The start of the year seemed like a good point to stop crossposting from Dreamwidth to here. There are a number of things I prefer about Dreamwidth, but the big one for me is that I'm much happier with a service funded by users/content creators than by advertisers: the economic incentives are better for the service to meet its users' needs.

I'm not leaving LJ: I'm still reading & commenting on my friends list, and participating in communities. I'm just not crossposting my personal blog any more.

I default to posting public entries which are carried on RSS and Atom feeds; for the convenience of LJ people I've set up rmc28_dw.

Past
I started keeping track at the start of October, since when I've read 32 books. 20 were library books and the other 12 were from the to-read pile. Unusually for me there were no re-reads.

Until the 24th December, I had 'only' acquired 7 new books, so was only slightly behind on my 2 in, 1 out plan. But then I got another 10 books on and around Christmas Day.

Present

The score now stands at: 357 to-read, of which 12 are library books, so 345 of my own.

Future

I think trying to enforce 22 books out before I get any more is seriously setting myself up to fail, especially if I only manage 4 a month. So I've tried to break it down to more achievable numbers:

1. Read two books from the to-read pile to catch me up to 24th December
2. Then do 4 out, 1 in for the next 5 ins, to get out the 20 for the 10 new books
3. Then do 3 out, 1 in for the next 5 ins, to get out the 5 "extra" ins
3. Then do 2 out, 1 in as 'normal'

If I carry on at 4 books read each month, I'll be 27 books down by early October 2011, and then can hope to reach 33 down by the end of the year. Less than a tenth of the pile: perhaps this will be an incentive to acquire more slowly, and/or read faster. As it is, I have enough books to last me over 7 years if I never bought another (ho ho ho).

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/419228.html with comments.

We can just about see the tiny tree behind the giant pile of presents:



I approve of Charles's colour scheme for stockings:



Matt is here; Louise is safely dispatched to High Wycombe; stockings are prepped and food is in, and we're all set for tomorrow. Carols from Kings is on the tv and Charles occasionally paying it some attention.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/418836.html with comments.

Yes, it's another hair photo, taken 3 weeks after the original job:



Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/418717.html with comments.

Or so said Charles to me today. He has just one door left to open on the advent calendar. We borrowed an idea from ailbhe and tried decluttering an item each day, one item from each of us. This worked for a while and then was quietly dropped when we missed a few days in a row. But even so, we sent several carrier bags to the charity shop, so I feel it was worthwhile and worth trying again more seriously next year.

The (small) tree is nearly obscured by the pile of presents. All our presents to others have been posted out or otherwise delivered. Tony has got the lamb and salmon and other essentials in and I will be getting the last of the supplies for stockings[1] tomorrow along with a few other errands. My youngest brother will be joining us tomorrow, and there is a very small chance my oldest brother will come up too, though I am not counting on it.

[1] Everyone sleeping in my house on Christmas Eve gets a stocking in the morning.

Tony's mother arrived here on Sunday after a slightly epic journey involving a cancelled flight, Eurostar tickets selling out under our noses, a hastily-arranged overnight stay in Paris and then lengthy delays on Eurostar the next day (but compensation should result, hurrah). She and Charles have had lots of time together and Charles got his present from her early: a Woody doll to match the Buzz he got for his birthday. She departs tomorrow to spend Christmas with Tony's sister and will come back to us in a few days to stay the night before going home.

We are supposed to be making a dash to Leeds on Boxing Day to see my mother and stepfather, but only if I feel safe to drive on the day; otherwise we will have to postpone as there are no trains until Monday.

It has been really lovely to be at home this week with my family. The days have rather slid by without much of note being done, but sometimes it is good to just be restful together.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/417698.html with comments.

I did this in about 10-15 minutes on Tuesday morning, with no sewing. The costume should have been with nursery on Friday but Charles was ill so I forgot to make it until the very last minute.

( In enormous detail )



(Caption is the line of the song he was singing at the time)

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/417305.html with comments.

