On A Boring Underground / Subway Journey? Call Perry Mason

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For those who don't know. If you want to go to Victoria Underground station from Snaresbrook station you take the central line to Mile End, cross the platform and take the District Line to Victoria and that's it. Great railway journeys of the world it ain't.

So what you need to pass the time is a book. And I don't mean the Kindle either. Wasn't going to take that to the underground. So instead I looked at my mother's bookshelves and noticed a slightly battered paperback that I bought. I took it and read it. Half from Snaresbrook to Victoria on Tuesday and the remainder on the reverse journey today?

Why? Because wife/daughter came down from Wales to remind themselves what I looked like (and of course vice versa) for these five days.

A couple of diversions from the main chat. Firstly Monday is important as to whether I stay in Essex exile or can leave for Wales that day. Everything will depend on the result of my mother's outpatients appointment and whether after that able to leave before the Beast From The East snow arrives. Fingers crossed for that.

Secondly a quick word about the borough of  Westminster. People talk about the contrast within a short space of time between rich and poor. Must admit I agree. Here is a building near Victoria station.

Rich 

I must admit I really hate this building. Not just because of my dislike of untrammelled capitalism. But because it hurts my eyes.

A short walk away you'll get this

Reality

Anyway back to the book I picked which was...

Erle Stanley Gardner - The Case Of The Negligent Nymph

Erle Stanley Gardner's creation Perry Mason was the lawyer cum detective. This was in fact the first Perry I've ever perused. And I loved it.

It occurred to me as I was reading that this was the sort of novel (part of a series of course but this was written in 1956) that I think is rarely written nowadays. Where you're reading a book purely as an entertainment and you get the feeling that the author is having fun. That Erle is holding a party and you, the reader have been invited.

I suspect any degree of realism in this book was purely coincidental and that if you're a member of any branch of Law and Order you'll be tearing your hair out at the depiction of characters in your profession being ridiculed by the genus that is Mason. But it really doesn't matter. It's an entertainment. It's the perfect book for a commuter ride. Doesn't think you're thick. But doesn't expect your brain to be in top gear either. 

Until the next time.

Wandering Through Wanstead High street

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am not normally a man who goes back to the past, but sometimes circumstances offer it to you and, well you can;t resist.

I spent about two decades of my life living near Wanstead in Essex. I say Essex but in truth if you ignore actual boundaries then it's the place where East London and Essex coexist....and Essex starts to win. It's not as if I've not been in the intervening years. Driven past it and a couple of years back went to a wedding reception there. But for reasons I won't bore you with I had the chance to walk along Wanstead High Street on a grey Monday lunchtime and I took it.

Firstly perhaps I should show the statue where the town remembers it's war dead.

Quietly Impressive

It did occur to me as I was wandering has changed more than any other place I remember in my childhood. I might be wrong. Memories play tricks but here's an example.

Just A Pub? Well perhaps...

There was a pub. In this spot I think that was mocked up to look like a cricket pavilion. That's gone now anyway.

Some changes were even more dramatic. Here's a pharmacy.

But not just a pharmacy

For it was in fact a main post office and, though the picture doesn't make it clear it's actually a pharmacy come Post Office now.

This however was the biggest shock.

Not the statue of Churchill But The Building behind him

That building and it's a big building, used to be the local Conservative club. Now it's a pub/restaurant. Those of you who believe in symbolism should rejoice.

There used to be a bookshop. Now it's just part of a chain of Belgian restaurants.

Belgian restaurant chain:What the world has been crying out for

Some things though remain the same. This, even for a non-drinker like me, is a true pub.

The George

And what did I feel at the end of this short nostalgic Wanstead wander? Very old.

Until the next time.

When A TV Show Is An Unexpected Comfort (Bones)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So still in Essex exile at the moment. Hopefully just over a week to go before I can return to Wales. In the meantime Wales seems to appear in different ways. For example the discovery that I can watch Welsh club rugby on the TV in Essex via the red button was a pleasant surprise though the match itself, between the Ospreys and a South African team wasn't.

