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Read more books! Educate! Educate!
Dec. 29th, 2012 12:10 amI spend a lot of time on trains, commuting. And a lot of that time I spend reading. I have, however, come to a rather sad realisation: I can't be trusted to choose my own books.
( I don't seem to be very good at it )
Accordingly, this year my new year's resolution is to read better books. Which is where you, ladies and gentlemen of LJ, come in. Please recommend me a book which you love, and which I should read. I'd like fiction, but beyond that I'm willing to try anything. It'd be useful if it weren't something which is very out of print, but if you really think it's worth it I'll try and track it down (or turn up on your doorstep demanding to borrow a copy).
[Poll #1887610]
( [*] )
( I don't seem to be very good at it )
Accordingly, this year my new year's resolution is to read better books. Which is where you, ladies and gentlemen of LJ, come in. Please recommend me a book which you love, and which I should read. I'd like fiction, but beyond that I'm willing to try anything. It'd be useful if it weren't something which is very out of print, but if you really think it's worth it I'll try and track it down (or turn up on your doorstep demanding to borrow a copy).
[Poll #1887610]
( [*] )
At least once a week, I trundle straight from work onto a train and head off to a dance practice. Being the sort of person who likes meals at nice regular intervals, I pick something up in the station as I pass through. A few years ago, that basically meant Burger King or Upper Crust. These days there are the heady alternatives of M&S Food and Subway. My default choice for some time has been Subway, because it's hot (ie more like a meal, in my book), made from something at least resembling real food, and inexpensive.
For ages, I've been wondering why stations never sell proper, reasonably healthy, takeaway meals - a bowl of rice and curry, a bowl of pasta, a plate of noodles... sometimes you can get soup, but the UK's highstreets are mostly very low on decent street-food options.
( Step forward Stewed! )
For ages, I've been wondering why stations never sell proper, reasonably healthy, takeaway meals - a bowl of rice and curry, a bowl of pasta, a plate of noodles... sometimes you can get soup, but the UK's highstreets are mostly very low on decent street-food options.
( Step forward Stewed! )
Six sides to every lie I say
May. 11th, 2012 06:10 pmI had a baby's head for dinner!
Well, OK, I'm in Reading so it wasn't called a baby's head, it was called an individual steak and kidney pudding. But I grew up in that north and I know a babby's 'eid when I see one.
The Three Tuns in Reading: steak and kidney pud, chips with black pepper all over them, and mushy peas, £6.50. Not a bad price for quite a plateful. I didn't have the mushy peas, you can take this being northern thing too far.
Ideally I'd have spent this afternoon in a comfortable, suet-filled coma but actually I've spent it moving furniture around. For a company with not that many employees we seem to have a hell of a lot of desks.
Well, OK, I'm in Reading so it wasn't called a baby's head, it was called an individual steak and kidney pudding. But I grew up in that north and I know a babby's 'eid when I see one.
The Three Tuns in Reading: steak and kidney pud, chips with black pepper all over them, and mushy peas, £6.50. Not a bad price for quite a plateful. I didn't have the mushy peas, you can take this being northern thing too far.
Ideally I'd have spent this afternoon in a comfortable, suet-filled coma but actually I've spent it moving furniture around. For a company with not that many employees we seem to have a hell of a lot of desks.
Happy Flying Dude is out again.
I've worked in Reading for well over 10 years, and for most of that time (as far as I've noticed) sunny afternoons have been the preserve of Happy Flying Dude. HFD owns a small, red bi-plane with a very loud engine and when the skies are clear and blue he flings it around in an extravagant series of loops, spins and rolls. Today he must be directly over the building; I can't see him from my desk, although I can hear the rising and falling notes of the engine.
I've never seen HFD in person, of course. He doesn't fly that low over built-up areas. I have no actual evidence that the small, middle-aged man of my imagination, smiling and slightly greying, exists. Perhaps the plane's pilot is female. Perhaps the plane is used by many people from a club. Perhaps the pilot is executing a series of planned and choreographied manoeuvres rather than the carefree playfulness I see.