I've finished work until January, woohoo.

And I'm about to go see Charles be a shepherd in his nursery Christmas show. I made the shepherd outfit earlier this week: about 15 minutes' work tearing and tying an old sheet. Maybe I'll write it up when I've got it back to photograph.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/417270.html with comments.

By day:


And by night:



No more cajoling and carrying-where-I-can an exhausted child after nursery. We will no longer be dependent on Stagecoach for e.g. going into the city centre on library nights. There's room in the box for a second child (e.g. a friend to come and play) and more shopping than I can physically walk home with.

I think I will need to take up lunchtime walks as my commute won't be nearly as much of a workout now. The bike is heavy but beautifully balanced, and amazingly comfortable to ride. I love it a little more with every ride.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/415774.html with comments.

My hair seems particularly resistant to being coloured: the hairdresser had to spend about treble the usual time on it to get the blue to stick, and now it seems to fade a little with each wash (and since I went short, I have to wash it daily rather than the every-other-day I used to get away with). I'm a bit worried about the lovely strong blue streaks slowly fading away and revealing the sad yellow bleached-blonde underneath, like a snide political metaphor in reverse.

It's got a lot of comments, almost all flatteringly positive, and a lot of "so why did you decide to dye it?". My usual response is along the lines of "I felt like a change", but some people still give me the polite nod-and-smile of incomprehension. The most notable reaction was one (female) colleague saying "so why are you dying your hair when you don't even wear makeup". Well, makeup is daily effort, whereas hair-dying appears to involve a few hours reading a book every 6-8 weeks. Self-expression on more levels than I first realised.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/415500.html with comments.

From Time To Time is an adaptation of The Chimneys of Green Knowe, with Maggie Smith playing Mrs Oldknow. It's a sort of ghost/time travel story with children from different generations of the family that have lived in the same house over the centuries. I loved the Green Knowe stories as a child and earlier this year I visited the house which inspired them, which is about 20 minutes drive from Cambridge. Diana Boston, the daughter-in-law of the author and current resident of the house, mentioned the film on our visit, but I haven't been able to get to any of the showings until now.

The film is on at the Arts Picturehouse, Tuesday 7th December at 16:30, which is a little early but I should just be able to make it if I leave work promptly (I'm in early that day anyway). It doesn't look like assigned seating & tickets are a slightly eye-watering £7.50 unless you have membership discount. I've got to be in the city centre tomorrow evening anyway, so will save myself the £1.50 booking fee on top by getting my ticket in person. I will get tickets for others at the same time if you email me before 5pm tomorrow (Friday).

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/415462.html with comments.

A 15 minute writing exercise closes the gender performance gap in university-level physics: this got written up in several places, but I like Not Exactly Rocket Science best.

A cheering example of men (ok, a man) stopping rape: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-11840896

Michael Gove denied being a supporter of the No2AV campaign this week; meanwhile the On Liberty Now blog fisks Margaret Beckett's statement as President of No2AV. Finally, Andrew Rawnsley writes a piece on why personalities matter in the AV referendum campaign. I've not dared read the comments.

6 months after outing David Laws via his expenses claims, the Telegraph thinks he should be back in government, and gives him Boris Johnson's column space to plug his new book and talk about spending cuts. (The column reads like an edited extract from the Postscript of the book.)

A Star Trek pizza cutter. I don't need to say anything else, really.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/415122.html with comments.

I spent a large chunk of yesterday morning engaged in pointless primping boosting the local service economy, while getting a lot of reading done. Results can be seen below:



In the afternoon Charles and I went shopping for his Christmas presents to his grandparents: in practice I selected plausible options for each person and asked him to choose which he thought they would like best. The money came out of his pocket money and we talked about how much each item was (they are all small and inexpensive). We'll wrap them together, once we've also found something suitable for his father. Separately, Tony will help him choose something small for me. It all seems a bit silly until I think of it as Lessons In Choosing And Giving Gifts.