But as my mother is thankfully on the road to recovery it did occur to me about the things that pulled me through when things did not seem so bright. Coming back to the house from the hospital on a late evening, uncertain about the future, grabbing a microwave meal, a meal that someone in the family kindly made for me or a buying a bag of chips from the local Chinese around the corner (I tend to go Belgian with chips. Mayonnaise is my thing) and then propping myself in front of the TV.

I've mentioned before about the programmes I've been watching, either straight from the TV or as a DVD box set, during these two months, but during those specific moments of uncertainty one of these shows seemed more important than others. I think because this was the show I grew to like during this period when things were at it's most darkest.

And that programme (as you can tell by the title) of this post is Bones. What makes this even more unusual is that when I saw the odd episode before I didn't like it. Thought it was too glossy.

It does happen like this. Unexpectedly a programme creeps up on you unawares and before you know it you're a fan. It becomes a sort of comfort blanket when times are not good.

Bones is I know an odd choice. Loosely based on the life and novels of Kathy Reichs. Essentially episodes consist of a gruesome murder where you would see the victim in various stages of decomposition however as they would mainly be in a skeletonal state. This is convenient as the FBI in the form of Special Agent Seeley Booth is onto the case with his partner Doctor Temperence Brennan, a forensic anthropologist from the Jeffersonian Institute. Not just her though. There are other "squints" (scientific experts in their field) from the same institute.

I think the reason why it resonated was that it showed a group of good people facing a dark situation and being able, both with humour and intelligence to resolve it.

I have a few box sets now of this twelve season show. My mother's moaning that I'm watching too much of a programme that she doesn't really understand. She'd rather watch Murder She Wrote (Am happy to help my mother during these past few months...but there are limits).

Until the next time.

The Catalan Language In The Age Of Jackboot Politics

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For forty years the language spoken in Catalonia has been Catalan. But now things have changed. Because the Spanish Government in Madrid angered by the democratically government of the region wanting a democratic election to result in a democratic Catalonia which they stopped in the most brutal actions of a Western European country since, well Spain under Franco now wants to control the region through a more insidious way.

Even though the Catalan people have reelected a parliament with a pro independence majority.

They intend Catalan children to be taught solely in Spanish. Why? Because they fear the power of those who speak the indigenous language as it shows independence of thought and those seeking independence for a nation. This is the same fear that permeates the resistance of the DUP to an Irish language act, or the sniping of mainstream media towards Welsh.

What the Spanish government seem to believe is that if the young Catalans can be seduced into speaking Spanish then gradually they will divorce themselves from Catalonia in other ways as well. It's this logic that people who want more of us to learn Welsh/Gaelic (Scots or Irish) have to fight against the all pervasive power of English.

What Spain wants and I've argued before that this is the tactic of those who oppose the teaching of Welsh, is that the Catalan language dies of gradual neglect.

It will I suspect fail. For their actions during the referendum have led to the anti Spanish backlash. Fear of the language by Spain will probably result in it being taught underground. And what the Catalan people will note by the actions of the Spanish government is that the greatest weapon they will have in the fight for independence is the power of the tongue.

Until the next time.

On A Vain Search For A Jeffrey Archer Novel In W H Smiths Epping

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It seems that on returning from hospital my mother's taste in books has gone as wild as her taste in food. She asked me today as well as groceries to get a novel for her in the Epping branch of W H Smith (she can't remember where her library book is). That novel was Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer.

This choice, left field though it was, was not an issue for me. Firstly it meant that her taste for reading had returned. Secondly, as I've mentioned before in this blog I have no problems with Jeff's books before A Matter Of Honour judged purely as an entertainment. Indeed I've read Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less and, as a piece of bestsellery fun, liked it.

