Random Jottings

Domestic Days

I have been really busy this week though I have not spoken to a soul if that doesn't sound too contradictory. I have been at home for the last few days and have been involved in domesticity and generally sorting out my flat.  As you all know I have been painting the living room and that is all done and am very pleased with it. Then once I had painted the door in my living room it made all the other doors leading off my small hallway look really grubby so I painted all of them.  This then meant I had to do skirting boards etc so did those as well.  Whilst in the middle of all this I moved the bedroom furniture around as I have already related and then, well you can guess what is coming next.

Yes, the paintwork which I had decided to leave for the time being was now exposed once the furniture was in a different place so I painted that as well.  Then I did a couple of coats to my bedroom windows where the paintwork had also got rather grubby and then as I had a paintbrush in my hand and was in the grip of satinwood hysteria, I decided to tidy up an old wooden chair in my bedroom which serves as a dumping ground really, and so gave that a couple of coats of paint.  I then turned round to see what else I could attack with my paint brush and thought AH HA my old wooden bedside table so that got the treatment as well.

And now of course the walls in the bedroom look really dirty and so it goes on.  I had planned to paint the bedroom anyway but had more or less decided to leave it but now that the furniture has been rearranged, I realise that two walls and a half are much more accessible than hitherto, so my thoughts are turning to that dusky rose paint that I rather liked.  I may just nip out over the weekend and get a tester pot.

It has been a really satisfying week and I feel I have got a lot done, have moved pictures around and rehung them as well, painted a wooden mirror that I had in my living room and generally beginning to feel that I am pulling the apartment together.  The carpets are ancient and pretty crap, and now liberally spotted with paint, but next spring it is all being ripped up so not too bothered about it at the moment.

So there I was lying in bed this morning gazing round the room and feeling relaxed and chilled and then O Horror, a thought suddenly struck me. What Day is it Today?  I had completely lost track and when I checked realised it was Friday and I had promised my friend Rosemary that I would attend a tea in aid of Amnesty International, or Amnestea as they were calling this country wide programme.  I had also promised her a cake or two and so hurled myself out of bed and into the kitchen, put on oven to heat up, slung sugar, flour, butter, eggs, walnuts and coffee into a mixing bowl, electric hand mixer whizzing like mad and had a coffee and walnut cake baking away in about ten minutes, quickly followed by a Victoria sponge. Then made a cup of tea and went back to bed.

Off to London tomorrow to look after Florence.

I tell you this retirement lark is EXHAUSTING.....

Villages of Britain

The postman delivered two simply gorgeous books this week, both of which deal with villages in Britain though one of them is fictional.

The Cranford Companion is one of those glossy books issued by the BBC, lots of stills and pictures and background on the programme.  Apparently it took nearly five years from conception to realisation so we were lucky to get it.   Dame Judi was always in the frame it seems as the writers and producers knew that once her name was attached to the programme, other actors would be falling over themselves to work with her.  And so it was.

There is a chapter on each character in Cranford giving their story and background complete with photographs, Jenny Uglow, a Gaskell biographer, gives the historical context to the story and there is lots of chat with all the actors and lots of information.  It is all done beautifully as you would expect, but what I find slightly puzzling is the fact that it has only just been published.  The original series of Cranford was a couple of years ago now and normally these books are available at the same time as the first showing on television.  We have had a second visit to Cranford since then and, as Christmas is coming up, can only assume that we are to get more or that there will be a repeat.  Certainly not complaining about that as I thought it was a superb series.  One episode in particular with Sir Michael Gambon simply sublime.  You can read my thoughts then if you click here. 

One delightful story in the Companion came from Dame Judi who had lost a crown from a tooth during filming and had to be taken to the dentist, in full costume as no time to change:

"I walked in, sat down and everyone pretended to read their magazines.  When I got in to see the dentist, he tipped the seat back and, as he started, he asked "And are you working on anything at the moment?"

Priceless.