My father made a flying visit for a few hours in the evening where we ate lots of Chinese and talked a great deal (so unlike us, I know!), and he gave me a small edition of Emma by Jane Austen. It is inscribed:

To CEC
From C.E.C.
With L.O.V.E.

from which we conclude it was given by my paternal grandfather Charles Edward Coleman to my grandmother Cecillie. It's now my turn to look after it, perhaps until my Charles is old enough to appreciate it.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/414792.html with comments.

This is a fascinating account of the coalition negotiations in May of this year, put together from interviews with key players on all sides. It is structured chronologically: a chapter on Preparations, then a chapter for each day (Friday 7th May to Tuesday 11 May), ending with the acceptance by LibDems of the coalition agreement, and the appointment of a new Cabinet. A Postscript provides a longer-term view of the implications of the coalition for all parties and the country.

The author, though a serving Conservative MP, has made a good effort to report rather than opine, and to distinguish between the two (he gets most opinionated in the Postscript). He has the advantage of telling a story which is intrinsically exciting. It's filled with quotes and little details: texts flying back and forth between and across party lines, biscuits and coffees in the negotiating rooms, aides running back and forth hand-delivering draft documents, culture clashes and back-channel communications.

As well as the basics of what-happened-when, it serves as a good example of selective memory and spin, with different people telling things different ways. Accounts of meetings between Conservatives and LibDems are generally in agreement, accounts of meetings between Labour and LibDems often diverge, especially the accounts of the three meetings between each party's negotiation teams. This of course mirrors the relative leakiness of each set of negotiations at the time, with Lib-Con negotiations staying tightly under wraps, while Lib-Lab talks were being briefed against almost from the start.

On the Lib-Lab talks, Mandelson, Balls, et al insist Labour were being constructive and the LibDems sabotaged the talks by being arrogant and pushy, strongly suggesting the negotiating team were ideologically opposed to Labour. Laws, Alexander et al insist they were constructive, Labour were ill-prepared, divided, and not taking negotiations seriously. Of course the spin is to the benefit of current party positions, and possibly even reflects internal party jockeying. Where you can't reconcile two versions, I think it has to come down to who you are more inclined to believe.

I can't help thinking that the very serious, prepared approach of the Conservatives may have led the LibDem team to expect something similar from Labour, and act accordingly. I can see how that could be taken as being arrogant and pushy by an unprepared team which had expected LibDems to want to support Labour. The Conservative decision to take the LibDems seriously didn't just benefit their own negotiations: it set a bar which the Labour team just couldn't meet. The LibDems had a negotiating team appointed by Nick Clegg in late 2009; Osborne put together a "just in case" Conservative team about 2 weeks before the election; meanwhile Ed Balls found out there was a Labour negotiating team and he was in it late on Saturday morning, with the first secret meeting at 3pm that day.

Though generally well-written and accessible, the book has a few flaws. Sometimes information is repeated within the same page, occasionally even the same paragraph. There's a lot of dwelling on the merits and flaws of the statements released by each party, especially on the Friday, but no text of these statements to refer to. An appendix of the public statements and speeches would have been invaluable to provide context. Though the author has tried to remain neutral, his opinions do leak out: most of his critical comments are for Gordon Brown, with a few digs at Nick Clegg. I failed to notice any criticism of David Cameron at all, or indeed any Conservatives.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/414583.html with comments.

The internet was broken this morning: our faithful house router of at least 5 years standing had turned into a dead box of electronics, most likely due to a power cut in the night. Tony brought home a replacement this evening which has obligatory blue LED bling:



A week ago I installed the newly-launched Economist app on my iPod Touch. As a placeholder for a more detailed review of why I love it, have a video of what it's like to use:



And now I should sleep.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/414239.html with comments.

I'm catching up on the remaining "why you are awesome" comments (yes you can leave more). The hardest part is not finding nice things to say, but words to say it in that are a step up from "Squee! You are lovely!"