Now what I'm going to say next is not at all scientific. Obviously the state of selling books has changed since I was a child. The internet has seen to that. Still the percentage of adult books for sale in the shop seemed small for me and if you exclude those being offered as a "Two for £7" offer then really pitiful when you reduce the choice to adult fiction. The time when a small branch of W H Smiths was my childhood book nirvana has long since gone (Ilford many decades ago).

So looking for Archer's books did not take me long. Nor did looking at them either. There were just four. These four were part of the "Cliveden Chronicles" (which I haven't read) and as they were numbers two,four,five and six respectively then buying them instead of the novel she wanted to read was not going to buy them as a consolation prize. Indeed if you were not following the chronicles then no one was going to buy them.

When I was young, so the glasses I'm wearing are obviously rose tinted as well as modelled on Joe 90, then if you were a bestselling writer (I'm not talking about the factory like James Patterson - plus one other) then most of your books were going to be on sale in the local small town bookshop. Not apparently anymore. No Kane and Abel or indeed my favourite Archer novel of all time First Amongst Equals. Nothing. And you can't say that it was because they were written decades ago. Stephen King's Carrie and Misery were in that very same branch.

Jodi Picoult and Stephen King had more books than Archer in this branch. As indeed did Terry Pratchett and Peter James.

So what am I saying? Perhaps it's the case that Jeffrey Archer is not as much of a bestselling writer than he was. No real idea and to be honest I don't care.

Well if you live in a small town and want a particular book that very day then you will probably have to go to a bigger town (for example the W H Smith in nearby Harlow is larger). A small town with a bookshop is unfortunately rare nowadays unless you're watching old movies. Penarth has one. Epping did once but it closed years ago.

The small town bookshop then. Slowly dying due to the internet and supermarkets. And yes I'm just as much of a hypocrite as the rest of us.

Until the next time.

On Reading In A Hospital Outpatients And A Little Bit More Hooray For Harlow

Hello there. Hope you're feeling today.

Whilst there is always the unexpected. Basically the only things that would apparently stop me from returning to Wales by the end of the month are two particular outpatient appointments for my mother.

Today was appointment number one.

I won't go into full details. But everything was fine. However it did involve waiting for about three hours in the hospital. Three hours which I spent reading. And since three seems to be the number of the day then three was the amount of books completed today, most of the time in that three hour period.

So let's start with Scarlet Thomas' 2001 novel Bright Young Things. Which is about a group of jaded but brilliant twentysomethings that find themselves in an island. Won't go further as I don't wish to spoil it for anybody else.

The best thing about the book are the opening chapters before they reach the island. They are interesting. They paint a picture of the "Bright Young Things" of the title.

Unfortunately for me that was yesterday. The bits I read today were dull. It is the sort of book where you wonder whether all of a sudden the author just forgot the plot. There was a feeling of drift.

And speaking of drift....I nodded off in the outpatients as I was reading,almost dropping the kindle as I did so. Think I mentally nodded off long before that. As for the ending. Some people might be angry about it. To be honest I was too disinterested to care.

James Whistler was an artist. He was also the author of The Gentle of Making Enemies. A book which details some of the run-ins he had with the art establishment. Particularly a libel case he had with John Ruskin. The same Ruskin who wrote Harbours of England that I chatted about (albeit very briefly) in my last post.

I couldn't work out reading this whether Whistler just enjoyed being a stirrer or was just a pain in the backside. If I was a betting man I'd say the latter. An interesting book but really for curiosity value only.

Lady Susan (which I finished after going leaving outpatients) was Jane Austen's shortest novel though apparently written before (though published after) the others. It's basically a comedy of manners although in the form of various correspondence.

Of the three (there's that number again) Austen books I've read this was the one I liked the least. It just seemed not so much Lady Susan or Lazy Susan but a Lazy Jane. Just didn't seem that exceptional. Still, if this her earliest book perhaps it's forgivable.

The current book I'm reading is Romance Of Roman Villas (The Renaissance) by Elizabeth Champney

Yesterday went to Harlow to buy a pair of jeans. I noticed another statue.

