On Reading In The Early Morning, When You Know You've Won The Argument Over Your Wife And The Old Man And The Sully Sea

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I woke up at three thirty am in the morning. If this was tomorrow I'd be screaming blue murder at how late I was given I'm working the early morning shift for the next four days. Today however I just can't sleep once my eyes emerged from its slumber. Just have to get out of bed.

Now if I was still living in Bridgend I'd have turned the television on and watched some sport. That pleasure is however a thing of the past. In fact looking at the TV guide I'm set to record in the next week a couple of the recent Planet of the Apes films, a bit of Boxing and reruns of Castle and Columbo....and basically that's it. Nothing to watch now.

Outside dawn is slowly beginning to break. It's quiet. The world is asleep and you're having insomnia. The day appears to be bright.....unlike my mood

So I turn on the Kindle and finish off the collection of short stories The Safe Man by Michael Connelly and to be truthful nothing has changed from the position I chatted about on Saturday. This was a book best summarised by the phrase "Is that all there is"? I'd expected a lot more. No question the leader for the title of the most disappointing book of 2017.

I've decided not to buy anymore ebooks for a while and just go through the ones (in their hundreds and mainly free) already on my Kindle. Now that soon the library will be back on stream and I'll be reading two books on the go there's no need to purchase anymore for the moment.

Just starting then on an alphabetical basis the next book is Hannibal Makers of History by Jacob Abbott, which as far as I can tell was written in the nineteenth century. We'll see how I do.

I know it's hard to belive but from time to time me and the wife argue (yes shocking). But occasionally I'm reminded of the tell tale signs when I've won an argument. Yesterday the wife was looking at available houses in the Penarth area when she started speaking about a house she and our daughter had already visited when I was at work last week.

She encouraged me to go and look at the house online. Did just that. But as I went through this three bedroomed at the edge of our budget a large problem with the house was making itself clear...or rather the large field next to it.

For fields can include all manner of wildlife, including, as I said to her, members of the rodent family. My wife has a phobia of mice to the same extent that I have of dogs. Doesn't matter if we'd exchanged contracts and had moved in one sight of a mouse and she's packing off to her brother before you can say semi detached. So I go on. I'm not going look at a house that I know we're not going to buy.

And there was silence.

It was the silence of someone who couldn't think of anything to counter what I'd just said. I won't say it was silence was golden but it unspoke volumes about who was right.

For the first time today was able to walk to the sea around the village of Sully I mentioned yesterday. There was no beach where I was. Just rocks. Still it's an impressive view (though must admit my preference are the Valleys).

Remember not the South of France but South Wales

Must remind myself to take a picture when the weather is wet and windy and cliché Celtic. Perhaps then from those rocks Celtic gods will come to me and say that I must undertake my true purpose in making Wales a free and independent land again.

But for today after I took the picture went to do some shopping at Lidls...majestically of course.

Until the next time.

A Saturday Morning Before Work, Featuring Outlander/Michael Connelly With After Work Extras Of Dead Ringers,Richard Branson And Mark Steel

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

If you work an afternoon evening shift in a weekend then your day is  bit topsy-turvy. On a weekday it's different because as I drive my daughter to school (for the moment anyway) I have to wake up with everyone else and throw myself into the day.

On the weekend however it's different. Whenever you wake up is up to you. No school taxi journeys. No need to remind the wife who's going to her work what time it is. You are in control of your sleep. You are the duke of the drowsy, the sultan of slumber.

I woke at six am.

Must admit thought I'd been transported to world of animation...

That Is The Simpsons Sky

So out of the bed I go leaving the wife asleep and wander towards the open plan kitchen/dining room of our rented apartment. Throwing cereal to the bowl and myself to the sofa begin to watch the only thing I've recorded for a while.

A quick aside. Have discovered can't have BT sport in the apartment because of copper wiring. I knew copper was expensive but it seems to have cost me watching sport on TV (and I'm NOT watching SKY....not even listening to Talksport now Murdoch has his hands on it). One person happy about this state of affairs is the wife. One less excuse for me to use in case she wants me to do something.