It occurred to me that one reason I've really enjoyed this particular exercise is that being able to focus entirely on positive things is a rare treat. My job is a mixture of fixing broken things & reviewing other people's work to find the flaws; housework is essentially finding the things that need fixing; political and current affairs discussion is so far from positive it's not actually funny any more. Don't get me wrong, I get deep satisfaction from fixing/improving things, but it's refreshing to focus entirely on the positive.

Also on the topic of finding words, I've started adding reviews to books as I mark them as read on LibraryThing. They're posted here, with a tag of books2010. I'm a bit ambivalent about them really, and the first batch I posted backdated to the completion date of the book, which had the useful side-effect of hiding them from everyone's Friends list. fanf is encouraging me to be less shy about them, so I've stopped backdating.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/413814.html with comments.

The new Pointer, with locally-made wicker basket on the front and Bobike Maxi child seat on the back.



The seat weight limit is about 25kg (Charles is currently about 17kg), and we could also fit some well-chosen panniers on the carrier beneath it if the capacious basket isn't big enough. The three-point harness is so safe I have trouble undoing it at times, and I like the little straps holding child feet into the footrests.

It is not a light bicycle, even less so with Charles on the back, but it is comfortable and the three gears are easy around Cambridge. Enclosed chaincase, hub gears and a dynamo are just nice little extras, though I think Tony is planning some extra lighting mods this weekend (no blue LEDs apparently).

One of the reasons I've been walking a lot in preference to cycling is that cycling usually means I arrive places all high-adrenaline and wound up, whereas walking calms and relaxes me. I was pleasantly surprised to find the sitting-upright posture and solidity of this bike resulted in a much calmer approach to cycling.

Tony has been commuting on the Pointer, taking Charles to nursery on it, while I've used it at the weekend. We have also ordered a Bakfiets cargo bike through the Cycle To Work scheme which should arrive in a week or two, so we'll both be cycle-commuting from then on, though exactly who has which bike each day may end up being subject to negotiation. Handily, we have similar-enough leg lengths to be able to swap bikes without adjustment.

Charles should be a bit happier when the Bakfiets arrives: he is usually tired by the end of nursery, and the long walk home on top of that is proving a bit much for our tempers. A sit-down rest with a banana or similar should help recharge him, while the bike extends our range for evening errands and adventures.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/413397.html with comments.

Tony and I decided to watch the 2004 remake of the Manchurian Candidate, as it was on. I'm pretty certain we saw it together at the cinema back then, but I'd forgotten most of it. I'd certainly forgotten how graphic some of the violence is, but I'm expert at looking-away-now when things are too much for my squeamish self.

Some things that struck me this time: (cut contains spoilers)

( Read more... )

Anyway, a good start to the weekend, though I vetoed following it with Law & Order: Dead Babies Special Victims Unit. (I have discovered in recent months that "entertainment" featuring the abuse and murder of children is just too distressing for me. Tony seems to be less affected.)

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/413156.html with comments.

7) Five Go To Demon's Rocks, by Enid Blyton (did not finish)
I remember this being a favourite when I was a child but I could not get past the first few chapters. The conversation is clunky and the characters one-dimensional and irritating. For all I loved Famous Five as a child, they really don't stand up to the competition now. There are so many good children's books that there's no need to keep the rubbish ones around, just because they were there first.

8) The Cricket Term, by Antonia Forest
By contrast with Enid Blyton, this is a children's story that really holds up. I've not read any Forest before, but I will definitely be looking out for more. Girls at boarding school, a large and close-knit family, plays, contests with the senior girls, and a cricket cup, culminating in an exciting final and a resolution to most of the term's dramas. Some of the wider cultural references made me check the publication date (early 1970s). In general it was a really lovely "school story" which managed to distinguish many different characters and switch between multiple viewpoints convincingly. Also I approve of girls playing cricket.