Upright Motive.....Certainly Upright

This was done by Henry Moore. One of the few sculptors (for what it's worth) I've ever heard of. Can't say I like it personally, but it's worth mentioning.

Aside from the jeans I bought something else

I Shopped Polish

Until the next time.

On Books: Including With Regard To William Morris How You Cannot Judge A Book By Its Wallcover

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

William Morris then. Socialist wallpaper guy. Hero of his era. I'm left-wing too.

But let me give you a secret.

His wallpaper designs? Of those I've seen. I don't like them. Suspect my grandmother would have though.

And of course my opinion is absolutely right. As is yours if you disagree. Because what you want to be put onto your walls. Be it wallpaper or in my preference paint is entirely up to you.

Now the point of all of this is that when I woke up at four o'clock in this Monday morning. Unable to sleep further. Worried about my mother. Not knowing for sure when I can return to Wales from Essex exile (though 27th Feb taking her with me to complete her recovery seems the most likely). Well that's the moment when I grab my Kindle to find out that the next book was his book Hopes and Fears For Art. And I'm not

It is not a bad book. Actually for a subject I'm not all that interested in it had it's moments. He doesn't like bankers, has views on art that the majority can appreciate and his comments on the effect of trade on Indian art exports is an interesting snippet in itself.

Not the sort of book I should warn that when you realise you've nodded off after swiping a few pages you can plough through regardless. You have to go back. Still it's a good read. And the version I read didn't have any illustrations of wallpaper...which is a help.

Sometimes reading a book without knowing the background is fun. Sometimes though it's a waste of time. When I downloaded Harbours Of England (published 1856) by John Ruskin it was because a) I heard about him and b) it was free.

However essentially what this book is about is Ruskin talking about certain paintings of John Turner. Paintings that I probably have seen but have never noticed. It could be the greatest piece of art criticism ever but it was wasted on me.

The next book is Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas. Suspect I'll be able to get into it a whole lot quicker.

Until the next time.

The Farewall Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 3: The Big Mac

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've made the decision not to eat any thing from Mcdonald's anymore once I've eaten every regular medium meal from their standard menu for one last time. Now opportunity has not knocked for me recently, but tonight my mother, who I have been looking after in Essex exile since she has been discharged from hospital asked again for a Chicken Mcnuggett meal.

Now her taste buds have gone really askew since being discharged. Before she would have turned her nose at anything linked to the Big M. Now however the Mcnuggett and my mother have been suddenly entwined.

The first time she asked, I I you understand refused. Couldn't leave her alone in the house whilst I took the car on the five minute journey to the nearest Mcdonald's, off the M11 just outside Epping. But this Sunday night was different. I could do it.

The Mcdonald's itself is an interesting place given that it was once a pub. Interesting in that how many churches have closed down and now pubs have followed suit. Not sure exactly what this means but the world certainly has changed since I was a child.

Of course I too was going to have a McDonald's. I looked at the menu and the next one on the list was a Big Mac. You know despite what the people at Big M will tell you by calling their most expensive offerings by this name the Big Mac is truly their signature dish. When most people have a picture of a McDonald's meal in their heads it's the Big Mac people have in their minds. It is after all Big and Enticing and well, has that image of America.

For the most part when I have been in a McDonald's the Big Mac medium meal is what I choose. For no other reason than I know there's less chance of having to wait than if I'd ordered the Fillet O Fish or, Heaven forbid, the Veggie Burger.

But the sting, or should I say aftertaste in the tale is this. When I've described a McDonald's meal in this blog as like a cheap bestseller, enjoyable but quickly forgotten, it's the Big Mac meal I'm talking about.

There is though one other thing. Like a fading Hollywood movie star the Big Mac has lost some of it's Americana glamour. All of a sudden it looks old.

This meal did not change that.

Of Faded Burger Glory

What really surprised me as I ate this Big Mac meal for the final time was that I knew I wasn't going to miss it.

My mother liked her Chicken Mcnuggets though.

