Jennifer Hendrik

 Adrian and I finally got to meet Jennifer on Wednesday evening.  Charming and energetic she turned a few heads at the Lintot.



She charmed Adrian



And then left him holding the baby.

World Book Night

When I collected the books at Waterstones in Horsham I had the intention of giving them to random strangers.  And then I looked around at the strangers available and, even in a bookshop, they did not look worthy.  So I had to create a plan B.  It has been a bit more complicated mostly due to geography and it couldn't happen on 5 March but I selected the following people who I think (hope) will read the book and distributed to Adrian Elliott, Alison Bradley, Alison Regan (12 copies), Amanda O'Rourke, Amy Hardner, Angela Hendrik, Charlotte Davies, Cheryl, Chris Granger, Claire Morgan, Claire Wylie, David Dent, Di Blackman, Donna Vaughan, Jane Roffey, Janis Sharpe, Jez (4 copies for her book club), Jo Comaschi, Julie, Kate Moss, Katy Barrett, Linda Stabler, Lisa Condell, Louise Clarke (soon to be Ault), Louise Roberts, Louise Timms, Maureen Smith, Me , Melinda Dixon, Mother, Philippa French, Sarah Mohoney, Tracey Young, Vanessa Young.

The administration of World Book Night smacked of enthusiasm and great ideas backed up with not much in the way of sleeve rolling and getting on with it.  I may be doing the organisers an injustice here, getting 1 million books printed and distributed to 20,000 people around the country is a huge undertaking.  Unfortunately guidance on what the WBN experience is supposed to be was not readily available and even when I went looking for it I wasn't particularly successful.  The staff in Waterstones were very helpful but didn't have a clue either.

Shall I slash my wrists now?

Is it just me or has the world become rather depressing of late?  A short web search came up with this group of reasons to lack cheer .  The end of the world seems to be particularly likely around xmas which is a bit of a bummer.  So the big question is why bother paying any bills if its all going to end soon? 

Watching the tragedy in Japan on the news last night made me very sad.  The devastation looks unbearable.  Then they showed a man who was picking through the rubble collecting photographs and small personal mementos to preserve them from the bulldozers about to clear the area and burn everthing.  The Salvager explained his mission as being to preserve some memories of the children who are probably dead.  After the obligatory British visitor, unharmed and largely unaffected by the disaster explaining how glad she was that she could contact someone at home on her mobile phone.  Then there was an expert interviewed about the financial impact of the disaster.  Of course he didn't say so but to me the subtext seemed that some investment wankers will be making a fortune out of this blip in the market - I find that abhorrent.  Another thought that dented my faith in the human race was the continual lament of the press about the lack of accurate numbers of victims of the quake.  Why do we care so much about how many there are?  It's a lot, and each individual death is a tragedy for someone.  There was reference to the long term financial implications of the Kobe quake in 1995 and their continuing impact.  There was no mention of the long term impact of the tragic loss of life. 

Even though I work in human resources and therefore have no heart I find this staggering.

I told you it was depressing.

Banging Done, Dust Settled

The rest of the house remains standing and I am delighted with the result.  I could seat a whole book club comfortably now - just need to get one going.

In fact its such a success that the wall between the kitchen and what we call the music room (no piano but there is a record player) is next on the list for demolition.

Plasterer should be in in a week or so to redo the ceiling in the artexed bit and make good the walls then we can think about decorating for 6 or 7 years.

Remodelling at 9 Hillside

Not content with moving furniture around we are moving walls around this weekend.  We take parties very seriously in our house and a bigger room is needed for 2 April.

Saturday morning before 8am Shane from next door was in with his assistant Gavin and some very advanced protective sheets etc. 

Adrian very efficiently moved the coats and made the coffee. 

Waiting for the first bang.

Back in Horsham

After 3 days in Wales.

The north Wales coast from Llandudno to Prestatyn is very pretty.  If I hadn't been there for St Dunstan's I wouldn't have been there at all so its hard to regret having been there and there were some elements of fun.

Dinner at The Quay with Sarah and Sian from Supertemps was fun.  Lovely hotel would be quite out of place in Llandudno, but as it's Deganwy with a view of Conwy Castle it's not out of place at all.  Very nice restaurant serving small elegant food on odd shaped plates and reasonable wine.  Combination of good company, that end of term feeling after two days of grueling arm rubbing and skins full of wine helped to end the trip with a laugh.  Thanks to Jo for making the trip tolerable.

