More of wot I have read…

Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake 1911-1968
Titus Groan 1946
Gormenghast 1950
Titus alone 1959 – reworked after his death

This was a very difficult series of books and ultimately took me several months to stubbornly plough my way through. The exciting but complicated writing of Peake had its rewards and challenges and the increasingly surreal imagery proved difficult to overcome. I found the first book the best and the most exciting and beautifully imagined, the second became more complicated and the last book was just to way out there to really be enjoyed.

I remembered the first book being made into a TV series some time ago that thinking back on it recreated much of the gothic grandeur pretty much as I imagined whenI read it.


Moon by James Herbert

Not quite the same sort of book as what I have just been reading previously (Gormenghast) and the technology changes from when it was written did make it feel dated. But it did have some good ideas; however I can’t find enough in it to really recommend it unless you have nothing else to read.

‘He had fled from the terrors of his past, finding refuge in the quietness of the island. And for a time he lived in peace. Until the ‘sightings’ began, visions of horror seeping into his mind like poisonous tendrils, violent acts that were hideously macabre, the thoughts becoming intense.

He witnessed the grotesque acts of another, a thing that glorified in murder and mutilation, a monster that soon became aware of the observer within its own mind, and relished the contact. A creature that eventually would come to the island to seek him out…’

Cat-flap catastrophe…

Being new to the neighbourhood our cat has found that he is no longer king of the castle and he has had several run-ins with other cats – mostly limited to singing competitions in the middle of the night. But some of the cats started to come into our house to eat any left over cat food and sleep on the beds, and after a while one of them started to try and show his dominance by spraying in the house. This disturbed our cat and didn’t impress us either, so when I was at the vets I bought the most expensive cat-flap ever. Over a hundred pounds later and I was the dubious owner of a Pet Porte electronic cat-flap. This is designed to detect the cat’s microchip and only allow it in, but the problem was I had to make sure it worked with our cat’s microchip and get it programmed. Sooty is not the most sociable of cats and it usually a two person job just to put the flea drops on him, so I was not looking forward to having to ‘scan’ him across this detector and still retain all of my digits. Luckily I managed to sneak up in him when he was eating and programmed it successfully. The next job was to get it into the door – and for this I fitted it where the old one came out, only now it was to high outside to be able to scan the cat successfully as there is a big step from inside to out and the flap was situated high in the door. The only solution was to some how raise the floor out side the door so that when the cat tried to get in he was within range of the scanner – so now we have a shelf on the outside of the door that looks bloody weird. All this fuss and messing with the door and manhandling of the cat had made him nervous of the whole thing so now we have to retraining him to use it. Oh joy!

Springwatch…

We were given a cute bird box a while ago and I put it up on the side of our house not expect to much from it as I was told it was in the wrong place. But we were pleasantly surprise when a couple of Blue Tits chose it to set up nest and we took to watching and listening to their progress (unfortunately as did our cat and some of the neighbouring cats too). We were rewarded with the chirping of babies and the sight of the parents busily feeding them. Unfortunately nature’s cruel hand cam into play and some of the fledglings didn’t make it. One fell out of the nest and died, and another flew into a window and was killed by our cat as it lay stunned on the ground. We think the others survived and hope that the box will prove to be attractive next year too.

Sue changes jobs…

After being a long term temp Sue has recently been made redundant, however even before she left the old job she was offered something new. Also a temp job this new work has grown and after being there for only a week or two Sue was ask to train the other staff and had been left in charge. Now the company has offered her a permanent job hinting at more responsibility. This doesn’t suit her at the moment and she will probably not take them up on their offer as ultimately Sue hopes to find work nearer to home. Nevertheless it is pretty cool to be so good at what you do that people are clambering for your services.

They actually expect me to work…

My job has an unpredictable workload as we rely on customer’s demands. I provide support to the sales staff in estimating engineered solutions to meet our client’s requirements in the industrial marketplace (mostly petrochemical and chemical sites). And at the moment with the current demand for fuel and chemicals these customers want to increase their capacity by build new sites or expanding existing ones. Of course they all want them done at the same time and over the last few year there has been a steady reduction in people with the necessary qualifications to support these industries, so that now there is not enough people to do the work.