Until the next time.

Why Plaid Cymru Should Not Panic Part Three: Alyn And Deeside

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Though in Essex exile at the moment as I'm looking after my mother I wasn't unaware of the recent by-election in Alyn and Deeside following the suicide of Carl Sargeant.

I've spoken about the background to Mr Sargeant's death and the possible effect on First Minister Carwyn Jones before so I'm not going to discuss that. But if Twitter is a guide the by-election would appear to have to caused a reaction within Plaid Cymru as they lost share of the vote.

It is my view that this is not a by-election where you can judge Plaid Cymru one way or the other. Whilst I don't have the answer as to why the Liberals increased the vote. The choice of Mr Sargeant's son as Labour candidate clearly had an emotional appeal which made it difficult for Plaid to have taken votes away from the governing party in the National Assembly.

I have also said before that things will not be simple for Plaid Cymru in the near future. Since the last UK general election where Labour did surprisingly well people have the hope that they can just give that one last push and become the government. I know that this was an election for the National Assembly but Welsh Labour, even though they don't deserve it, have benefited from it.

But the moment will come when Labour will be perceived as a weak opposition or an unpopular government and this is where Plaid Cymru needs to strike. Any discontent in the meantime will be highlighted in the media, will be a distraction and will only help the undeserving Welsh Labour party.

Until the next time.

Should I Not Read John Le Carre ......For My Mother's Health?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Whilst she is making a remarkable recovery my mother does at this moment need a professional carer to come in every morning for reasons I won't go into.

The point though is that nothing can be done in the morning until the carer comes in. And the company uses the extremely wide timescale of 7-11. For the past two days she has come in between 8-9. Today however she came in at ten.

Thing is until the carer comes in there is nothing apart from making my mother breakfast in bed that I can do. So I find myself every morning now watching one of the DVD sets I bought from Amazon to help pass the time. Have been going through Series 2 of Bones, a show I didn't like at the time but am warming towards now (on a weekday evening am watching on the channel Your TV Bones, Body of Proof and Castle shows which are perfect entertainment).

The other box sets I bought were Perception Series 1, a show I liked but didn't see all of hence the purchase and The Net (the TV series of the film) which I bought because it was cheap and now know why.

Anyway because she came late I wasn't able to have a quick trip to my mother's local GP to get her full medication until around eleven. And whilst her prescription was being made, I was able to read the latest book from my Kindle. Which turned out to be Single and Single by John Le Carre.

The thing is this. The last book I read of his was Absolute Friends. Which was at the time my mother had her first cataract operation (I wrote about this at the time). And (though the hospital where she stayed for the past few weeks advised was purely coincidental) her troubles seemed to begin from the moment she had the operation.

Can a book cause bad luck? I actually believe yes and no. It is after all a state of mind. If you believe that a book has caused problems then stopping reading relieves you from that worry, whether it was justified or not.

A few years ago I started reading Next Man Up by John Feinstein. A book where the writer follows the American football Team the Baltimore Ravens. From the moment I started to read the book my daughter tripped and grazed her knee.

Ok....

Then my wife cuts herself whilst trying to open a can of peaches. A cut so bad it required stitches from Accident and Emergency.

When they found out that everything seemed to happen from when I started reading the book. Wife and daughter pleaded with me, alright they nagged me to stop reading. Fearing that as what happened to them seemed to increase in severity the fate that would have awaited me if I continued would have been much worse. So I stopped.

And I thought being a Chicago Bears fan would be the limit to my dangers following American Football.

Best then I postpone reading the Le Carre...not superstitious you understand...just thinking about my mother's health.

Until the next time.

The Black Pig (Mochyn Du) As Metaphor For Wales' Future Under Westminster

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm in Essex exile at the moment looking after my mother. I don't feel that it's the right time to discuss most Welsh issues as I'm literally miles away. There are certainly things that I do want to deal with, the mud from the Hinckley Point nuclear power station being buried in Cardiff or the Barry incinerator springs to mind. But to me they are best looked into when I return.