Birthday Wish List


A History of the World in 100 Objects

Available from the British Museum or their website.  Members get a 10% discount (Adrian and I are members).  Price is £30.

 Saw these at Waterstones, no idea how much they are, no price on the box.

 

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Another one from the British museum beautifully modelled by Adrian.  Persian rug mouse mat.  Price £16.99 is a bit hard to see in the picture.

Chanel - Allure Eau De Parfum Spray - A sweet, warm floral fragrance. Embraces your skin with a blend of tropical wetness, freshness & floral scent. Blends of water lily, jasmine and rose with notes of vanilla. Gives you a rich sense of fantasy. It lingering smell makes you feel refreshing throughout the day. Recommended for modern woman.   About £47 available from Boots and others.

Pyjamas - I like modest, ugly stretch knit pyjamas that cover up to the neck.  Long or short sleeves and mid calf length trousers.  My favourite pair are black and white striped trousers and plain black top from M&S.  This pair is £9.50 from M&S.

Georgio Armani lipstick - Sheer Rouge Transparent No. 6 and mascara Eyes to Kill.  Available at Selfridges and (I think) online from georgioarmanibeauty.co.uk

Books I haven't read yet but would like to include:

The Quiet American - Graham Greene

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene

Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene

The Black Prince - Iris Murdoch

The Sandcastle - Iris Murdoch

The Nice and the Good - Iris Murdoch

An Accidental Man - Iris Murdoch

Hunted Down - the detective stories of Charles Dickens - Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

Miss Marples Final Cases - Agatha Christie

Problem at Pollensa Bay - Agatha Christie

Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope

Can You Forgive Her - Anthony Trollope

Casino Royal - Ian Fleming

The Book of the Dead

Receiving a renewal notice for my friendship with the British Museum on Friday finally got me to visit on the last day of this exhibition.  After a bit of argy bargy at Three Bridges station about train tickets (so expensive these days and the cheap ones are hidden on page two of the machine's menu) Adrian and I got to London for around noon. 

I am impressed by the technology in the BM.  Members don't book tickets for the special exhibitions but simply insert their card into the reader at the entrance for details checking and in you go.  The audio guide is now an iPod Touch in a tamper proof case with alarm attached and includes high quality graphics that point out particular areas of interest in an exhibit that enhances the experience.

The Egyptians could be accused of being obsessed by death given the amount of rigmarole surrounding it but death rituals are important sources of information about civilisations and this is no exception.  Cutting off the foreleg of a living calf as part of the ritual seems a bit unnecessary but other than that most of the activity seems quite harmless and makes as much sense as many modern religious rituals in my opinion.

Basically the Book is a sort of passport into the afterlife.  It's a book of spells to be used on the journey.  They vary in length and complexity, some are obviously created for their owners and others seem to be sort of 'off the peg' editions wish spaces to fill in the names after purchase (I presume money changed hands in the transaction). 

On of the things the traveller into the afterlife has to ensure is that their heart weighs in okay and that's what's happening in the picture above (copied from BM website).  If the heart does not pass this test the Devourer is standing by to gobble it up.  The Devourer is the funny looking creature on the right of the picture.  It has the head of a crocodile, the front end of a leopard and the rear of a hippopotamus.  A most unusual and interesting composite beast.

I loved the shabtis, they brought the ancients to life for me.  These mummified  miniature people accompany the deceased into the afterlife to perform any manual labour (so they don't have to do it themselves).  To spend any part of eternity engaged manual labour is so abhorrent to them they make arrangements to avoid it!  We think we know that this afterlife does not exist but it might.  Nobody actually knows.  This Ancient Egyptian afterlife has the advantage of being quite fully described unlike the monotheistic religions of modern times that always seem to be a bit vague on the detail.

World Book Night

I'm giving away 47 copies of The Blind Assassin tomorrow as a giver in the first World Book Night in the UK (I'm going to keep the 48th for myself).  I read it some time ago but I couldn't find my copy when I went to refresh my memory - I must have already passed it on.  I know I enjoyed it but can't remember much detail and I'm looking forward to reading it again tomorrow.