And the second gorgeous book is Villages of Britain: the Five Hundred Villages that made the Countryside by Clive Aslet.  This arrived earlier today and in between sloshing paint on walls (yes I am still at it) I sat and read this book and just wallowed in sheer delight at its content.  This is going to be a bedside companion for some weeks, if not for ever, as it is a book to be dipped into and savoured, not possible to read it all in one go.  In fact, I would not recommend that you do so.

Divided into different section of the country I had a look at my area first in which the author says "Essex is apt to surprise. People who know only the Essex that abuts London would be amazed at the loneliness of the mudflats and marshes or to know that it may have the longest coastline of any English County".  I certainly was unaware of that fact.

Simply amazed to read about a village called Silver End. It is a 'modernist village' and it is about 15 minutes drive from me. I pass the turn off every time I set off to London. It was built by Francis Crittall who had established a company to make metal framed windows in Braintree in 1889.  Now of course I had heard the name and knew about these windows but had absolutely no idea he was a local man or that he had built this village. He acquired a farm of 200 acres and built some 400+ houses. There is a photograph in the book of one of the houses, rectangular with flat roof and corner windows, wide windows letting in the sunshine and colour washed.  How have I lived in Colchester for the last 30 years and not realised this was there or knew anything about it?  I know where I will be going soon complete with camera.

Then turned to the Suffolk villages which I love and found that in the church at Lavenham, which I visited a few weeks ago, there is a wooden figure of St Blaise who 'was combed to death'.  This does not mean he is the patron saint of hairdressers, but of the wool trade; the weavers of Lavenham used iron, long tined combs on which the saint met his fate.  Nasty.

A section of photographs which is well and good but throughout the book churches and buildings of various villages are illustrated in black ink drawings and they are enchanting.  This book is sheer delight from start to finish, I know it though of course I have not read it all yet.   Villages of  Britain is going to stay on my shelves and will not be one of those review copies passed on as I am gloating over it already. 

Do check it out, the cover is perfect as well and I think this would make the most wonderful Christmas present for anybody who is interested in the countryside and/or history. 

Thank you Bloomsbury for both these sumptuous books.

Barking....

That's what I am. I have come to that conclusion as I now sit exhausted, dirty and dusty at this laptop.  Was touching up paintwork in my bedroom and stopped myself from doing the whole room and then for some inexplicable reason I decided to move the furniture around.  This involved heaving heavy chest of drawers, wardrobe and double bed with wooden headboard in a total circle.  At one stage the bed was jammed against the wall and the wardrobe and I was stuck in a corner and had to climb over the bed and two chairs to get out.  I began to doubt my sanity and wish I had never started but I had to continue.

I have now finished and the bed is tucked in a corner now all cosy for the winter and I have to say that the new arrangement gives me more room, but of course when I was moving stuff I had to clean walls, wash the back of the furniture, get the hoover out when I saw what lay behind and, as usual, disturbed the spider population of Colchester.   So no further blogging today, I am going to lie on sofa now with another Wallander and do nothing for the remainder of the day.

Sadly, moving the furniture has now uncovered the paintwork I have missed so will do that tomorrow and then I Will Stop.

Duplicates, Triplicates and More

When I was painting my bookshelves last week and all my books were in heaps on the floor, I had a bit of a clear out (not a big one, just a few books went) and I realised that I had duplicate copies of many books. I remember my mum always used to ask me why I wanted another copy of a title and difficult to explain why.   So I had a look today at some of my multiple copies and had a think and there are very good reasons why I have them.  Well, I think they are good reasons and I am pretty sure that all book lovers will agree with me.

The Secret Garden - three copies of  this.  One is a larger illustrated copy I have had for many years, the second was a birthday present and a folio edition and the reason for my picking up the third is that the illustrations are by Shepherd of Winne the Pooh fame and are delightful.

I also have two copies of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess though one is, in fact, the slightly earlier version called Sarah Crewe which I found somewhere in a second hand book shop and could not resist.

