This week I'm....

Loving the fact that it is light until at least 8pm!  It is so nice being able to plan things after work knowing you have a few precious hours of daylight to play with.  The weather doesn't usually affect my mood but this does seem to have been a looooong winter, I'm glad that summer is on the way.

I've started jumping off the tube a few stops early and walking along the Thames.  It is the perfect way to end the working day - instead of trundling along in a crowded carriage, pressed up against strangers, I'm free to wander along the water and enjoy the view.

The Cotswolds

After a busy few days in Liverpool visiting friends and my boyfriend's family, on Easter Sunday it was officially time to relax and head to the country......

We stayed in The King's Head Inn in Bledington, a beautiful country pub with open log fires, cosy rooms and a friendly welcome.  And chickens roaming freely, which added to the chilled out atmosphere!

After a leisurely stroll in the village we thought about having a pre-dinner drink in the terrace outside our room, but it just wasn't quite warm enough....

Instead we retreated to the warmth of the pub, before heading through to the restaurant for roast beef with all the trimmings and a good bottle of red - perfect Easter fare.

The next day we explored Bledington.  It was lovely to be outside - we walked for ages without meeting anyone.  I love living in the city, but do miss the freedom and peace of the countryside.

The houses in the Cotswolds are just stunning, you feel as though you have stepped back in time.

 

 

Before we knew it it was time to head back to London, but we've promised to return in the summer!

Reading

Where I Get My Books From

• Kindle
• Bookshop - high street stores and independent shops
• Online
• Work
• Charity Shops
• Friends' bookshelves

Is the traditional book dead?  We're constantly hearing that the days of print are numbered and e-books are taking over.  I work in publishing and remember when e-readers first emerged on the scene - there was a definite sense of panic over what the future may hold.  While there's undoubtedly been many changes over the last few years, the traditional book seems determined to fight its corner.

I'm tempted to argue that I read more now than I did when I was a student - when I basically had all day every day to read for four whole years!  The experience of purchasing a book has certainly become easier.  I love the fact that I can download a book to my Kindle instantly, ensuring I'm never stuck for something to read on the commute to work. 

Nor can I resist the lure of a bookshop or charity shop, for who knows what treasures may lurk within?  If there's a book I want to keep forever I will buy a physical copy (even if I already have an e-copy).  I've also been known to buy books for their front cover alone (despite the old adage!) - I see them as works of art that I buy for my home.

I wonder what the situation will be 20 years from now?  Somehow the idea of a house without physical books, irrelevant of the number of titles stored in the e-reader, just seems wrong.

Heywood Hill Bookshop

Wanderings in Mayfair

Yesterday we had a wandering sort-of-day in Central London, with nowhere to be and no-one to see - my perfect way to spend a Saturday.  I'm currently reading The House of Mitford by Jonathan and Catherine Guinness (more about this in a future post!) so when we strolled past Heywood Hill Bookshop on Curzon Street I had to take a peek inside.

On the wall outside is the obligatory blue plaque, announcing the fact that Nancy Mitford worked here in the 1940s.

Inside we found a treasure-filled shop, with shelves groaning under the weight of a vast and varied collection of books - some old, many new and some obscure.  The House of Mitford describes how Nancy's employment in the shop turned it into a "centre for chatting," where her many friends would congregate - which could prove off-putting to the uninitiated customer.  However, on this visit we were left in peace to browse freely and without interruption.  With great restraint I managed to leave empty-handed, but I will be back....!

Any Human Heart

Any Human Heart by William Boyd


At the start of this year I had a week in bed with tonsillitis, feeling generally rubbish/bored/sorry for myself.  It's times like this that I seek comfort in my choice of reading - nothing new or too challenging.  Like an old faithful friend, I found myself reaching for Any Human Heart by William Boyd.

I first read this novel about 3 years ago after seeing the excellent adaptation on Channel 4, and I've re-read it every year since, usually at about this time of year.  There's something about the story of Logan Mountstuart that inspires and motivates the reader - as he himself exclaims: "Still, carpe diem.  Of all people, I should be living by that axiom."

We're first introduced to Logan as a boy of six growing up in Montevideo, Uruguay.  His life - and writing - encompasses the majority of the 20th century, from 1906 to 1991.  During this time Logan has a habit of finding himself at the forefront of some of the pivotal years of the last century - the halcyon days of university at Oxford in the 1920s, as a successful writer and war correspondent in the 1930s, a betrayed spy and prisoner of war in the Second World War and as an art dealer in hip 1950s New York.  En route he meets a slew of famous faces, including Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The diary format used throughout is compelling and, at times, refreshingly honest.  Logan's attitude towards his son, Lionel, makes particularly painful reading.  As he lurches from one relationship to the next we may disapprove of Logan's philandering love life, but we're always on his side, willing him to find the happiness he seeks.

There are many very funny moments - whenever Logan's friend Dick Hodge appears I'm ready to laugh.  But this is balanced by moments of sadness too - anyone who lives to a good age can expect to experience the death of loved ones, but the Second World War right in the middle of Logan's life shatters his world and things are never to be the same again.

This balance is brilliantly summed up by Logan as he nears the end of his days:

"That's all your life amounts to in the end: the aggregate of all the good luck and the bad luck you experience...Tot it up - look at the respective piles.  There's nothing you can do about it: nobody shares it out, allocates it to this one or that, it just happens."

Food for thought as I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself. 

This book is highly recommended and remains a firm favourite. 

Let me know if you've read the book.  What sort of a reaction did Logan provoke in you?

First Day of Spring

Today it felt like spring might be just around the corner....the sun was out, the sky was blue, and for the first time in ages it was a pleasure to simply meander around outside.

I spent the afternoon in the grounds of Chiswick House in West London.  It was a pleasure to stroll about and soak up the lazy Sunday atmosphere.

I brought along my new camera to have a play around - I'm still very much a point, shoot and hope-for-the-best kind of photographer, apparently I need to take my time and focus more on composition.  But it was fun to be outside and capture the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've just realised that most of these are in black and white - the sun was shining, I promise!

 

 

Dear Diary.....

Confession time - when I was 20 I had a big clear out and binned all my childhood diaries.  Yep - everything.  From my first proper diary when I was 9, detailing the daily happenings on my grandad's farm (typical entry: "counted the cows, 44, good - none missing") to the teenage years, which seem to be preoccupied with what I'd eaten/watched on tv that day, rather than any major teenage rebellion. 

Luckily, the morning after my mass tidy-up I had a change of heart and raced down to rescue the diaries from the bin before the rubbish was collected.  Ever since then they've sat gathering dust in my mum and dad's house, 500 miles from where I now live.  But I'm comforted to know that they're there and am so thankful that I didn't lose them forever.

My early 20s are a bit sparse in diary terms, I guess adult life got in the way - studying, boyfriend, first proper job.  But this year I've resolved to keep a personal diary and so far I'm doing well - writing up each day faithfully before bed. 

And now I have the blog too - just in case I decide to have a clear out again!

January Blues

I've started this year with a dose of the January blues - feeling ill and sorry for myself, tired of the long dark nights and already counting the days 'til my next holiday.  One day in work I stumbled across a couple of blogs which instantly lifted my mood.  They offered inspiration, ideas, and the chance to peek into the lives of others - what's not to like?!

After reading lots of different blogs over the last few weeks, I have challenged myself to start writing my own posts - and make 2013 (and beyond) a time of inspiration, appreciation and adventure.... 

What made you start reading/writing a blog?  What advice would you give a newbie?