Thanks Voley!

I got home today to a parcel from Amazon. Thinking it was a book I had ordered last week , I was a little confused when I opened it to find a title within that I had no recollection of ordering (now my memory is not great, but it's not that bad!). I like surprises, so thank you Voley- I shall look forward to reading 'Freshers' by Joanna Davies, though I really need no encouragement to be nostalgic about our time as freshers at a Welsh university.

I feel so much better

Amazing what a little retail therapy can do. I like spending money. I don't like looking at my bank statement afterwards so much. Why do book shops have to have 3 for 2 offers?- they are just asking for trouble. I really don't need to buy any more books, I have more than enough unread ones to keep me going for at least a couple of years- there's just something strangely satisfying in seeing my bookcases fill up.
Bought a few other bits and pieces too so a fairly successful day. Was a little embarrassed though when a security tag failed to be properly deactivated on an item purchased from Boots and proceeded to set off the alarms in every shop I went into afterwards. The best of it was that none of the shop assistants batted an eyelid. So much for security.

Merry Christmas!

How have all the festivities gone? Had plenty of new socks? Fallen out with the family? Eaten and drunk too much? I've enjoyed my Christmas, apart from my dog being rather poorly again- he seems to be on the mend now though. However, I've really struggled this year to feel festive- Christmas just seems to come round far too quickly... I think Christmas every two years would be far better!

My last two days at work before finishing for twelve (yes, a whole twelve) days were fun, if rather hectic. We were charity bag-packing at Morrisons on Tuesday...fun, but I wouldn't like to do it every day. It appeals to the people-watcher in me. It's fascinating both seeing what people put in their shopping trolleys (an awful lot of alcohol) and listening to the conversations/ arguments between husbands and wives at the checkout! Some people really haven't heard of Christmas cheer. We raised just over £520 which wasn't bad for packing a few shopping bags, but I didn't half ache the next day.

Wednesday was our party for the children and young people who come to the Playground. What could be better than a load of over-excited children just before Christmas- poor old Santa nearly got crushed! I do enjoy it though, it reminds me of the excitement I felt as a child at Christmas.

Christmas Eve was busy. Had to clean the house, wrap all my presents up (I was as disorganised and last minute there as usual) and drop presents off all over Stoke-on-Trent. Called in on my brother and saw his new puppy, Boddington. He's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier which isn't one of my favourite breeds of dog- I prefer large dogs- but I must admit he is rather cute.

I spent Christmas Day with my family and that was a lovely relaxing day. Just wish there had been some snow. I love my turkey dinner, and Christmas pudding with rum poured over it (my grandad started me on that one at a very young age!) is one of my favourites. Actually that is a good enough reason not to have Christmas only once every two years. Yes, I had some socks, but no, I didn't have any arguments and no, I didn't drink too much, though I did eat quite a bit. Had some fab presents including another new bookcase from my parents (Voley is very jealous), some Morph and Chas bookends and books to go on my new bookcase (by the way Voley, did I mention about my new bookcase?!!), vouchers which will be happily spent when I next go shopping, and a variety of other bits and pieces...oh, and a mini Radley bag keyring, just to feed my obsession.

Christmas Day wouldn't be Christmas Day without Doctor Who and I wasn't disappointed there. Fab. David Tennant is soooo good, can't wait for the New Year's Day episode. I may well cry when he regenerates though (and I never cry at television programmes or films...well, except for when E.T. dies, that gets me every time- sorry) and I think an official week of mourning may be necessary. Matt Smith is going to have to be very good to top David Tennant, don't think it's going to happen.

Voley came to stay Boxing Day, bringing me more books for my....wait for it....new bookcase. Much appreciated. We watched Doctor Who (yes, it was good enough for me to watch twice) as Voley's family didn't quite get the timing of their Christmas dinner right and I actually spent most of an hour not annoying Voley with my incessant waffling...didn't last, especially after I had drunk a couple of Archers. Yesterday we had lunch at my brother's pub and then went to the book shop (no surprises there!).