Anyway back to me watching TV....and specifically the one thing on the hard drive. Outlander. It was on Amazon Prime a few years back and now appears on More 4. It concerns a woman transported in Scotland from the end of the World War two to the times of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Why did I record it? Well it had curiosity value.

Having now watched it. Must admit should have tried to stay in bed longer. Found it surprisingly dull. Now there were a few moments when the lead actress took her clothes off. and I know this series is a few years old. But still it was as if the TV could see my reaction. As if it was saying "He's nodding off.....quick clothes off time or we'll lose him".

The strategy worked for a while. But even occasional nudity didn't hide how boring this show was. Should also mention that it seemed to have been filmed in a new technical process called Scottish gloomivision. The idea to show days in Scotland could occasionally be bright and sunny seemed too radical. Perhaps that's for people with the patience to go on and watch episode two.....not  me though.

After that well....nodded off in front of the TV....once awake again switched it off to continue reading The Safe Man, a collection of short stories by Michael Connelly. Now I must admit I haven't finished, but my current reaction is to say "is that all there is"?

Perhaps a collection of short stories is not the best way to start judging a writer but as I've said before if I was a vlogger not a blogger I'd have illustrated my reaction to this book with a shrug..

Boy I was in a grouchy mood yesterday.

And in all of this the clock is ticking. When I'm doing the afternoon/evening shift the feeling of a countdown is constant which is never the case when it's the morning. Presumably because I'm conscious that there is no time to relax whilst getting ready for work.

It's about ten. Wife/daughter are making stirrings. Won't disturb them whilst I'm having a shower. Then. Showers are quicker than baths, but they are not as relaxing..

Baring in mind that my journey to work takes forty minutes there then comes that period where there's nothing to do before lunch (taken at 11:30) and what you could do would take too long to complete. Can't really remember what I did so not really worth writing about.

Now I don't mind the forty minute journey to/from work. But when I've come back am finding that once I have had my meal almost immediately the body seems to be in shut off mode. Have been known to fall asleep on the kitchen table in my brother in law's house when we stayed there for a week. My wife told me he 'd wondered what I'd been watching on the tablet by my side. He even apparently suggested pornography.

My response was to laugh and say that chance would be a fine thing. If only because despite the fact that he apparently was on the highest Virgin media internet tariff there was only one room where you could be assured of having a good signal. And the kitchen wasn't it. As it happens I was listening to a downloaded programme of the Radio 4 series Dead Ringers. Last night (Saturday) it was Mark Steel's In Town where the socialist comedian visits a town and chats about it to a local audience. History with comedy, education with a laugh. The most educational but funny half hour you'd possibly find in a long while. As educational but good humoured as a Tranmere Rovers football chant.

And so to sleep. Another day knocked off my life. At time I'm writing this it's 8:04 on a Sunday morning. Not at work but have no idea how I'm going to spend the day.

Perhaps I should have tried to work today as well.

Until the next time.

It's Been A While

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's been a while. Have found it difficult to blog for a few weeks now. But now things have returned.

So let's start with the bad news. The house we were going to buy has fallen through. Various reasons that I can't really go into. But the hunt begins for a new place. In the meantime we're renting an apartment just outside Penarth. A bit isolated, but for our needs fine for now.

And whilst this upheaval occurred my reading time declined. Indeed I electronically have put Stranded by Cheryl Strayed to one side during this process. Will return to this, honest. It's worth all the praise it got.

For the moment though have turned my reading eyes to The Safe Man by Michael Connelly. Will chat about that when finished.

And of course there's been an election. Do you remember I remarked that Theresa May was incompetent in everything except the gaining and holding on to power? As well as when I said she was going to have an increased majority? Well I was wrong on the second and almost wrong on the first. So desperate has she been for power that she's sewn up a deal with the Ulster Unionist DUP. Causing the amazing situation that the cure to austerity is that we all should become Northern Irish. And as for Plaid Cymru? I'll chat about that tomorrow.

So I'm back, properly, and for a while at least there shouldn't be any upheavals. But then again the right place might suddenly appear.

Until the next time.