In fact, Frances Hodgson Burnett is one of the authors where I seem to have a lot of duplicates, Robin and Head of the House of Coombe; I have two old copies of each and one new.   I have two of The Lost Prince and also two copies of The Shuttle.   One is the Persephone edition, but sadly it has been edited so I am very happy that I have an old 1907 edition in brilliant condition which has the full text.

The Making of a Marchioness - again, I have the Persephone edition but also a two volume edition which is how it was first published, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst and the Making of a Marchioness. 

I also have a tiny little copy of this book which I found at the back of a cupboard in an old bookshop in Hay on Wye and could not bear to leave it there. So home it came with me to keep the others company.

We then come to EM Delafield and at the moment I have five copies of the Diary of a Provincial Lady. I have two copies of the old green Virago publication, found one at a book sale and, again could not bear to leave it behind (once I wear my other one out then I have a replacement), one with a Cath Kidson cover which not sure why I bought really as I think it is a bit twee, and then the Provincial Lady and the Provincial Lady Goes further in an old 1930s edition which I grabbed because of the wonderful illustrations by an artist called G Watt.

I also appear to have three copies of Wind in the Willows, illustrations by Shepherd so that is a must and, even better, one illustrated by Arthur Rackham which is superb.

Two copies of Elizabeth's Adventures in Rugen and I am indebted to Simon of Stuck in a Book who sent me the little Thomas Nelson edition as he could not bear to leave it on a shelf as well.  I was delighted to receive it.

I also have two copies of Christine by Elizabeth Cholmondeley who is Elizabeth von Arnim.  This book is pretty anti-German and as she was married to a German at the time, it did not go down well so she used her maiden name.  I posted about this book here, and a few days later received the most amazing email from a visitor in Australia and if you wanted to know what it said, then read it here.  I was bowled over by its content.

It seems totally illogical to have duplicate copies of books when one is limited for book space as I am and all my shelves are double stacked now as it is and heaven knows where I am going to fit any more, but when I see a book that needs a home I simply cannot bear to leave it behind.

I am pretty sure that all Random Readers will understand......

Sunday Sunday

Have just posted a long and, probably, rambling post about the Proms and the Last Night over on Random Music so do nip over and have a read if you wish.

http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_music/2010/09/the-proms.html

It is a beautiful day here.  Though the autumn is on its way, there is a nip in the air, the sun is shining and lots of fluffy white clouds and is the sort of day to lift the spirits.  I do love the autumn, I love the feeling that I can now make casseroles and puddings and eat blackberries and make jams and soup and don't really feel I need to bother with salad again.  Susan Hill wrote a lovely article last week about her feelings on this season, here, and I agree with every single word.

My good friend Rosemary came round last night and we watched the Last Night of the Proms which we always watch together and always enjoy, though I do have slight reservations about some of the prommers sometimes (read more about this in link above) and I cooked chicken in cheese sauce and we had it with steamed carrots, leeks and buttery new potatoes.  For dessert I took out of the freezer one of my darling mum's apple pies. She had several of them in her own freezer when my sister and I were clearing out the flat and I brought them home with me.  I dished it up with custard, my mother would never ever put cream on one of her pies, always had to be custard and it was delicious as always, but I felt quite choked up when eating it.   I have a few more which I am saving for the coming winter but once they are gone, well, then they are gone....

I am now loving my new living room and the colour. I will try and take some photos this week though I feel I need to get new lampshades and throws etc but that may take a little while until I find what I want, so you will have to see the room as it is.  Got up this morning and, once again, looked at the paintwork on the doors which lead off my small hallway in my flat (there are five) and realised that now I have painted one the rest look distinctly grubby.  I fought it as long as I could but in the end gave in and this morning spent a few hours doing all the paintwork around the main doors and along the floors. Tomorrow I am going to paint the doors themselves and then I will feel happy.  My bedroom remains to be done, but I think I may abandon that now and leave that job until 2011 (unless I have another mad moment of course).

