The Booker Prize...

...is not something that I choose books based on. In fact, having looked at this list, I have read exactly zero of the winners, and exactly three (Small World (1984) and Nice Work (1988) by David Lodge, and Astonishing Splashes of Colour (2003) by Clare Morrall) of the shortlisted titles. (and the David Lodge ones were read because my parents had them and one of the covers appealed, exactly how I ended up reading Animal Farm and 1984 before I'd started senior school).

Basically, that type of writing is not my type of reading.

But this kind of thinking is my kind of thinking.

Julian Barnes, in his acceptance speech, said: "I'd like to thank the judges - whom I won't hear a word against - for their wisdom. And the sponsors for their cheque."

Thanking the book's designer, Suzanne Dean, he added: "Those of you who've seen my book - whatever you may think of its contents - will probably agree that it is a beautiful object.

"And if the physical book, as we've come to call it, is to resist the challenge of the e-book, it has to look like something worth buying and worth keeping."

Can I get a HELL YEAH!

I will freely admit to buying books based on their looks. There have been countless books where I have read a proof copy and known I wanted to buy the book, then not bought it because it just isn't nice enough to be worth the money when I've already got a proof copy. There have also been quite a few where I've made myself wait for the paperback to be released, only to be disappointed by it, and instead buy the hardback before it gets sent back to the publishers.

One year, darling Miss Emily bought me this beautiful hardback, quarter leather bound edition of The Colour of Magic from a second-hand bookshop.

Later, I discovered that the mail-order book club I was a member of had started producing these editions and I added to my set. Sadly they only ever produced up to book 18, but I do keep my eyes peeled in case one day, they decide to complete the series.

When I went down to London at the beginning of September, Mama and I spent a nice couple of hours at the British Library, and she practically had to forcibly remove me from the shop due to all the beautiful Folio Society editions that they keep in stock there. Warning; if you follow that link, prepare to be scared by the prices. Instead, I had a quick look on eBay when I got home, and Folio Society editions do turn up on there quite often.

I treated myself to this totally gorgeous slipcased edition of I Capture the Castle, for a barginous price of £8.50 (inc shipping). (the edition on the right is my original second printing copy)

Now I just need some kind person to be selling off these editions of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion at sensible prices, and I'll be a mostly happy bunny.

Mostly happy, because I'll still be lusting after this, and this, and this, and this, and this. Ooh, and these.

Anyone won the lottery recently?

PS: I'm experimenting by having set all of the above links to open in new windows/tabs. Let me know if this majorly narks you, and I'll get rid of it.

Seriously...

...prodding buttock.

I may have just found the perfect motivational tool for 99% of my days.

I've just managed to spend an entire hour on the cross-trainer (assisted by the wondrous Lady Gaga), my legs now feel like jelly and I'm worried I may faint in the shower, but I did it.

My motivational tool is below:

This is the baby jacket that my darling sister brought me back from Canada in 2005. In fact she brought it back exactly six years ago last Monday (20th). Unfortunately that makes tomorrow exactly six years since I had my first miscarriage.

We've got an appointment with the specialist at New Cross next Tuesday. Hopefully we'll get a few questions answered and get a few pointers for the future.

But I'm thinking that making myself sad and angry so that I blast it with the cross-trainer until I fall over will be an excellent coping technique.

As for the other 1% of the time when it just makes me want to eat chocolate, hopefully the 99% will help counteract it!

PAD Week 2...

...09/01/11 to 15/01/11.

Has it really...

...been three months?!

Doesn't feel like it.

Anyways, I am here and I am fine (but since most of you follow me on Twitter anyway you all knew that...) I've just been busy and had nothing to blog about.

Well nothing to blog about is a bit of a fib, after all I have bought my first home and moved into it in the past few weeks, but I just had no urge to blog about anything, so I didn't.

About the only thing I did fancy blogging about were the AMAZING cupcakes that I baked a couple of weeks back. Since the last time I made a cupcake or anything that wasn't a packet mix was back before Miss Emily started school (19 years ago) it was a little scary.

Here are my beautiful tasty cupcakes:



Nom, nom, nom, nom...

Otherwise, the boxes are gradually getting unpacked, work is crazy (but will settle down after tomorrow), Esme has been not very well but is getting much better, Foley is a cute little Terror, Anthony is grumpy cos I keep coughing all night (stupid winter colds) but looks very nice in a tux...