On A Short Trip Through A Town Called Barry And The E Book Buying Game (June Edition)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well yesterday I visited Barry Town properly. It wasn't one of the great treks of the world. A ten minute walk from where I'm currently living. And I couldn't do a proper wander either, basically because I had my daughter with me who'd done the walk with my wife on Tuesday when I was at work (that's right the sisters beat me to it) and didn't want to go around again when there was the internet to entertain her. Still at least I did go and will do a proper lookaround when there isn't a teenager by my side.

Barry Town for the uninitiated is not to be linked with the nearby funfair/amusements that is Barry Island in terms of how you should view it. This is a town for the inhabitants and judged on first viewing it seemed to make it clear that's what it wanted to be. There was nothing that suggested seaside jollity's. To me that was a good thing.

(Barry Island is to come. Weather permitting I'm planning to go with wife/daughter on my next day off Sunday).

And if there is one place I'm definitely going to investigate further in the future.

Always judge a place by its library

Now this is not just where the central library is. It has an art gallery as well. But the key point is that the Barry Town library is in in the Town Centre. Bridgend Council please note.

In terms of shops the town centre appeared to be a line of outlets. On an admittedly cursory look it didn't appear to suffer the considerable closures suffered by Bridgend town centre. Wife/daughter did say to me that they thought that Barry Town was better than Bridgend Town and that is what it appeared to me as well. In fact I cannot think of any town centre worse that I've been to in Wales than Bridgend Town and here is just another example to compare it by.

All in all this was a good first trip. More in depth (ie teenage daughterless) wanderings to follow.

A Town Called Barry

And so to the temporary series (until we move in to a new house) ebook buying game. The rules are these. Armed with £5 and whatever loose change I try to buy as many ebooks on my Kindle (other ereaders are available) starting with the Daily Deals and from those purchases see what type of books it tries to offer me from then on. The key thing to remember is that it has to appeal and that it's as cheap as possible.

This month's monthly total (with the carry over change from last month) is £5.22.

Nothing from the Daily Deals interested me. ("Social Media Marketing Tips?" It's title alone would induce me to sleep). So I move on to the Monthly Deals. There I see Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon a book which is subtitled "a happy life with mental illness". I seem to vaguely remember a radio interview she did on this. It seems interesting. 99p. Bought.

Nothing on the books recommended from buying Mad Girl interested me. So I went to the next row. Books recommended for me based on "Literature and Fiction". The first one on the row is "Single and Single" by John Le Carre. 99p. Bought.

Again nothing recommended from buying the John Le Carre interested me. So back to those recommendations based on what I bought in Litrature and Fiction. There's a complete collection of books by the American writer Theodore Dreiser. 92p. Absolute bargain. Bought.

Looking at the list then there is another collected works of Willa Cather for just 49p. 49p!! Needless to say bought.

It leads me to another collected works. This time by Edith Wharton. Another author I've wanted to read but life never got me round to doing it. This time though chance comes my way. 91p. Bought.

The next compilation is of Nicholas Gogol. 49p again. Yes of course I bought it.

Finally the main author bought when I played this game last month was Michael Connelly. Book 3 in the Harry Bosch series The Concrete Blonde is available for 99p. As I already got books 1 and 2 this was a must. Bought.

So 35p is carried forward to next month. Not only that but I've bought some female writers which I didn't last time. So pleased with that.

Until the next time.

On Haggard, Image vs Reality and The Amazon E Book Game (May Edition)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What a difference twenty four hours makes. There was I giving praise to the early part of King Solomon's Mines yesterday but having finished it oh my word it reminded me of the unreal tosh that was Beatrice, the previous Haggard novel I'd read.

It is, as I said previously a novel clearly written to be a bestseller, but a Victorian bestseller. So there's the foreign climes, in this case Africa, and of course most of which is British Empire Africa. So you get the racism, this case of the "nobel savage" variety, as well as "we are the masters" feel that an Empire or hard right Brexit can bring.