The one bit that made me stop dead and go "huh" was team selection for a swimming contest where one of the characters calculates that "she wouldn't be cursed". It took me entire minutes to realise this meant menstruation, and then I wondered why it would stop her competing, until I remembered some of the nastier times I had around 15-16 before getting appropriate medication.


9) Dimsie Moves Up, by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
This is also a girls school story which involves cricket matches and conflict with senior girls (there are also tennis matches and sea-swimming). It's enjoyable but very lightweight, especially compared with the Antonia Forest book, but then it was written about 50 years earlier. The characters and their conflicts are drawn fairly simplistically and I did slightly lose track of who was who apart from the central two or three. There is a bit of a tendency for exciting things to happen for the convenience of the plot rather than believably arising from the actions of characters.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/418402.html with comments.

High water mark on 12th October: 338 in the to-read pile + 9 library books.

Today: 337 in the to-read pile + 9 library books (not quite the same 9). That is exactly 2 out and 1 in (a BookMooch wishlist item it would have been rude not to claim). At least twice in the last month I have stood in front of temptation (the bookshelves in the local charity shop) and thought "no, 2 out first". So that rule is holding up where "no buying books" has failed in the past.

I am doing reasonably well at sublimating the "ooh, must have shiny new books" into the city library instead, both in spontaneous picks from the shelves and in reserving books. I'm also doing better at actually reading the library books before they have to go back. The online system really helps here, by telling me how many times I've renewed each book (max is 3, unless someone else has reserved it). I really like the reservation system's ease of use, and that I can see what "holds" I have and where I am in the queue.

(Today, for reference:
The dead girls' dance, Rachel Caine: 5
Linger, Maggie Stiefvater: 9
Dime store magic, Kelley Armstrong: 1
Prey, Rachel Vincent: 2
My soul to take, Rachel Vincent: 1 )

Unsurprisingly the longest waits are for the young-adult werewolf/vampire books. Still, I started out at 15 for Linger, so there's hope of getting it before the hold expires and I have to go to the back of the queue again.

In the meantime I'm still very slowly working my way through the rest of the books in the house and adding them to my LibraryThing catalogue. I'm hand-typing the ISBNs, but what's really slowing me down is deciding which Collection to put them in and how to tag them. Addictive fun, when I have the time.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/411993.html with comments.

This read like a good military space opera that just happens to be set in the Star Wars universe, especially as I like to pretend the Phantom Menace never existed and haven't seen its two sequels. The author has taken the setting (Republic, clone troopers, Jedi, clone wars) and woven an exciting adventure for a squad of clone commandos and a Jedi-in-training.

I really liked the characterisation of the commandos and the exploration of what it's like being inside one of those thousands of identical faces and suits of armour. I was less engaged by the unconfident Jedi trainee Etain, but she does grow over the course of the book. The plot rattles along and comes to a neat conclusion, but one leaving plenty of room for sequels. I will look out for them.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/418259.html with comments.

This book is primarily focused on Gwen, a former police officer now working as a private detective. She suspects corruption in the police department, and that her former mentor was murdered while everyone is writing it off as accidental death. She's also a changeling: an elf raised among humans, and only recently discovering her heritage. The main thrust of the story is her search for a missing woman, which turns up more mysteries than it solves; but interwoven with it are many other strands and a number of new characters.

The book is second in a series and there are possibly slightly too many threads going on: I'm writing this a week or two after finishing it and can't remember much of what happened. Gwen is a likeable character, tough, determined and practical. I think this is an enjoyable if not outstanding contribution to the urban fantasy genre.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/418025.html with comments.

This is a 2-in-1 Mills & Boon which I think nassus left with me.

The Family Plan is a great combination of highly-unlikely events, even more so than usual for Mills & Boon, in very much the modern world (there's even reference to Facebook!).( Read more... ) I noted in passing that the book handles consent very well: she says "let go of me", he lets go immediately.

