Monday was a lovely sunny day with just a hint of autumn in the air, but today - yuk. Woke to the sound of rain dripping down my windows and when I pulled my curtains back was greeted with a grey drear sky. Promptly pulled the curtains back again, went to kitchen and made a cup of tea and got back into bed. No mad rush (what bliss this is still not used to it) and there I stayed listening to the radio and reading.
Work is being done on the small block of flats where I live and two guys rolled up this morning and it always makes me laugh when I see the end result of all the tenders for the job, which are sent to all the tenants so we can compare and comment, as no matter how grand the firm sounds it always ends up as two men and a ladder. Nothing different today and they started rubbing and scraping down paint work etc and it was sheeting down and they were getting wetter and wetter. In the end I took pity on them and made them tea which I handed through the kitchen window and by noon they had to leave, there was absolutely nothing they could do and I have never seen two more wet human beings in my life - looked like they had fallen in a bath with their clothes on. This changing and unpredictable weather is supposed to be part of the charm of this sceptered isle but I have to say it was singularly lacking this morning.
Sent off the two copies of Kisses on a Postcard to the winners today, one in the UK and one in the US. This has been one of the most popular prize draws, up there with Henrietta's War so Bloomsbury are hitting the readers at the moment and are doing well.
This is a very rambly posting as I have had a fairly lazy day today, just reading and pondering and watching episodes of NCIS. My lovely neighbour is on Series 5 at the moment and as she finishes each disc she is posting it through my letter box - she says she is trying to watch it as fast as she can so she can pass it on to me which is very kind and sweet of her. I have said there is no rush and she must not feel any pressure to watch them all quickly but she took one look at the mad glint in my eye and the way my knuckles had turned white as I clutched her hand and she assured me she would get them me as soon as possible......
So in the interim I am watching The Wire series 5 which I have been saving up and I have watched the first three episodes and am finding, as with all the other series, that though the main core characters are the same, the settings are different and that the viewer has to really concentrate and wait until episode four or five before getting into the story. The first series was all about the drug war in Baltimore, the second was set in the Docks, the third in a violent inner-city school, the next was all about politicking and the election of the Mayor and this final series is set in the newsroom of the Baltimore Sun. There are obviously going to be no easy answers and no ends tied up and this is what is so fascinating about this series, it is not squeaky clean or neat and tidy all parceled up in one hour episodes, it is sprawling and messy and full of characters who are less than perfect. It is compelling stuff.
OK so ramble over - am just re-reading The Various Haunts of Men by Susan HIll, the first Simon Serrailer mystery novel which I pulled down from the shelf just on a whim, and am really enjoying it. I have forgotten a lot of the detail and am now about 50 pages in and am delighted to see that it is just as good as I remember and what an excellent writer is Susan HIll. Her output and variety is staggering and her standards are set very high. I am fully expecting to spend the next couple of days reading all of them in a row as I know once I get started I will not be able to stop.
I am off to Spain on Saturday and am accumulating books to take and read. I am going for seven days so am allowing myself a book a day, plus a couple of spares and also one for the airport. Now do you think that will be enough?
No, I really want to know.