Went to the library yesterday and came away with half a dozen Gerritsen books so am set up for the week. Also gave in and nipped into Waterstone's and bought a Wallander I had not read and ended up having a long chat with another lady by the crime section where we discussed the merits of the UK v the Swedish TV version and both of us agreed that the Swedish one was far superior.

I also tried to sneak Blair's book over to the crime section as thousands of people across the UK are doing in protest, but unlike last week when I was spotted doing this by a young assistant who grinned at me, this time I was nobbled and told off by a very superior lady indeed.   Still, I felt a tad smug as the previous day while shopping in Asda, I had found three copies of this unspeakable man's wretched book which I took off the shelves and, as there was no crime section as such, shoved them into the bay holding the vampire books.   That made me feel really good..........

OK off now. Tea, sofa and Gerritsen are beckoning.

Au reservoir.

PS - we also watched the pre-prog of the new series of Strictly Come Dancing which I will also be writing about. BE WARNED

Tess Gerritsen

2010 seems to be the year of Reading Dangerously in that I have consumed a vast amount of detective novels, thrillers and spy stories.  This was not planned, but obviously publishers have taken note of my liking for this genre and more of them have been thudding onto my doormat than hitherto.   Publishers of the all the Booker list seem to be notable by their absence. I wonder why.........

As I try not so go berserk any more and order swathes of books from Amazon when I discover a writer I enjoy (I have to keep reminding myself I am now a pensioner) I have been using my library more than I have done for years.  Being retired means I can visit in the middle of the week when it is quieter and less noisy and a little while ago I was delighted to see that after years of having the children's library upstairs and in the same area as the adult library, commonsense has finally prevailed and it has now been moved downstairs on its own in a much larger area and they actually have children's librarians in situ. Before there were none and the children were left unsupervised and allowed to run riot by their parents as they chose their own books.   Now it is much more civilised and a bit more as a library should be.  Yes, I know....grumpy old woman coming out again but I am not apologising for it in this case.

Anyway, rant over and last week when I was wandering around the crime shelves and found no Mankell in that I had not read, no Janet Evanovitch as I had gulped the lot in one month, an old Agatha I wanted to re-read not on the shelves (The Pale Horse - wanted to refresh my memory after the perfectly ghastly Marple last week of the same name.  Miss Marple never actually featured in this book), no Edmund Crispin, no Michael Innes and then a book called The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen caught my eye.  Opened it up and ten minutes later was still standing their reading it so decided to grab the other two on the shelves and made my exit.

The Bone Garden - Julie Hamill, newly divorced has bought an old house and is digging in the garden when her spade hits a rock, only it isn't - it's a human skull.   The body dates back to the early 1800s and forensic evidence shows she was murdered.  The book then separates into the past and the present and we go back to 1830 to the slums of Boston where Rose Connolly is sitting by the bedside of her dying sister who has just given birth to a baby girl.   There is a mystery surrounding the parentage of this child and it is clear that somebody wants it to remain a secret and all those who were present at the birth are being murdered in a particularly horrid and ghastly way.   Back in the present, Julie is researching the history of her house and Rose Connolly until she finds the answers.

Really well written and thoroughly enjoyable though I note from some of the reviews on Amazon that this one is slightly out of character of her main style and some recommend that you should not read this first. Well I did.

Keeping the dead - this has all the ingredients of a nail biting thriller.  An old musty museum with a huge uncatalogued collection down in the murky basement.  One day a mummy is found and amid great excitement it is taken to be scanned to identify and to date it.   Unfortunately, a bullet is found lodging in the body and it is clear that this is not as old as was first thought.    Other finds come to light, shrunken heads to name but one and a young archaeologist at the Museum, Josephine, is targeted by a sinister stalker who dumps another mummy in the boot of her car.  Seems there is a mystery going back many years and that Josephine has had many identities in a bid to escape a hidden evil.

