This has to be one of the coldest Easters I can remember, windy and chill and snow flurries this morning, though short lived. With half the train network closed down for 'essential engineering works' and roads and airports crammed with travellers just wanting to get away, it seems to me the perfect time to draw the curtains, put the heating on nice and high and hunker down in old dressing gown and fluffy socks and stay indoors and read. So that it what I am doing. Classic FM is on the radio as each Easter they have their Hall of Fame, all 300 favourite classics chosen by listeners and this is broadcast all over the holiday weekend. The ads are irritating so I flick those off, but this station is the perfect backdrop for my planned 
weekend, all the popular classics are there, loads of Beethoven and Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Brahms et al and it is very restful and enjoyable.
To continue this relaxed mood and to forget the wuthering wind outside my window (forgive the alliteration), and to make me feel warmer, I turned to the latest in the No 1 Ladies Dectective Agency which I read through in one session this afternoon. The Miracle at Speedy Motors features once more the wonderful Precious Ramotswe of 'traditional build', her spunky assistant Grace Makutsi and her quiet, sweet husband, Mr J L B Matekoni. Every time I open the pages of one of these wonderful books, I feel a relaxation and restfulness of spirit settle upon me and the world recedes and once more I am in Botswana and the slower pace of life so far removed from my weekly dash and commute.
As I have said before on this blog, these are gentle books, no murder, no guns, no nastiness, just small matters of a fraudulent tenancy, a lady with no family looking for lost relatives as she is lonely, the purchase of a new bed for the future marriage of Grace and her fiance Phuti, even the receipt of anonymous letters to the 'Fat Lady' is dealt with in the end by kindness and a philosophical acceptance of human nature.
I read most of Alastair McCall Smith's output, though I have decided the Scotland Street stories are perhaps a little too rambling for my taste, I found the last one rather tedious, sadly, and I love the Sunday Philosopher's Club series, bu the No 1 Detective Agency books remain my favourite. My 95 year old mother adores these, I once loaned her five and she sat and read the lot in a week, and I have promised to lend her this one when I see her this weekend.
Of course, we have the pleasure on Sunday night of watching the television premiere of the film, which event has had a shadow cast over it by the untimely death of its director, Anthony Minghella. He was to have been in charge of the 13 part series which was to follow later in the year, but the BBC have reassured us that they will still be made in his memory, so I hope they keep to their word.
I have just started reading another book, in complete contrast to the gentleness that is Botswana, and which has already got me totally gripped, but more about that another day.
I wish everyone a Happy Easter whether they are in sunshine or in snow.