...and I'm getting bookshelves for my birthday.

Have a truly lovely Christmas folks, I'm not going to promise to post more in the New Year, let's just see what happens.

xxx

This day...

...two years ago was crap.

This day last year was pretty cool.

This day this year was bloody brilliant.

Firstly my Anthony's visor finally arrived (it got lost in the post and bounced back to Monaco)



Then a bit later on Jane came up to me and said "A lady's just walked in who looks exactly like Michaela Strachan, but it can't be her, can it?"

But it was.

And she was lovely.

And we all ended up so totally giggly and star-struck that it's almost unimaginable. (we nearly had to send Richie-Fingers upstairs to have a little lie down).

Then when it was time to go home my very lovely man came and picked me up so I didn't have to walk the mean streets of Wolverhampton with his precious visor.

At home there was a large parcel under the doormat that turned out to be my prize from Lovely Caroline. I won a signed limited edition copy of The Equivoque Principle by Darren Craske that I am really really looking forward to reading.

So today was a very very good day and I enjoyed myself very very much.

Thank you universe for lovely friends and lovely people and meeting childhood idols and discovering they're just as lovely as you thought they were.

(apologies for the overuse of the word lovely in this post. But it is lovely and I do love it)

I don't really have...

...a defined personal belief system.

I don't buy into "heaven and hell" but equally I would like there to be something more than nothing.

It changes from time to time, some days the knowledge that the atoms that made up my dad (and grandparents, and great-grandparents, and Julius Caesar / Cleopatra / Champion the Wonder Horse) are all still floating about out there in other things is enough, other days it is comforting to think of Dad on a cloud buying a heavenly pint for Humphrey Lyttelton / Spike Milligan / his best mate Brian.

Today I need something a little more than atoms.

Today I need to know that the man (not gentleman as will become very clear) that I encountered on my way home will burn in a fiery hell. Or possibly drown in a wet one. I'm leaning towards drowning.

Imagine that you are driving down a road in the rain (in your flashy Mercedes, probably bought with proceeds from drugs/guns/prostitutes) and you see that the car ahead of you has just driven through a very large puddle, forcing a woman approaching the edge of the road (in fact on the pavement about 2 metres from the kerb) to jump backwards to avoid being splashed.

Do you:

a) Slow down and flash your lights to indicate that she can cross in front of your car and wait for her to get out of splashing range before driving on.

b) Slow down and flash your lights to indicate that she can cross in front of your car but then as she approaches the edge of the kerb slam your foot on the accelerator and speed through the puddle soaking her to the skin while honking your horn.

I suppose I should think myself lucky for being wary and not getting run over.

As it is that man has a nice little eternity being dreamt up for him.

Twunt.

Reasons that my iPhone is fabulous...

...number 34598613947259735872048205345018. (no, seriously, IT IS THAT DAMN GOOD)

Ahem.

Today has been a pretty crappy day.

There's been a few of those recently and to be honest it's been an issue for a while.

But I've been avoiding it, naturally.

Today I cracked slightly and went into Tesco after work and filled a basket with stuff, paid for it and then started walking home - in the pouring rain.

Because of the rain and the shopping I could not shake my iPhone when it started playing me music I did not want to hear. I had to pick the first track and then just put up with whatever came next.

My iPhone obviously loves me.

Playlist for Kate's walk home in the pouring rain 26/08/09.

Screamager - Therapy? (I picked this)
The Dark Is Rising - Mercury Rev
Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It - Buffalo Springfield
For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
Disco 2000 - Pulp
Beautiful Day - U2

The last track started just as I got to the doorstep and then had to hunt through 3 bags for my keys.

Fabulous, fabulous iPhone.

***************************************

Now that I have taken off my soaking jeans, stuffed my trainers full of newspaper and prevented Foley from running under a bus while I checked the gas meter (£19.64) I can actually look at what I bought in Tesco.


I didn't just buy chocolate?????? *faints with shock*

(and with discounts it actually came to under £20 - my cracked brain has turned out sensible somehow).

So tonight I shall be googling how to cook pork belly slices, drinking Bucks Fizz and eating caramel shortcake, nom.

Oh, and being hyper about the fact I've had some visor related news.

Oh, and being proud of myself for finally booking that (long) overdue doctors appointment.

Today...

...would have been my Dad's 63rd birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad.



