Away for a Week

I was in Altrincham all of last week giving a training course..it was enjoyable in so far as being the trainer is...I had a good bunch which made it a bit easier...I wouldn't say that I have a calling for the role, but it is good for the soul to occasionally get out of routine! It's exhausting standing in the front and having to talk,think, move, engage people all at the same time! A week also seems to be a long time these days, especially as Sunshine seems to change on a daily basis!

Needless to say I managed to fill each evening with catch-ups with friends...Katie & Mark (Katie cooked some fab lamb burgers and I didn't scare Tully too much this time!), a lovely evening with Marianthi in Manchester (I'm sure we walked further than we needed to....!) and a class night out...lots of good food and not too late nights...why am I so tired?!! Well, it would have been a bit rude not to make the most of my 'freedom'....but it was definitely good to get home...eventually...

FANTASTIC!

...and a little sad....But a brilliant book! This has got to be my fastest read yet...but then I am away from home...:(

'A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers' is a love story between a young Chinese student and an English man...The story chronicles the year when Z attends an English school in London and everything that happens from her point of view. The story is written in ever improving English and tells of her heartbreak. I loved it! I finished it on the tram and I'll admit the end made me well up a bit....

The Parsifal Mosaic

I finished 'The Parsifal Mosaic'...it took a while to get into it as it's not my usual genre of novel. But once I managed to maintain a steady reading pace I found it hard to put down! Although I will admit that I have been tired recently and it took me about 4 attempts to read the final and most exciting chapter!! I was given a further challenge to read another 2 Robert Ludlum tomes straight away (as Peter's mum managed to finish 3 in a week- but then I do have to go to work etc etc...)...but I have declined and decided that as I was on my way up to Manchester to deliver some training that I could find a new book to read whilst at the airport!

I would not read this particular book again...but I may try another Ludlum in the future...if pushed...and there being nothing else to read!!

Dragon...grrrrrr

It's the Southampton Boat Show next weekend...and there were some PR people handing out free dragon masks....I think it's an improvement...

Raiding the Veggie Patch

Trevor seemed to have a lot of produce (especially rhubarb), so after breakfast and the rain, we dug some potatoes with the kids, I picked some rhubarb and lovely onions..Sunshine was responsible for the apples!

Thanks Elizabeth & Trevor!

Half-Blood Prince

As the last Harry Potter has finally been released (and out for a couple of weeks!), I decide that it was high time to read the penultimate tome "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". Ok, so I am little behind the times...anyway...it was ok, the end was a definite lead into the final chapter of the long-running saga. I have a feeling that Harry could be a horcrux, but I could be wrong! I'm going to have to read the last installment for completeness, but I can wait until it's out in paperback (as I like to maintain the look on my bookshelf!)

Peter was a bit fed up with me spending any spare time I had with Harry Potter, and has challenged me to read a Robert Ludlum novel as his mum has a complete collection. I have accepted this challenge....watch this space!