Trees

Sent from my iPhone

Life

Sent from my iPhone

Hold

Sent from my iPhone

Habit

Sent from my iPhone

Perfect

Shred

Sent from my iPhone

Discoveries

Sent from my iPhone

Class

Sent from my iPhone

Cafe

Sent from my iPhone

Convention

Sent from my iPhone

Hound

One of the books on the '100 bucket' poster is The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I think I've read at some point, being a bit of a Holmes fan. I have a vague recollection of doing a book report for school on the famous detective, and actually enjoying my English homework for once, as I was allowed free rein over the subject. Who knows, it might even have been some GCSE coursework!

Anyway, Hound is Sherlock book #5, first serialised in the Strand magazine before being published as a stand-alone novel. It is the third of the four novels, but comes after an eight year gap since the previous the short story collection The Memoirs. It was published (supposedly to quell the public appetite for more Holmes and Watson) despite the fact that in the last story of The Memoirs (The Final Problem) Holmes gets into a bit of a tussle with his arch enemy Moriaty at the Reichenbach Falls, and appears to fall to his death. However, ACD sidesteps that problem by setting the events of The Hound at an earlier date! Readers had to wait a further three years for the The Return of Sherlock Holmes to find out what had happened.

As for Hound itself, most definitely not my favourite. Holmes himself is absent from the entire middle section of the novel, and the culprit comes as little surprise. On reflection would probably have worked better as on of the short stories.

As it happens, of my many book series I have been attempting to read over the years, Holmes was one of them, and I was up to #4 previously, so I can enjoy getting back to some short stories now - much more fun.

 

Locket

Found whilst having a bit of a sort out in the back bedroom, including a few bags of things that had been brought back from the Old School House.

Golden

Sent from my iPhone

Hold

Sent from my iPhone

Rector

Not really sure why, but sat in the garden of The Peacock, I ended up thinking about Joanna Trollope books, which I have several of on the shelves, mostly claimed from the Old School House library. I'm sure I read The Choir many years ago, but I don't specifically remember reading any others. I don't know whether looking at the outside of The Peacock, it felt like the sort of place a Joanna Trollope character ought to live, who knows! Anyway, I had a rummage on my library app, and downloaded The Rector's Wife (which doesn't seem to be on the shelves, and yet according to my book collection app I claim to have a paperback of it - most puzzling). Anyway, I've just finished it, and enjoyed it, and will I'm sure read some more of her (mostly more recent) books that are currently sat in the library. 

Hot

 So we are having a bit of a heatwave - mercury pushing well above 30 degrees at the moment. If we were working in an office, it'd be time to be sent home!

Chatsworth

This was supposed to be Saturday's post, and I thought that I had reserved a spot for it, but obviously not.

Anyway, Saturday was reserved for Chatsworth, and after a mighty fine hotel breakfast, we took the very short drive over, parked up, went up to the carriage house to collect our picnic, had a quick look around the shop picking up a couple of things (and stowed the picnic away back in the car, which turned out to be a mistake, but saved us from carrying it around the house), and all nicely in time for our appointed visit to the house.

What to say - huge, impressive, lots of artwork, including a variety of old and new, but to be honest, the grounds were far more impressive, and once we'd blagged our way out and in again to collect the picnic we had a very pleasant time in the sunshine.

 

Head

Disappointing to report that first day back from holiday break = bad head.

Form your own conclusions re period of relaxation followed by trying to get back to work. Who knows!

Bake

Our last day in the Peak District and what to do. We can't just head straight back to the motorway and come home - that would be a waste, and so we decide to head along the road to Bakewell - only a little way from the Peacock. Having driven through it a few times already, we'd seen that it could get pretty busy, and so we were a little alarmed to hear when checking out from the hotel that Monday was market day.

Still, undeterred, we stuck with the plan, but knew that the right thing to do would be to dive off to the right into the first car park (the one for the agricultural bit of the market, over the cattle grid with the farmers and their trailers). This worked a treat and we were able to park without a problem, and on the right side of town for a swift exit afterwards, and could follow the crowds for the short walk into town. Bakewell itself was worthy of a wander, not that we went in many places (sadly the antiquarian bookshop was closed on a Monday) and our main stop was at the cafe in the antique centre - found after a brief search based on the fact that it was the number one recommendation on Trip Adviser - for coffee and brunch - we'd had too long a lay in for hotel breakfast!

Fed and watered, we meandered back to the car and embarked on the journey home. We didn't stop in the popular-looking official Bakewell tart and pie shop as Nicky had already ordered some on-line for home delivery!

Peak

And so Sunday was spent exploring some more of the Peak District.

We decided that the first stop should be Castleton, where we tried not to be put off by the fact that we were in a bit of a minority for not wearing walking boots and carrying rucksacks. Nicky was not-so-secretly pleased to discover that the attractions of Castleton (either the Castle at the top of a steep hill, or an underground cave) were both unavailable to us as in the current environment required pre-booking, so we did what came naturally and went to the nicest looking tea rooms, had a cup of coffee, and shared a rather scrummy piece of bakewell pudding.