Miss you lots.

----------------------------

In other news.

Me and this daft man here...



...went to the bank today and got ourselves a mortgage.

I iz a grown-up.

I iz a HOT grown-up due to the air con at work not working.

Here is a picture of me looking hot:


In fact not just hot, hot AND sarcastic.

To celebrate both of today's events - beer. (in one of my Dad's glasses)




Cheers.

Alton Towers...

...(where I went on Wednesday) was rather good fun.

For your viewing pleasure, here is my fabulous sister and her equally fabulous boyfriend Brychan getting on down to the Austin Powers theme tune.

You won't be able to hear the music, because my camera is stupid and cannot record sound.

But it's pretty damn funny soundless nonetheless.

Five months ago...

...it was my birthday (and I became old).

At the time I posted about my plans to put together a playlist of 150 songs for my 30th birthday, the 150for30.

It's still a work in progress.

I'm 37 songs short of the full 150. I've got 34 songs that I need to download (I'm doing 10 a month on payday) and I'm still missing 3 songs for the 0-10 section.

Below is the list of the 37 songs I've found for that time, can anyone help me think of three more?

I'm after the big songs from between 1978 and 1988, I'm sure there must be a few more key songs from that time that I just haven't thought of. Songs that were played everywhere and that have just slipped my mind.

So here's the list, any more ideas? (Keris...I'm looking at you here...)

All Around My Hat - Steeleye Span
American Pie - Don McLean
Babooshka - Kate Bush (TDL)
Bicycle Race - Queen
Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann
Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Cathedral - CSNY
Christmas Must Be Tonight - The Band
Dancing in the City - Marshall Hain (TDL)
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Gaudete - Steeleye Span
Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City - Harry Nilsson
Guitar Man - Bread
Hotel California - Eagles
House At Pooh Corner - Livingstone Taylor
In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
Karma Chameleon - Culture Club (TDL)
Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
Love The One You're With - Stephen Stills
Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz (TDL)
Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
Orinoco Flow - Enya (TDL)
Our House - CSNY
Photographs and Memories - Jim Crace (TDL)
Shaddap You Face - Joe Dolce (TDL)
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Spirit in the Sky - Doctor and the Medics (TDL)
Stand and Deliver - Adam Ant (TDL)
Stuck In The Middle With You - Steeler's Wheel
Sunshine On My Shoulders - John Denver
Take On Me - A-Ha
Teach Your Children - CSN
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
The Weight - The Band
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham
We Will Rock You - Queen

(TDL)= To DownLoad.

For bonus points, can you guess any of the 14 songs from that list that have made it onto my work playlist...

Blog Fail...

...Epic.

Since I'm on holiday there is absolutely no excuse for not posting. Well, apart from the WoW playing and book reading and naps on the sofa with the cats and trying to get the V+ box down to under 40 hours of recordings...

Sorry

Here is the meal I made two weeks ago (after the Chinese GP)

Chicken with Chorizo
It was ok but I won't be cooking it again. Partly because we discovered that Anthony is not a huge fan of chorizo, and partly because all the prep for it took bloody ages. (Which is not good when you are overtired and very hungry). Watching Anthony waving a red pepper over the gas rings in an attempt to char the skin so we could peel it was mediumly humorous, but since the unpeeled yellow pepper ended up fine, that step can definitely be missed out. So it was nice, but far too much faff for me.

Last Saturday I cooked the Chicken in Garlic Sauce for Angie, Paul and Joe and they were all very impressed. I was also impressed as after the pepper charring incident I had forgotten how straightforward the recipe was and was expecting lots of faff. No faff, just lovely food and lovely sauce and lovely people to eat it with.

Next Sunday I shall not be cooking as I shall be at work, but for the Sunday after that I think I'm going to go for something basic - possibly a nice Cottage Pie.

I have had...

...a very relaxing five days off. Well, four so far and then rest of today which will be the only one of those days sans Anthony. Which has been lovely too.

We have both had haircuts, we've driven round various areas of Wolverhampton trying to find bits that we'd like to live in, we've been to Waitrose three times and Hobbycraft once and we've got the V+ Box down to 40 hours of free space (rather than 5).

Anthony showed amazing patience when helping me choose a new pair of trainers:
K - Not those ones
A - Why not?
They've got too much white on them
What about these ones?
Too grey
How about these?!?
Yuck!
These ones? (said through gritted teeth)
Hmmm....
Eventually I decided on a pair of the Hmmm... ones (what do you mean you can't tell the difference?)