A rambling man…

We have again enjoyed getting out into the lovely Surrey countryside (when we have the time) and have explored a few different paths. We have seen rare wild orchids on Ranmore common and have heard tales of exotic wildlife such as snakes being spotted nearby. Of course the charm of an English country walk is often enhanced by the prospect of a drink in a country pub and these too are very welcome diversions.

Garden in bloom…

Around home we have also been busy in the garden with a small veggie patch providing lots of salad greens and the flowers in the front garden starting to provide colour and scent to what was once a relatively boring patch of lawn and that has now been turned into out version of a cottage garden. We are quite please with the results though we will have to do some more tweaks now we can see what the plants look like fully grown. Now all we need is some time and good weather to be able to enjoy it.

Dig for victory…

We have had a better start this year at the allotment and have benefitted from the new shed by getting the seedlings off to a good start. The ground is still poor and this is something we are going to have to deal with over the next few years. We have a fence around the site to help stop the deer and other wildlife helping them selves to food (though I am not sure it has prevented human intervention – I am sure there were more strawberries than that!). The plots are all full now and we are having to resort to tubs and are planning to extend the available land for crops that are still to go in. Now we are starting reap our rewards with the first pickings of peas and beans and strawberries and we have high hopes for the garlic, though the potatoes seem to be suffering with the poor soil.

The Americans are coming…

Dana & Susan Robinson – This was a night of sweet music mostly written by Dana in a more modern folk style inspired by the rich American folk heritage.

Jeff Warner – He was a man who has grown up with a family that have researched American folk history and who has an obvious passion for the subject that was very inspiring. He spent time explaining the origins of the songs and showed a great knowledge and understanding.

Judy Cook – Mostly singing solo and unaccompanied, Judy had a great voice and expressed her passion for the songs she sang. Another singer who had researched the origins of the songs she sang and who was able to add a greater depth of understanding to the subject.

Mike Agranoff – Here was an entertainer who was lively and engaging whose talent for music shone out even when he was performing his more flippant of songs.

More of wot I have heard…

Upstate Songs by Devon Sproule

Just the right side of odd, I saw this artist on the Later with Jules Holland TV show and knowing that she is scheduled to perform at Womad I picked this up to see what she was like. Charming and qwerky this album probably won’t appeal to everyone, but I like it.

Seventh Tree by Goldfrapp

This is the third album we have of them and although it is good it is not quite as good as their first (Felt Mountain). They have made an effort to try new things each time they record, which is a problem if you find one of them that you like.

Thirst for Romance by Cherry Ghost – They have some very good tunes packed into this album. I particularly like the tracks, Mathematics, 4am and People Help The People.

An English country garden…

Late spring/early summer is usually a good time to start exploring the English countryside and the gardens therein and it helps us get over the long dark winter just past.

When we moved to our new house we joined a couple of clubs to meet people and get involved with the local community. One of these was the garden club and it was through them we went out to visit the Ramster Gardens . This is a large and rambling informal garden of trees and exotic flowing bushes, specialising in Azaleas and Rhododendrons. It was a very pleasant garden and a lovely day to be out wandering about.

We have been spending a lot of time with my Aunt and Uncle and we have indulged our combined interest in gardens by visiting several private gardens in the National Gardens Scheme, including:

Bledlow Manor owned by Lord and Lady Carrington and a grand and graceful garden peppered with many interesting sculptures. The aging Lord himself was on hand to great people and talk to them and as an ex-politician he had a diplomatic and engaging manner about him.

On a separate occasion we went to the Old Thatch where Enid Blyton once stayed and possibly wrote some of her famous stories. This was a delightful garden that had many elements of a traditional Cottage Garden with some more modern interpretations that fitted together with the lovely old thatched cottage.

A visit to Cublington allowed us to visit two very different gardens, one was a smaller garden behind a modern detached house that was immaculately groomed and stylishly arranged, the other was a larger more rambling affair around an old vicarage.

Later on we visited an old favourite country garden of ours, Sissinghurst, with Sue’s Mum, Auntie Vera and Sarah. We had not been here for quite some time and the gardens was as spectacular as we remembered with individual ‘rooms’ cutting the large area into more manageably sizes and creating intimate views around each corner. After strolling around the grounds we were treated to a lovely meal at Vera and Sarah’s place rounding off a lovely day.