I've done very little today. Had a lie-in and mooched about. Am off out later for a post-Christmas buffet soiree with my good buddies. Hopefully I will be able to follow conversation tonight as when we went out for dinner last weekend I was deaf in one ear- the whole evening was a bit like a game of Chinese whispers!

Toodle-pip for now.

Favourite childhood books

Sorting through all my books over the weekend got me thinking about my favourite books from when I was a child (and that is quite some time ago!). I seem to have grown up on way too much Enid Blyton- I still have the complete set of the Famous Five series and of Malory Towers, along with others such as The Magic Faraway Tree and The Enchanted Wood. The Brer Rabbit stories also stick in my mind though I think if I were to re-read them now I would probably be quite shocked, I am sure 'Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby' was blatant racism. Must read some of them again for an adult take on the stories.
My very first favourite book would have been Beatrix Potter's 'Mrs Tittlemouse' which my Dad likes to think I was able to read at 3 years of age! Yes, I knew it word for word, knew when to turn the pages and would shout at my parents if they got a word wrong when reading it to me, but I'm not entirely sure that this necessarily constitutes being able to read!
What is my favourite childhood book? It has to be Eric Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'- I loved that book (and still do) but, leading a deprived childhood as I did (hmm), I never owned a copy until I was about 23. I loved going to the local library and that would be the book I would always hunt out to read.
What would I be likely to read now if I were a child again? It would probably be Philip Pullman books, which I think are fantastic- if you haven't read the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, you must do, they make for compelling reading. I think Harry Potter would probably be in there too.

Order order

I am the very excited owner of a new bookcase. Plashing Vole asked in his post a week or so ago how people like to organise their book collections. I have to admit I agree with his alphabetical method, with the overspill of unread books being in a totally unordered pile on the floor. However, I am in a quandary. Now that I have more book space, I am able to shelve all my children's books, which until now have been stored away in boxes...but how should I include them in my collection?- separate section (still in alphabetical order of course!) or integrated with the rest of my books?

A good weekend

I've spent a very pleasant weekend in the company of Mr Vole. We went to see the new Harry Potter film on Saturday- very good. It had the odd shaky moment and a lot of the detail from the book was passed over, but on the whole it was excellent. I couldn't believe the queues of people waiting to get in, I'm guessing it will definitely be a box office success.
Yesterday was spent mooching- isn't that what Sundays are for? Had a bite of lunch out and then pottered (sorry, no pun intended) around Waterstones, just to feed the Vole's book buying obsession. I did think at one point he was going to go into a frenzied rage around the store on spotting a sign above a case of books about cycling that said "Peddle Power". Appalling. A quiet word was had with the shop assistant who said that the sign had been produced by the Arndale store- not sure which was worse, the fact that they had made such a dreadful mistake in producing it, or that someone else had then put it up without spotting the error. Grrr.

I'm back...

I appear to have failed to post anything new for the last week- being busy at work and not having anything particulary noteworthy to write about (with a bit of laziness thrown in for good measure) are my excuses. I am still busy at work and still have nothing of note to post but am feeling a little less lazy so I thought I would take the opportunity to have a bit of a waffle!
Having worked all weekend (not nice in all this heat, yuk) I had a day off yesterday- yes, a WHOLE day! So what did I do with myself? I thought I'd pay a visit to that hole of a town called Hanley. Not the most pleasant of locations, but it does have book shops. I managed to buy four books and only spend 95p which I thought was a success- three novels by Kazuo Ishiguro (they were on offer!) and a David Lodge novel. Thank you Adam for the book tokens! I also have the latest Sarah Waters novel on its way to me in the post so, all in all, a good book week.
My real purpose for going out was actually to get my passport photos done. Well, that was fun, especially for someone who hates having their photo taken. At least I can send off for my passport now, and hope that it arrives by September!

Summer's here!

I've been sitting out in the garden reading my book. I am not a lover of the sun, but it is beautiful today- about time. We're having a barbecue later, which is usually a sure fire way of ensuring it rains!

I'm reading Haruki Murakami's 'Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'- it's very good, if a little bizarre, but then his books are often a little surreal. I've been a fan since reading 'Norwegian Wood'.

Thought I'd add a couple of photos of the garden!