We'd been entertained on our way up to Castleton to see brown tourist signs for a 'Cutlery factory' and thought that the Peak District must be a bit short of attractions if this was the best they could muster. However, we then went past it, and Nicky was excited to see that it was the David Mellor factory and gallery. I tried to look like I knew what she was talking about, but she reminded me that we'd seen it on Grand Designs a couple of weeks before. So, we decided on leaving Castleton that we should pay it a visit, and it was well worth it. Favourite fact: David Mellor designed the traffic lights that we see every day. Nicky's purchase: salt and pepper shakers to go with the trivet that had been a Christmas present from Jake.

Next stop on our Peak tour - Buxton. Had a wander round, admired the architecture, saw the spring water, that was about all.

Back to hotel. Overall scenery driving around during the day beautiful.

Peacock

M1 took rather a long time, but it was worth it to arrive at the Peacock in time for a relaxing drink in the garden, followed by dinner in the bar.

 

Macron

At least Macron showed up in Beirut today. No sign of the Lebanese politicians, so Macron was there on the street, taking the brunt. To his great credit, he listened, and he hugged. It may not seem much, but perhaps it made a positive difference in this terrible time.

Lebanon

The pictures from Lebanon are just awful. For a country already suffering in so many ways, to have this terrible tragedy occur is heart-breaking. At this early stage, it does look like a disaster of mismanagement and negligence rather than anything more sinister, but that is little comfort to the hundreds of bereaved families, to the thousands of injured, to the tens of thousands of homeless, and to an entire country that relied on the port for bringing in food and other essential supplies. Even in the Covid world in which we live, let's hope the international community rallies round with aid and support. 

Thanks

(Shockingly late blog catching up)

Finished off the Thanks NHS book of 100 stories to say thank you (or as Adam Kay admits in the intro, more like 109 due to the response rate). A mixed bag of the moving (often about life's arrivals and departures) to the mundane, to the bizarre (yes you Jamie - bunging in a couple of recipes is not telling a story).

Gate

(Shockingly late blog catching up)

Having seen them sat on the shelf whilst playing darts with Jake, I thought that I'd give an Alastair MacLean a go. I went through a phase of buying and reading them whilst I was at university (bizarre - no doubt that was when I was supposed to be getting inspired by the classics, and there I was reading old thrillers). Rather than the obvious Where Eagles Dare, or Ice Station Zebra, I went for The Golden Gate. Strangely the blurb at the front said that it was first published in '63, but after reading for a while, this didn't feel right, and sure enough on checking, this was a mistake and it came out in '76.

As for the book itself - not much happened to be honest. Maybe I'm being harsh by comparison with more modern stuff, but basically a bunch of bad guys hijacked the presidential motorcade in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge, but there was an undercover CIA agent on one of the accompanying coaches, and he sorted things out. That's about it!

Bond4

As I said back in June, Diamonds are Forever next, and here we are. Bond is up against the mob (The Spangled Mob to be precise) and the majority of the action takes place in the US. This is the second time in four books that he gets to deal with the American underworld. Perhaps a bit early for the cold war? In any case, one is left with the impression that Fleming is excited by, and yet looks down his nose at, America. Certainly he has very little time for mob-controlled Vegas, and the 'nursery' game of blackjack, which he clearly thinks isn't a patch on the proper casinos of Europe. 

Recurring characters are starting to make their mark. Vallance (of the Yard) had made an impression in Moonraker, and is back here, helping with the Peter Franks set up at the beginning. And of course Leiter - he'd been left in pretty awful shape in Live and Let Die, having been thrown to the fishies, but Fleming clearly liked him, and saw a future in him, so gave him a new leg, a hook for a hand, a job working for Pinkertons detective agency, and a spectacular coincidence of working a similar case enabling him to be in cahoots with Bond for much of the time.

And this time round Bond does get the girl, Tiffany Case. So much so that at the end we are told that she is left installed at his London flat. So, what will happen at the opening of From Russia With Love?

Bridget

Having read P&P, it somehow seemed appropriate to read Bridget Jones's Diary, and it was on the '100 books' list in any case. Entertaining read. A couple of particular points to note:

• Both Hugh Grant and Colin Firth get a mention in the book. Grant's is not very flattering at all, a reference to his infamy rather than his fame, coming up in the very first of the mad editorial meetings that Bridget attends at her new job. One wonders whether Grant was made aware of this reference before he signed on to play the Daniel role? Firth's mention is in his role as Mr Darcy, as the book is set in 1995, the year in which everyone was watching the BBC adaptation of P&P.
• Whilst Mark Darcy = Mr Darcy is a bit blooming obvious, I do now at least get the references as to his character, and maybe more importantly his actions. How did Mr Darcy set about trying to impress Elizabeth in P&P - he dropped everything, went to London to save Lydia. How did Mark Darcy set about trying to impress Bridget - he dropped everything, went to Portugal to save Bridget's Mum.