By contrast, The Boss's Proposal would have been a nice little romance but is spoiled by the appalling nature of the relationship and interactions: ( consent: ur doin it rong ) For some reason, I thought Mills & Boon had stopped doing forced-seduction storylines, but I was obviously wrong. I should probably write and complain.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/414174.html with comments.

This is something like book 16 in the Anita Blake series, and after a lengthy stretch of very thin plots stretched over a lot of shagging and angst, it was a delight and relief to have a book that returns Anita to the role of federal marshal and vampire hunter. Ok, there's still some sex and some angst but there's a lot more plot than in recent books, and in feel it is a lot more like the early books.

( Cut for spoilers )

Skin Trade is a vast improvement over everything since Narcissus In Chains redirected the series into more-porn-than-plot territory. I really hope this is the beginning of a new phase in the series, and for the first time in years I find myself looking forward with interest to the next instalment.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/413513.html with comments.

From werewolves to vampires, witches, demons and dotcom millionaires.

Elena Michaels, reluctantly reconciled to her Pack, is investigating werewolf stories to protect their secret. It turns out the stories are a plant by a council of "supernaturals" who want to bring the werewolves in against a common enemy. In Bitten, the first in the series, there is no hint of any other supernatural beings, but in this book we meet witches, half-demons, vampires and sorcerors. Elena takes some convincing both of the other beings' powers but also of the need to co-operate.

But then she is kidnapped and things take a decidedly nasty turn. The kidnappers take her to an isolated research facility where a number of other "supernaturals" are held for research of various kinds. The group doing the research is somewhat ill-assorted, with each person in it for different reasons. The power structures shift over time, and Elena does her best to survive, figure out the power structures and do everything she can to escape and break out her fellow captives.

Like Bitten, the previous novel, there is gore, nastiness, swathes of moral grey areas (some of the worst monsters are humans), and action-packed plot. The sudden expansion of supernatural powers is a bit of a surprise, but unfolded well, and a good basis for the rest of the series.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/412818.html with comments.

There are worse things than pushing a buggy with a screaming child in through a thick crowd of firework-watchers (as I had to last year). This year's fun was pushing a large Dutch bike with basket and whimpering scared-but-brave child in the rear seat through a thick crowd of firework watchers in heavy rain. They move out of the way faster for the screaming and there's less risk of taking someone's ankle out with a pedal.

So, for next year, we wait on the bridge with a clear and easy exit, and I don't let fanf persuade me to "stop here where there's a good view" for a third year in a row.

The bike is new and rather lovely; I'm taking photos tomorrow for insurance and Immobilise purposes, and will share when I have them online.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/409665.html with comments.

A modern werewolf adventure, with murder, mystery and romance.

Elena is a journalist in Toronto, engaged to be married, with an unfortunate habit of turning into a wolf at least once a week. It's tough enough keeping this secret from her fiance, but then she's summoned home by a family crisis.

Elena's "family" is the Pack, a small band of loosely-related werewolves who strive to keep their territory clear of "mutts" i.e. non-Pack werewolves. While the Pack are disciplined enough to only prey on animals, most mutts find humans easy and tempting prey. Now a mutt is killing humans and leaving them on the Pack estate, risking everyone's exposure, and they need everyone on hand to help hunt down and eliminate this threat.

The Pack, including Elena, are fairly ruthless, as are their adversaries. The body count rises throughout the story, and some of the most gripping scenes are of the Pack hunting and killing as wolves. Most ruthless of all is the Pack enforcer, Clay: Elena's once-and-sometimes-again lover, who brought her into the Pack by biting her without her consent. While they are hunting mutts, Clay continues to pursue Elena at every opportunity.

I enjoyed the action-packed plot of this book, and that Elena is just as competent and strong as her male Packmates. I also appreciated the fairly large grey areas of morality. The romance between Elena and Clay is neither love-conquers-all nor it's-over-I-can-never-forgive-you, but something messy and difficult in the middle, with no easy answers. The hunting of mutts by the Pack is sometimes vicious, and the Pack are neither morally squeaky-clean nor free of mistakes and error.