(pictures (in order) for those who did not want to link click)




They also ended up being men's ones rather than women's, partly due to the fact that all the men's ones were out for people to try while you had to ask for the women's ones (and I couldn't put the poor shop guy through it).

That's the first pair of trainers I've owned in 15 years...my last pair were for PE at school and they lasted through my gym moments at uni too. Since then I've not really worn trainers, and the pair of Anthony's that I "borrow" are a size too big and so unrunnable in. Not that I'm about to take up running. Definitely not.

On Sunday I cooked up some Veal Scaloppine. Or at least I would have done had Waitrose had any veal left. They did not, so instead we had Pork Scaloppine.


I very slightly over salted it (due to not being used to using salt when cooking but following instructions in the book to the letter) but Anthony said it was "Bloody lovely". So that was a success.

In two weeks time I have promised to cook Chicken in Garlic Sauce for Angie, Paul and Joe - eeek! Cooking for real people! People who won't be afraid to tell me if it is actually inedible (Joe), but who will also pour me more wine if it is (Angie and Paul). Angie also hit the nail on the head when she called me a 'dinner party cook'. It's true, cooking is such a big event for me at the moment. One of the reasons she therefore decided I should have a dinner party!

Back to work tomorrow...I have three days in, then one off, then four in, then NINE off! (Then my next break is June, then Monza!)

Call me nosy...

...but I always like looking at what the person in front of me is buying.

In the corner shop just now the man in front of me bought 8 cans of Strongbow, 4 bottles of Blossom Hill red wine (couldn't see the type) and a pack of Bernard Matthews Turkey burgers. "Oh and 10 Benson's, actually mate, make it 20".

Intriguing.

Mind you, the guy behind me must have been slightly puzzled at my purchases.

One large tub of Johnson's cotton buds and a packet of Viscount biscuits (14 for the price of 7).

Plus the £10 of gas and £20 of electric that I'd actually gone in there for.

We do actually need the cotton buds, but the Viscounts were an impulse buy.

I'm a little bit...

...fed up with the fact I've caught the flurgy twice in the last four weeks.

Partly cos it nearly killed me yesterday morning.

I was nicely asleep and having a surreal dream about Grandma Mazur (reading too much Stephanie Plum methinks) when I was woken up by a sneeze.
I reached down to the box of tissues...empty.
I woke up Anthony to check his side for tissues...nada.
So I hauled myself out of bed to go downstairs to the bathroom and grab some toilet roll.

Except the fact I was still rather sleepy meant that I didn't put my left foot where I should have done at the top of the stairs.

This resulted in me sliding down the stairs on my right side and landing in a heap at the bottom. (Anthony was out of bed and nearly at the top of the stairs before I hit the bottom).

Ow.

Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!

These are the stairs that I went sliding down (note the white marks on the edges of the bottom seven stairs).

Below you can see what my right calf and right thigh looked like just afterwards (those white marks on the stairs...the skin from my calf). The swelling on my thigh just kept growing, it was a B cup size before any bruising started to come though.





I trotted off to the doctor (ie Anthony gave me a lift there and then I took 20 mins to do the 5 min walk home) since I'd also banged my head (no bruising there, sorry) and he was quite amazed that I hadn't broken anything (as was I). I just had to wait for the swelling to subside before I tried to spend a large amount of time on my feet. He also said "You'll probably have a little bit of colour change around that swelling in the next few days".

He wasn't wrong.

So for your viewing hilarity I present to you.

Kate's Rainbow Leg (over the course of yesterday afternoon)




The bit above the crescent shape is where it is still swollen (although probably only an A cup now) from a haematoma that is "probably going to take a few weeks to come out properly" - as in the swelling to go and that bit of bruise to come out. Since this is me...the folks in the Center Parcs Spa will probably be wondering how I got that bruise when I go there in March!

Third Strike...

...and I'm down but not out.

I haven't been blogging much recently because I've been absolutely wiped out with a combination of extreme tiredness and nausea. Also because the reason for the tiredness/nausea was really the only thing I wanted to blog about.

I didn't want to blog about it til after Christmas, until my birthday in fact.

Then I could announce the fantastically good news that I was expecting a baby in late June and then everything was going well.

And it was.

