Good Night

Fill In The Blanks

I wish that I could go ____________________.

The first thing I do in the morning is ___________________.

I should have ______________ yesterday.

Miserable Monday

Well, i guess the good weather would not last, as we are now back to the dull and drizzly overcast days again. I am only doing a couple of visists today ,both in the Medway area, as i cannot be bothered to haul myself anywhere else.

At least the WiFi router arrived , now plugged in, ready for broadband this Thursday.

I also had another "Welcome to your new home" card from Canadian LJ blogger amethyst_witch. That was so unexpected. Thank you. Helps to brighten a dull day.

In Chatham

I have now done my two pawnbroker shop vista in the Medway towns of Chatham and Gillingham and decided to nip to the local Spoons pub in Chatham to finish off my reports , which I just did. I am trying this Shipyard Rue Pa;e Ale , which is an American craft beer they are selling at the reduced price of £1.79 rather than the £2.49 it sells for. Not bad. There are better American ales out there but this is quite enjoyable at the price.

Roll on Thursday.

Book 12 - Jonathan Raban "For Love And Money"

Jonathan Raban "For Love And Money" (Picador)





This is a selection of his very best essays, reportage, travel writings and literary criticism, linked with a narrative thread that bravely attempts the agonizing and revelatory question 'Why do you write?' In fact, Raban has some engaging remarks on this subject. As he says, very few people can now make a living by writing reviews. Indeed the risk for young writers is that they may love the job too much. ‘Waking to the flop of the jiffybag on the mat, he knows it as the sound of the beginning of a good day’; the piece he does will be published quite quickly, while the book he neglects in order to meet the deadline of the literary editor won’t in any case see the light for a year or two. Moreover reviewing gives him the satisfaction of being a part of the judicial process by which books are sorted out at the discretion of a handful of his peers. I love the sound of the jiffy bag or cardboard version form Amazon whenever I get a nee book or CD, so I know that joy very well.

It is true that just as people read reviews rather than books, they prefer short reviews to long ones, so the snap judgments of the dailies and Sundays have undue influence. But this doesn’t mean there is no place for serious reviewing. I for one love to dip into the London Review of Books for such longueurs whilst idling time in the library. This is a wonderful pot-pourri of articles that you can dip into anytime. One which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Recent Book Finds

I tried to avoid .. i did .. but these were inviting me to buy them .. and only a quid for the hardback (the map one) and fifty pence each for the others in a charity store in Medway.