But in the summer I like to think of HFD, chuckling to himself as he cuts the engine and dives, then spins back up into the sky. In my mind, he's having an awful lot of fun.
I've worked in Reading for well over 10 years, and for most of that time (as far as I've noticed) sunny afternoons have been the preserve of Happy Flying Dude. HFD owns a small, red bi-plane with a very loud engine and when the skies are clear and blue he flings it around in an extravagant series of loops, spins and rolls. Today he must be directly over the building; I can't see him from my desk, although I can hear the rising and falling notes of the engine.
I've never seen HFD in person, of course. He doesn't fly that low over built-up areas. I have no actual evidence that the small, middle-aged man of my imagination, smiling and slightly greying, exists. Perhaps the plane's pilot is female. Perhaps the plane is used by many people from a club. Perhaps the pilot is executing a series of planned and choreographied manoeuvres rather than the carefree playfulness I see.
But in the summer I like to think of HFD, chuckling to himself as he cuts the engine and dives, then spins back up into the sky. In my mind, he's having an awful lot of fun.
Train heave on to Euston
Jul. 29th, 2011 10:42 amYesterday, something I've been fearing for the past eighteen months happened. It very nearly happened last month, when it would have been Adrian Tchaikowsky's fault. There were some close brushes at the hands of Mary Stewart, and one near miss with an unpronounceable Scandinavian.
However, it was PF Chisholm (as recommended some time ago by, I think,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shui_long) who was finally the guilty party.
On my commute home, I read on as the train pulled into my station. And continued reading as it pulled out again, necessitating a trip into Paddington and back to get home.
However, it was PF Chisholm (as recommended some time ago by, I think,
shui_long) who was finally the guilty party.On my commute home, I read on as the train pulled into my station. And continued reading as it pulled out again, necessitating a trip into Paddington and back to get home.
Note to self: every time you read Tesco in a news story, it probably actually says Tepco.
World Book Day
Mar. 4th, 2011 08:44 amThe book I am reading: Death Called to the Bar, David Dickinson
The book I love most: Um, it changes regularly, but over the last few years it's most consistently been An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears
The last book I received as a gift: The Portrait, and The Titian Committee, both by Iain Pears (for Christmas)
The last book I gave as a gift: a James Anderson omnibus (to my dad)
The nearest book: Join Me, Danny Wallace
Hmm. That does make my reading look a bit one-dimensionsal, doesn't it?
The book I love most: Um, it changes regularly, but over the last few years it's most consistently been An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears
The last book I received as a gift: The Portrait, and The Titian Committee, both by Iain Pears (for Christmas)
The last book I gave as a gift: a James Anderson omnibus (to my dad)
The nearest book: Join Me, Danny Wallace
Hmm. That does make my reading look a bit one-dimensionsal, doesn't it?
Naughty boys in nasty schools
Sep. 17th, 2010 10:53 amLast night I finished reading Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Or, as I consistently think of him, "no, not that David Mitchell". Black Swan Green was actually a birthday present from spindlemere last year, but a housemove got in the way and caused it to hide for a while.
( Linguistic regression... )
Anyway, it's a book well worth reading. I commend it to you.
spindlemere last year, but a housemove got in the way and caused it to hide for a while.( Linguistic regression... )
Anyway, it's a book well worth reading. I commend it to you.
They print my message in the Saturday Sun
Aug. 17th, 2010 11:20 pmThis evening, I left work and pedalled over to the other side of Reading to Sally's house. We had dinner, opened a bottle of wine, let a few more people in, and ( sat in the dark. )
Und tausend Elefanten brechen aus
Aug. 12th, 2010 09:10 amA while ago I realised that, if I'm going to cycle safely along roads with people on them (particularly that bit in Reading which lots of pedestrians mistakenly believe is "no cycling") I need a bell.
I am a Serious Cyclist so I went to Tiger, the mysterious Everything Shop in Ealing Broadway, and splashed out £1 on a ( bright green bell )
I am a Serious Cyclist so I went to Tiger, the mysterious Everything Shop in Ealing Broadway, and splashed out £1 on a ( bright green bell )