Right up until the point during my first scan yesterday when I was lying there looking at the screen and making out the shape of my baby and the ultrasoundographer (is that even a word) said sorry. She said she couldn't find a heartbeat.

So I'm afraid that instead of joining the many blogging friends and friends from school with happy baby announcements, once again I have to buck the trend and be the one with bad news.

I'm off to the hospital this afternoon for what is referred to as "surgical management". Anthony is here and proving yet again exactly why he is the Yeti's polar opposite.

You know what? Next year I'm going to have a bloody fabulous Christmas, cos last year and this one are just too pants to count.

And if anyone would like to buy me an early Christmas present? I'd like this please. *grin*

Love you xx

This evening...

...I had to work some unpaid overtime in order to get out on display the 13 big new titles that are being published tomorrow. This way as soon as we open in the morning people can start buying them.

One of the books was the new Jacqueline Wilson book, Cookie.

It's in a very nice pink tin (for you to keep your cookies in) which was easier to stack that I thought it would be.

Ahhh...Jacqueline Wilson, a signatory on this statement against age-banding on children's books.

Hang on a sec, what's this on the back, just next to the price and the bar code...

9+

Yup.

Jacqueline Wilson has been age-banded.

I am not a happy bunny.

Update: Wilson's Cookie age-banded (and yes, I know it's What Katy Did rather than Katie - I was typing fast.)

My sister...

...needs your help.

In fact, she needs Shoe Help!

Since everyone knows that I am not good at shoes, you guys will be much more useful than me.

Widgets are very, very...

...distracting!

Lovely Caroline has a new blog widget for her beautiful new book Black Boxes.

<---- There it is! (possibly down a little bit too)

This is a brilliant widget because:

1. You get to go and visit loads of blogs that you may not have been to before.
2. Loads of people come and visit your blog!

However this is also a very bad thing because:

1. You get to go and visit loads of blogs that you may not have been to before - therefore you spend all your time reading so that when,
   
2. Loads of people come and visit your blog - all they get to read is a post from me saying I'm busy and not actually writing anything new (plus a scary Maths post).

So thank heavens for the Google Reader. Everywhere new that I end up I am adding to it (in a new folder called Widgetness) and everyone new that comes here and comments gets added too!

This way I still get to read lots of lovely new blogs and meet lots of new people, but when I decide to have one last go on the widget before bed, I can just add the new blog and read it when I have time.

I now have to go and read some of the 178 posts (!!!) that are waiting for me in Reader, so I shall leave you with a picture of some of the planes that hang from the ceiling at the Imperial War Museum.



(I am working on the rest of the London pictures, but you might get to see a few this week...if I can tear myself away from the widget!)

You may remember me...

...raving on about Stoneheart and Iron Hand by Charlie Fletcher over on my old blog.

Well the third book, Silvertongue is technically not published yet, but my ordered copy turned up at work last week.

Oh. Oh. Oh.

It was brilliant.

It pulled all the threads together in the nicest way, even if one particular one came completely out of the blue (but I adore it, it was a perfect conclusion).

It has made me even more want NEED to go wandering around London to find the statues that are such a huge part of the story.

Now as I said in the other post:

I've managed to find some photos of a couple of them, The Sphinx and The Royal Artillery Memorial, but I want to see all of them. I want to see the Grid Man, the clock where they hide, the statue of Icarus and the lair of the Minotaur

I've managed to track down the Minotaur in his lair, find the Icarus in his cage and see the Last Knight of the Cnihtengild all in one place, this nice pdf of a City of London leaflet (which is a bit of a bugger to load).

I've also discovered (via Google Book Search) an amazing book called Public Sculpture of the City of London (Public Sculpture of Britain Volume Seven) (link goes to the Icarus page), which I am absolutely going to have to get from the library!

New "characters" from Silvertongue include the Queen of America (part of the Albert Memorial), Hodge, and Bulldog; Plus the Knight of Wood and an unnamed but helpful character holding a quill who George finds in Southwark Cathedral after being sent there by Richard the Lionheart.

So when I go to London I shall be trekking from Hyde Park down to Southwark (and beyond as there's a statue named as The Bosun and Jack Tar that's even further downstream) in my quest to find them all.

I'd better wear some sensible shoes.

My mother's birthday present...

... (due 20th October 2007) is still a work in progress.

But it's getting there.

Saturday


Monday


Wednesday