But as regular readers will know. Even though I'm in Essex I'm not completely immune in this blog from discussing things Welsh. Which leads me to the Black Pig, or as I should say, Y Mochyn Du.

Y Mochyn Du was a pub in Cardiff city centre and popular with Welsh Language Speakers. Now before I go on I've never visited the place. Partly because I don't live near enough partly because I'm of an age where visiting a town centre in the night is the exception not the rule. But mainly because of the minor little fact that I don't drink. So let's face it I'm not it's target audience.

But remember I'm talking about this place for metaphor for Wales. Therefore we need to begin with the fact that is has been taken over by the London based chain Brewhouse and Kitchen. So what has the London based chain done? It has changed the name of the pub to the imaginatively named Brewhouse and Kitchen Cardiff. Thus in a stroke it has taken the Welshness of the place away so to assimilate it with the other English pubs in the chain. It has become the Cardiff branch office and nothing more.

Does Alun Cairns have shares in the firm?

But then it gets even more concerning. The drinks list includes under the caption "English Style Ales" (whatever that actually means) an ale called Y Mockyn Du. Now let's pause here. A Welsh ale done in "an English style" (whatever that means) with a name that's almost literally a mockery of it's past (that or it was written by an Englishman/woman brought in who thought that was how it was spelt).

Also the Twitter account adds insult to injury where they describe that they're about to open "a shiny new pub". Again I'm not the target audience but I would guess that no one actually wants a "shiny" pub. They want it to be clean but not shiny. The pictures it includes makes you realise that it will be very little different to other Brewhouse and Kitchen pubs throughout Britain. The Welshness barring a throwaway tokeness is gone.

And this is the metaphor for Wales. Today a pub...down the line a nation?

Until the next time.

Listening To Football With My Mother : Newport County Edition

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

So for the moment I'm looking after my mother now thankfully discharged from hospital in this Essex exile for I hope two more weeks before being able to take her back to Wales to complete her recovery and for my wife and daughter to know what husband/dad looks like (my daughter, thankfully in jest - I think - calls me "The Abandoner".

The days seem to be exactly like my mother's days whilst in hospital. Periods of boredom broken in with the hectic. Looking after an unwell relative, even for a hopefully short period makes you appreciate and understand what true carers have to face day in day out.

Yesterday when my mother was settled back in her house I was able to watch Swansea City on free to air TV thrash Notts County 8-1. My mother was discharged from hospital, Swansea City was the giant that killed in the FA cup and I ate a rather good microwave meal from the Co-op. It was a good evening.

This evening however the FA cup replay was not on free to air.Instead the only way I could follow it was on the wireless. Tottenham Hotspur (boo hiss. Even if they are the team of Harlow) and Newport County who, like their West Walian equivalent of yesterday, are for me in that group of teams I wish well unless they face West Ham.

And they are also the underdogs. And when I say underdogs Newport County the lowest positioned side left in the competition.

So the programme on BBC Radio 5 Live begins. I miss the preview. Partly because we were waiting for my mother's carer to the evening. She didn't come. She was running late. NHS might have looked after my mother but the aftercare has been transferred to the private sector. And they are late.

Once that has been sorted out then I need to get to the local chippy for dinner. Pie and chips for me. Sausage and chips for my mother. Her taste buds seem to have radically changed since she's left the hospital. She has eaten today Porridge,bacon sandwiches,grapes,cherries,whole nut chocolate and crunchie chocolate bar. Also tea, coffee and lemonade

The most amazing thing though was the one I'd refused to get. A chicken Mcnuggett meal. Before she would have turned her nose at it. Now she wants it. The only reason why I refused was that it was just that too far away to get given it was the first full day since she was discharged from the hospital.

And so we eat. And we listen to Newport County battling against their Premier league rivals.

"Tottenham" asks my mother "Are they the rough team?"

I think she's confusing Spurs with Millwall.