Great stuff - mummys, Egypt, skeletons, dark basements. Perfect combination.

Keeper of the Bride - Nina is left standing at the altar when her fiance Robert, decides he can't go through with the ceremony and lets her know via a note send by the best man.  The wedding is cancelled and after everyone has left the church, a bomb explodes and the building is wrecked.   A day later, Nina's car is forced off the road and it is clear that she and her fiance are the targets and somebody wants them dead. But who and why?  Nina is a nurse and Robert a doctor and have no known enemies, but somewhere in their day to day life they have seen something, albeit unknowingly, the knowledge of which is dangerous and makes it imperative that they are killed.

This time this terrific story also has a romantic interest when the detective in charge of the case finds himself falling love with Nina when he has to guard her and make sure she stays alive.

Immensely readable, I got through these three in two days and am now on the hunt for more so back to the library tomorrow.  Have checked and it seems there are 23 more to go so that should keep me happy for about a month.  Several of them are stand alone but there six or seven titles sare et in Boston and feature the detectove Jane Rizzoli and  forensic pathologist Maura Isles (Keeping the Dead was one such) and the relationship between these two and the dynamic is well set out and I know I am going to enjoy reading the rest of these.

So another author to add to my list.  Going to the library is doing me good.

Rigolettto from Mantua

Have just posted my thoughts on the live performance of Rigoletto from Mantua with Placido over on Random Music.  Do nip over and have a read and comment.

http://randomjottings.typepad.com/random_music/2010/09/rigoletto-placido-domingo-live-from-mantua.html

Spies x 2

When Maggie and Gorbachev became friendly and the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War seemingly ended, there were various articles in newspapers signalling the end of James Bond, John le Carre and the entire spy genre in fiction. After all, if we were now all friendly and loving each other, what need of spies?

Well we all know that the thriller/spy story has not died and, in fact, seems healthier than ever and in the last couple of days I have read two such and enjoyed them both very much.  First one The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming. We all know about Burgess, Maclean, Philby and Anthony Blunt and even know there was a fifth man, but the premise behind this story is that there was yet another one (was there anybody at Cambridge around this time who was not a Soviet agent I wonder?) and his identity has been discovered by Charlotte, a free lance journalist who is ready to go public with the scoop of a lifetime.   No surprises that there are people around who don't want this to happen and she suffers a mysterious heart attack before she can publish her findings.   Her friend and colleague Gaddis, a historian whose speciality is Russia, decides to pick up the trail and find out the identity of the sixth man, but where to start? It would seem that all of Charlotte's computer files have been wiped and he has only a few tenuous leads.

What happens next is the usual thriller type chase with our hero escaping death by the skin of his teeth and whisking backwards and forwards to Moscow, Berlin and Vienna, but it is all done etremely well with pacy narrative and snappy dialogue.  

Great fun and pure escapist literature.  I gather this author has written a few others which I will now keep an eye out for.  I have checked on Amazon and this title is, in fact, not due to be published until the start of next year, but you can always put it on your wish list.   recommended.

The second thriller of the week is The Blind Spy by Alex Dryden.  I had read the previous one in the series, Moscow Sting which I reviewed here and was delighted when this new one arrived from Headline Books and, as with the earlier novel, read it in one sitting.   We have the same characters Anna Resnikov, ex-KGB defector now working for a world wide agency Cougar, advisers to the CIA and Logan Halloran who betrayed her whereabouts in the Moscow Sting, but is still linked with the agency, the reason for which we find out right at the end of the novel.

The setting is bang up to date with Putin in power as the President of Russia (he pops up in a fairly leading role in The Trinity Six as well) who wishes to invade the Ukraine and bring it back under the aegis of Russia.  To this end, dissension and undercover plotting to destabilise the government there and rig the elections are in play and Anna is sent to the Ukraine to retrieve information being leaked by a contact in the KGB.