Haggard lays that with a trowel. As well as early on the hunting of animals as sport. There is a moment where the characters stop their all important journey for a spot of shooting at creatures whose only crime was to live in their natural environment. I was only surprised they didn't have a cup of tea afterwards

And there's the plot which probably at the time made Victorian readers high on adventure but the modern counterpart makes you wonder whether Haggard was high on drugs.

The real question you need to ask yourself of King Solomon's Mines is this. Would an updated version be successful? I'd argue that it wouldn't be. I'm glad I read it. Literary bucket list and all that. But I won't be encouraging others to follow.

Many years ago, I think aged ten. I picked up Ivanhoe. I remember not understanding anything and putting it down. It was the last time I've ever done that with a book, since then I follow the Mastermind principle of "I've Started So I'll Finish".

Well it's not Ivanhoe but the next book in the great ebook unread is The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott which is set in The Crusades, the first in a succession of Middle East military failures by the West you could argue.

Yesterday I discovered through a third party (ie gossip) that a person I knew was in financial difficulties. My first reaction (inwardly) was to laugh. Now this may seem cold but he is the sort person happy to flash the latest/most expensive cars, holidays, phones, whatever at you so the idea that all of this was a front seemed like natural justice.

But on thinking this further perhaps there is something more worrying around the corner here in Britain. For he is the second person I know in such a state and both of them are similar. They both have I had assumed well paid jobs, both had expensive hobbies and both are fans of the latest whatever on the market (the second person though was less ostentatious). These were men with seemingly comfortable lives and yet all of it, should the gossip be believed, is hanging by a thread.

Everything I'm going to say then is based on my knowledge, as well as the gossip, of two people. But let's say everything I've been told is correct. These men were not happy with what they had. They aspired for something a lifestyle that was beyond their reach and might ultimately be disastrous for them. You might say they should live within their means and are grown adults, which is true. Yet companies pummel these ads constantly at us. You buy this whatever and your life will be better. You don't need to pay it all now. Oh no we can arrange terms of repayment so you can buy now and pay considerably more later. Don't worry about that though. Remember Image is everything.

And in this world we live in image is everything.......until reality bites.

Ok then as I'm writing this it's the first of May. It's 5:06 on the first of May on a Bank Holiday to be precise (not just reality but insomnia bites as well). And that all means the Great (as everything seems to have that as it's title now) Amazon Ebook Game ....May edition.

The rules of this game are simple armed with just £5 (though as I seem to have loose e change this month £5.92) and see how many ebooks I can purchase for my Kindle. Stretching the money out as thinly as possible.

So I'm looking at the Amazon Daily Deal. I'm not interested in what's on offer aside perhaps from The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. Should I buy it? Will I make a mistake in thinking that the book's not for me judging by it's girlie cover? Me the most manly of men. Especially when I take my spectacles off.

Go to Wikipedia. There is a quote from David Starkey describes her writing as "good Mills and Boon" (what does that actually mean) and another from Helen Brown saying that her novels have "lashings of romantic licence".

It appears then that in this case you can judge a book on it's cover. Rejected.

Now it's the turn of the Monthly Deal. I notice a Michael Connelly novel featuring Harry Bosch The Black Ice for 99p. Never having read his work before but hearing loads of good things about him I'd be a fool not to buy it....so bought. I go further through the list. There's another Connelly book offered at 99p, The Lincoln Lawyer, so that's bought as well.

The Black Echo. The first of the Harry Bosch books is offered for 99p as well. Great I think. I'll buy it as well I think. That is until the Kindle kindly reminds me I purchased it in 2015.....memories eh? But another Connelly book comes into the picture. The Poet. 99p so bought. And wait for it, an ebook original The Safe Man, 99p that's purchased as well. Looks like this is a Connelly month.

There are Harry Bosch short story collections on offer for 99p but I think I should read the novels first.

I look at what's recommended for me "in Literature & Fiction". Thomas Wolfe's novel You Can't Go Home Again intrigues me.99p. Taken.

That all leaves me in this month's budget with an annoying 97p to spend. I find Fathers and Sons bu Ivan Turgenev for 75p. Done.Leaving me with a carry over of 22p for next month.

Must admit I enjoy this game. You never know how things turn out.

Until the next time.