Was about to answer when Spurs score. An own goal by Butler. Very unfortunate. About ten minutes later Lamela scores a second. The possibility of this going all Notts County begins to be a worrying thought in the head.

The way it's described Newport seem to have been deflated in the end of the first half. Personally my view was they might as well throw everything including the South Walian kitchen sink at Tottenham.

"Who are Spurs playing?" My mother is awake again.

"Newport"

"Newport in Wales?"

I was tempted to say "No Newport in the Isle of Wight".

During the half time break. Where the BBC Winter Olympics people were moaning about the cold weather (yes I know!) she asks more questions.

"Is the game over?"

"No it's half time"

My mother was asleep for most of the second half. And from the sounds so was the game. Tottenham had many chances. Newport had just the one.However The scoreline stayed at 2-0.

But let's just say this. Newport County were beaten but not humiliated.

Until the next time.

Wiltshire...What Is It Good for? .....Shepherding Apparently

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

My personal experience of Wiltshire is basically limited to driving along the M4. So all my knowledge of the place is limited to observing green grass which to my unknowledgeable eye seems perfect for sheep to graze.

Which is a good thing considering the latest book I've finished is A Shepherd's Life: Impressions Of The South Wiltshire Downs by W H Hudson published in 1910.

So let me start by saying one thing: "This is probably one of the best books about the countryside that I've ever read. I'm not saying for one second that it would have inspired me to leave my wife and daughter in Wales and my mother here in Essex for shepherding (but she's not in hospital anymore - She's been discharged tonight - Yippee - Still frail and needs me to be with her but I'm hoping after a couple of weeks she can finish her recovery in Wales).However it did grip me.

Why is such an interesting countryside book? Because whilst the countryside as well as the natural world may be an important factor it's the people, especially the shepherd of the title Caleb Bawcombe and the tough life they lead.

The toughness is the key. No lyrical description of lush green grass and lambs frolicking here.

Hudson's politics is intriguing. Whilst clearly not a socialist he is not unaffected by the conditions the workers have to face. Or the unfair laws against them.

And perhaps the most interesting example of this is his view of villages. for he does not approve of the squire or squire type figure. All very good and left wing you might think. However his solution is that the village should should fend for itself in a hard world. A sort of prototype Brexit. Makes me wonder if he lived today Hudson would have been a UKIP supporter.

Still politics aside this is an important book. It's reality countryside style.

Until the next time.

On Reading Between Hospital Visits....Including A Mormon Western

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Emergencies aside Sundays at a hospital are dull affairs. The consultants are not there to consult. The big doctors are not there to do big things. No mainly medication is given and wheels are just made running until Monday. It is also eerily quiet. And for the patients of course irritating. As their futures

And of course there are the hospital visits.

So I'm seeing my mother and there is a gap between the afternoon and evening visits. It is pointless to go back to the house during the break. So armed with a coke bottle it's time to read whilst the few people around me eat,drink and chat.

So it's time to chat.....

Victorian Short Stories:Stories Of Successful Marriages is not as I assumed just by Elizabeth Gaskell but others as well. Unfortunately the stories were just, well, unsuccessful. Next was The Advocate by Charles Haversage. A small comic novel....just not so comic.

But the most interesting book was Riders Of The Purple Sage by Zane Grey published in 1912. This apparently was the novel that set the tenplate was the Western genre. I get it. There is the young buck character. the main females being feisty but whimpering when faced with "a real man" and of course the mysterious stranger, treated with suspicion because he's "not from these parts".

However, as the title of the post indicates, what makes this book different is the setting, Utah and the involvement of Mormons. No native Americans or bad guys in black hats here.

The book is readable. You can see how he had a career in writing. But as I was going through it I couldn't really decide whether this book has specific Mormon as villain or is generally anti Mormon the religion. My view is the latter but you can make the case for the former. The thing is if I did explain how then it would spoil things should you read it

It occurred to me also that I haven't a read a Western novel in decades. When I was young the Western was a staple of popular culture. Now it's a novelty.

