can't be too much to ask?
The only thing is, I don't want to have to pay for such a program (I'm a retired person you know), so I've been trawling the internet for a solution. I may have found one that isn't too irritating, not too many messages flashing up 'You could make your life so much easier if only you upgraded this program to GOLD!!'
Anyone out there got any ideas?
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Hallelujah
Ste Hyacinthe
The hills are alive round here.
We would like to make a public apology to any of our neighbours who may be able to hear us (hopefully none) as we dust off the vocal chords and begin rehearsals.
We are taking part in a one-off performance of Handel's Messiah (or Haendel's Messie as the French call it), in September.
My poor vocal chords haven't had a public airing for many years and the easy soprano I used to manage is struggling so I may have to downgrade (?) to sing the alto part, which needs to be learned. The trouble is that I have to decide which to sing now, before I send off the registration form, do I trust that the high notes will come back in around 6 weeks, or do I learn a completely new score?
It's a dilemma.
The hills are alive round here.
We would like to make a public apology to any of our neighbours who may be able to hear us (hopefully none) as we dust off the vocal chords and begin rehearsals.
We are taking part in a one-off performance of Handel's Messiah (or Haendel's Messie as the French call it), in September.
My poor vocal chords haven't had a public airing for many years and the easy soprano I used to manage is struggling so I may have to downgrade (?) to sing the alto part, which needs to be learned. The trouble is that I have to decide which to sing now, before I send off the registration form, do I trust that the high notes will come back in around 6 weeks, or do I learn a completely new score?
It's a dilemma.
Friday, 15 August 2008
News from the nursery
Ste Marie
The little darlings are having a good time despite the weather turning iffy this week. Just when it matters most - but then we wouldn't have wanted 35 degrees like last week with the tinies around.
It has rained very little for very short times but there is a cool wind which makes it imperative to wrap up little bodies (and big ones too) as soon as they get out of the pool.
Grandson #2 is currently on chicken pox alert as we noticed a couple of red spots this morning. It isn't unexpected as he had been in contact with it a couple of weeks ago, but we hope in a way that it is a mossie attack rather than the chicken pox - we'll be keeping an eye.
Grandson #1 has managed to swim lengths of the pool already, having had just a few days there - just like his big cousin back in May.
Grandson #3 is just adorable at 2 months old, except for the awful baby gunge at both ends and a rather spectacular water fall display when I changed him this afternoon. How a tiny thing like that managed to soak his Grandma and his little brother in four seconds I cannot understand (being a mother of three girls, these things are quite new to me!).
Well, I can't hang around here chatting, there's a card game to be seen to, followed by nursery tea then the bath and bed thing.
Then the adults can have a nice hot curry and a few glasses of something alcoholic. Bliss.
The little darlings are having a good time despite the weather turning iffy this week. Just when it matters most - but then we wouldn't have wanted 35 degrees like last week with the tinies around.
It has rained very little for very short times but there is a cool wind which makes it imperative to wrap up little bodies (and big ones too) as soon as they get out of the pool.
Grandson #2 is currently on chicken pox alert as we noticed a couple of red spots this morning. It isn't unexpected as he had been in contact with it a couple of weeks ago, but we hope in a way that it is a mossie attack rather than the chicken pox - we'll be keeping an eye.
Grandson #1 has managed to swim lengths of the pool already, having had just a few days there - just like his big cousin back in May.
Grandson #3 is just adorable at 2 months old, except for the awful baby gunge at both ends and a rather spectacular water fall display when I changed him this afternoon. How a tiny thing like that managed to soak his Grandma and his little brother in four seconds I cannot understand (being a mother of three girls, these things are quite new to me!).
Well, I can't hang around here chatting, there's a card game to be seen to, followed by nursery tea then the bath and bed thing.
Then the adults can have a nice hot curry and a few glasses of something alcoholic. Bliss.
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