Lots of excitement again, betrayal and secrets, double agents - all sounds run of the mill but written with great style (Alex Dryden is a pseudonym. He worked for many years in intelligence specialising in Russian matters so he knows what he is talking about) and thoroughly enjoyable.  In case you are wondering who the Blind Spy is it appears his identity is that of a KGB officer, pretty high up in the pecking order who has been blind from birth and has managed to acquire uncanny powers.....

Two to keep an eye out for.   My thanks to Headline and HarperCollins for sending me these copies.

Painting weekend - continued

Well it is done. Finally Finished.  Have spent the last two days taking books off shelves, a shelf at a time and painted behind.   Totally tedious but decided to go the whole hog, do it properly and reorganise, discard and dust all at the same time. All this was interspersed with shrieks at the odd spider who popped out now and then. It is now 4.30 pm on Monday. I started yesterday afternoon, packed it in for the evening and then back again at 9 am today.  I am aglow with virtue and satisfaction even if I ache and my back still giving me gyp.  I have had a nice hot bath, reek of embrocation and hair all over the place and a shiny nose but I don't care because It is Now All Done.

I won't be decorating this room again for at least five years by which time I shall probably be too old and decrepit to do it and will get A Man in.  I should have done so this time really but part of me is mean and doesn't want to spend the money.

The blue is now growing on me after my initial doubts and many thanks for all the suggestions in my previous email re colours, cushions etc.  I intend to get two new throws for my two battered old sofas, in white or cream and then either buy or make some cushion covers, perhaps in cream and raspberry which will add some colour to it.   At the moment I have some deep pink carnations in a jug and they go beautifully against the blue.  After the bright green it is all very restful and serene and I am quite proud of my handiwork. There are only a few tiny little blobs on the ceiling which I shall wipe off and have to touch up the paint work a bit, and then that will be that.

In between all this, I watched the live broadcast from Mantua of Rigoletto with Placido Domingo in the title role.  Did not stay up to watch the final act as I could not keep my eyes open but am going to sit down and watch it tonight now that I am rested and clean.

I also re-read Gaudy Night over the weekend in between bouts of painting. Read it dozens of times but I did not want to read anything new as my mind would not concentrate.  Loved it all over again.  Also read two fun spy thrillers last week which I will review tomorrow.

See you then.

Painting weekend

Yesterday I painted the living room.  I had already painted it once as the green which was on the walls was so bright I had to put white undercoat on before any other paint could be applied.  That was done a week or two ago. Yesterday I put the first coat of duck egg blue on and it was clear to me that it was going to need a second coat much to my dismay.  So up early today and on went the second coat which means, in effect, I have painted my living room three times.  My back is killing me, I have paint under my nails, in my hair and on my feet as well as the walls and my back is now in danger of seizing up. Took me half an hour to push all the furniture back from the centre of the room to the walls and corners from whence it came and actually got the hoover out and did a quick run around with that.  A shower now awaits me and then feet up for rest of the day.

When the sun shines the colour is a lovely blue and looks light and delicate, but now the sun has gone in and it looks rather grey.  Not totally sure how I feel about it now that I have finished, but I'm sure as hell going to make myself love it as I have no intention of painting it another colour.     Now tomorrow comes the final bit - taking the books of my shelves and painting the walls behind.  I know my books practically cover the wall, being double stacked and all, but you can still see some of the green peeping through and, besides, I know it is there and it will annoy me.  I do a shelf or two at a time and it is going to be tedious and boring but has to be done.

But, to reward myself, there is a treat on BBC2.   Placido Domingo as Rigoletto in a live broadcast from Mantua, the first act tonight, second act lunchtime tomorrow and final act Sunday evening.  It is being broadcast in real time as was a Tosca which he did back in the 90s and well I remember getting up at 6am in the morning to watch the final act.   Really looking forward to this.

Am off now for shower, then cup of tea then sofa in that order.  I hope you are all having a more relaxing weekend than moi...