Until the next time.

On Books: How Theo Is Now Terminated And How Engels Is Relevant Today

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The question I know you've been asking on Friday evening is this. If you have to pick some writings to put in a collection from a writer famous in his/her time but now forgotten how would you go about it?

Well if the collection of Theodore Dreiser is anything to go by what you do is to put the best book by a EU twenty seven country mile (kilometre if you wish but the joke is not so good) Sister Carrie first. You put the second best book (Jennie Galbraith) next. And after that throw in potboliery twaddle like Titan or The Genius. Or dull work like Twelve Men or the short stories.

And that's it. Job done.

Truly Sister Carrie aside the only real pleasure I had in this collection was it's ending.

The next book was The Condition Of The Working Class in England in 1844 by Friedrich Engels. Whilst Freddie may not be the possessor of the ability to produce sassy titles. This book is relevant today.

I won't go into much detail. That would be a political spoiler. But when you read it things will begin to unnerve you. Because the Britain it describes then is not far removed from the Britain of today. For the poorest amongst us it's already there. For most working class families it's not a few steps away and even for most middle class families sudden bad luck would make it closer than they would believe.

You think that it's fanciful? The welfare state and the NHS are the two tangible things that are different from the Victorian era. And they are the two things the Conservatives are chipping away from the fabric of British society.

I'll give one example. Employers were complaining about laws to limit the working day to ten hours. Ten hours!

So whilst you shouldn't expect a rip roaring read. Don't avoid this book. For you might find that you'll experience the Victorian Britain it describes in your future.

The next book is Victorian Short Stories: Stories of Successful marriages. I'm expecting that the title is deceptive given that the author is Elizabeth Gaskell of North and South fame.

We shall see.

Until the next time.

The Return Of The £5 Amazon E-book Buying game (£4.68 Version)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's the first of the month and the early morning. I'm in Essex exile whilst my mother is still in hospital recovering from her operation so at the moment have nothing much to do.

So in the spirit of shrugging my shoulders before I go and have a bath decide to resuscitate the Amazon £5 ebook buying game. Basically where starting from their Daily Deals and following from their recommendations try to buy the cheapest (though they would have to interest me) books I could buy for a total of £5.

This time though. As there is £19.68 in the account. The balance to play with, rather like chocolate bars, has shrunk to £4.68 for this month.

So let's begin.

I look at the Daily and Monthly Deals. Nothing screams buy me. So I look at the books that are "recommended" for me based on my ebook-buying purchases. One book strikes me instantly. The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf. A collection of essays. Worth a read I think so bought for 99p.

£3.69 left. "Top Picks For you" The screen emboldenedly pronounces. I look.I notice The Tenderness Of Wolves. Costa Book of the year 2007 (Costa has been going for over ten years?) . That too is 99p. Bought.

£2.70 left. Suddenly my eyes fall on a complete collection of the works of Marcel Proust. Have never read him but you feel that a subconscious literary bucket list in your head is saying "buy it". It is also just 49p so bought.

£2.21 left. The system then gives me the complete works of James Joyce. but I know I've Dubliners in the Kindle so I pass. Then I notice the complete works of Franz Kafka for 49p as well. That same literary bucket list is telling me not to be an idiot and buy it, and buy it now.

So I do. £1.72 left. The collected works of the essayist William Hazlitt crops up. 99p. Bought.

73p left. Spend 49p on the complete works of Alexander Pushkin. I know I have a novel of his (I think a poetic one at that) in storage at the moment. But hey. It's the complete set so why not? Bought and for this month the game is finished.

And I look at the books I've bought and think? Am I a proper reader? All these classic works that I haven't read. But then it comes back to the curse of the reader. So many books but so little time. Even at my fifty four years on this planet life interferes with the need to turn and now swipe the page. Still they are bought now. A greater chance that I'll get round to reading them sometime.

Until the next time.