More of wot I have seen…

Recently Sue was invited out with her Aunt’s birthday treat with several of the ‘girls’ from the family. They were going off into London to see A Chorus Line before coming back to have a meal in an Italian restaurant where I was going to join them. Overall the ladies were not impressed with the show and Sue found it quite boring so I was quite pleased that I had gone off to see the Life of Pi at the movies. I did enjoy the film very much and I found it was quite faithful to the book (though like most interpretations from the written word to visual media there is often a difference between what you imagined something to be like and what the film maker has).

Auditions…

This year’s birthday is a significant one for Sue and so as well as a dream holiday we are planning a party for friends and family at the newly refurbished local pub that is now branded as a Bar / Deli and is called Bertram Bees. This place has become a favourite location for us to go for a drink in the village as our bank statement can attest.

As part of the celebrations we would like to have a live band playing to our guests and it just so happens that the bar has been putting on music to attract patrons. So naturally we need to audition the various groups and if it necessities having a couple of drinks at the same time then so be it.

All of the groups so far have been good but one, a skiffle band that played well know hits in a foot stomping vintage style were fabulous but unfortunately they were booked at a beer festival on the date we wanted them, so the search goes on.

More of wot I have read…

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

This was one of the books I got for my birthday and I absolutely devoured to so engaging was the story. I fell in love with this book from the first page and was fascinated with the dystopian world conjured up by the author and found the characters believable and human. The narrative was nicely paced and the drama built good tension throughout the book. The twists and turns were well hidden and the conclusion was very satisfying. I liked the bio-punk sci-fi style of the setting and the environmental / political stance of the author was interesting. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it is worth a read if only for the quality of the writing alone.

‘Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s calorie representative in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, he combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs long thought to be extinct. There he meets the Windup Girl – the beautiful and enigmatic Emiko – now abandoned to the slums. She is one of the New People, bred to suit the whims of the rich. Engineered as slaves, soldiers and toys, they are the new underclass in a chilling near future where oil has run out, calorie companies dominate nations and bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

And as Lake becomes increasingly obsessed with Emiko, conspiracies breed in the heat and political tensions threaten to spiral out of control. Businessmen and military officials, wealthy foreigners and landless refugees all have their own agendas. But no one anticipates the devastating influence of the Windup Girl.’

The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams

This book was given to me by Jamie and it had sat on my shelf for a while as I was not enthusiastic about the teaser on the back (see below), but I was short of something to read so I gave it a go. It took a while to get going and I struggled to accept the concept of the book, but slowly it grew on me and at the end I was quite enjoying it and could appreciate the details that the author had sprinkled through the narrative. It is light and fluffy and naturally fantastical but fans of magical mythology might well enjoy this book.

‘In the great city, in the dimly office of a mighty tower, two deadly creatures meet. A dark bargain is struck, and the master of the House of Hellebore gives on order: “War is coming. The child must die.”

In our own world, a young man discovers a manuscript written by his great uncle. It seems to be a novel – a strange fairy tale of fantastic creatures and a journey to a magical realm. But it is written as a diary…as if the events were real…as if his uncle had sought and found another world.

Or as if another world had found him…’

Master Chef…

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to help out more in the kitchen. Not that Sue complains as she is a natural cook, but I could do more and I should learn how. I thought I might start out with one day a month (didn’t want to rush things), but I have almost managed one day a week so far and have I even have a signature dish - Lamb Rogan Josh. I cook like an engineer by following a recipe to the letter, measuring everything and keeping an eye on the timing – this is because I do not have a feel for cooking like Sue does (who can open the fridge or cupboard door and have a fine spread on the table in minutes). Luckily Sue has helped by choosing recipes that are quite flexible and do not need precise timing to work, such as curries and stews.

The Greenhouse Effect…

Is the definition of optimism building a greenhouse in the snow?

My folks gave us some money to put towards a greenhouse that we could use to start off our seedlings in and to protect some of our more fragile summer crops. Since we have a small garden and we did not want to put anything on the allotment we opted for a lean-to greenhouse that will fix to the kitchen wall at the back of the house. Naturally we went for an expensive model in green aluminium finish and an attractive arched shape. It was delivered unassembled in several packages with a set of instructions that made me weep. I only have a basic set of tools as I am not the most accomplished DIYer and so everything took ten times as long as it should have. It took me one day just to get the base fitted level and the whole of the next to put together the frame (I am dreading the glazing that is yet to be done).

It probably wasn’t the ideal weather to be working outside but as there was a high over the country there was no wind to make the freezing temperature feel any colder and apart from the occasional snowflake hitting the back of my neck I was quite warm in my thermals and layers of clothing, though my fingers were quite blue at the end.

The instructions were though the major frustration in particular how they referred to parts only by their six digit part number and used deceptive hand drawing sketches to try and add detail to complicated procedures. But the worst part is where you are required to undo some of the previous assembly to add components to complete later ones.

Nevertheless it is looking good and as long as I can get the glass in without breaking it then we will be ready for the spring when it does come.

We have also had a stroke of good news regarding the garden when the guy who is cultivating the section behind our house knocked on our door and invited us to share some of the land for our crops. This is a dream come true and while I was busy with my Meccano set Sue and her sister cleared out the beds and staked our claim.

We are starting to make plans for the kitchen garden and I have bought seed potatoes and onion sets which we will still plant on the allotment as they don’t need as much attention and take up space while we use the new plot for salads and other faster growing crops.