I shall be looking out for more "Otherworld" novels by this author.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/412576.html with comments.

Kenzie Daniels is a political cartoonist estranged from her family after embarrassing her father. Ross Calder has just taken responsibility for his 7-year-old son Angus, and is trying to bond on a holiday on the North Carolina coast.

It is love at first sight - for Kenzie and Angus. For Kenzie and Ross, loves takes longer to develop, be recognised, and overcome both their pasts.

I enjoyed this Special Edition story, especially the background detail of Kenzie's involvement in the local community and bird rescue. The end of the book was a little hurried: Kenzie's reconciliation with her family seemed too easy, as was clearing up misunderstandings with Ross. But a pleasant read with a beautiful setting and a happy ending.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/411807.html with comments.

(Cross-posted to plan_survive)

Charles has just finished his 4th week of nursery and seems to be settling in ok. He's making some friends and talking about them by name, but sadly he is also getting occasional physical attacks from other children: biting, pinching, hitting. The nursery takes it fairly seriously, so I know about it because I get told about it each day something happens, and sign a form to say I've been told. (The parents of the child doing the violence get a different form to sign too, I gather.) The nursery policy is that staff can't tell me who the assailants are, but Charles tells me anyway when talking about it, so I know that it's limited to two boys, and it's always a result of disputes over favoured toys.

I am wrestling with angry mama-bear "so this is what people mean by nursery-will-teach-social-skills is it?" and not wanting to overreact (it is relatively minor stuff, it's taken seriously and stopped asap by the staff, he is building friendships there too). But I feel a need to do more to ensure Charles doesn't think minor violence every few days is ok or to be tolerated, and to give him non-violent tools to handle it.

After yet another incident on Friday, yesterday morning I talked with Charles a bit about saying loudly and firmly "No! Don't pinch me! That hurts!" and similar for biting, etc. Charles turned this into a game where his toys bit/pinched/hit me and I protested loudly and he came and stopped them, and then they bit/hit/pinched him and he protested loudly and I came and stopped them. He played the game much later in the day too, when Tony was around and could join in too. (In passing, I find it really interesting how his instinctive response is to turn tricky things like this into games to practice/play out the new concept.)

We talked about how if he speaks out loudly then the nursery staff, or other people around him, will know what is happening and can come and help. We talked a bit about maybe walking away from people who are hurting him, and how he doesn't have to play with them or be their friend. And I emphasised that it's absolutely not ok to hit/pinch/bite back (at least he hasn't done so yet - a small bit of pride I can take from the situation).

Is this enough? Too much? I think the setup at the nursery is such that this will be positive, and give the staff more warning when stuff is happening. I also hope that the loud "no, don't bite me" might just have a direct effect on the attacking child.

Suggestions/comments/experience welcome.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/409302.html with comments.

This is a gripping story of magic, war, love and betrayal.

The large island of Hyre is divided between the Tonks, a race of horse-breeders with a clan-based society, and the Eastils, a multi-ethnic monarchy with limited democracy. They have been at war for centuries, using both conventional and magical means. Talyn is a magically-talented soldier of the Tonks, dismayed to hear that a third race, the Feegash, are trying to encourage both sides to join peace talks. Under a particularly fierce attack, Talyn learns a vital clue to a covert Eastil mission that threatens all the leaders of her race.

What I thought was going to be a typical magic-and-battles epic rapidly changes direction: peace talks bring huge change to Tonk society and its relations with the outside world. The story shifts from the first-person viewpoint of Talyn to a third-person viewpoint primarily following Geir, the spy leading the mission Talyn uncovers. Both are full of determination to work for their country, each sure that it is the only right way and the other country is barbarian and wrong. The mysterious Feegash, and the peace they bring, change all the old certainties.

I could not put this book down, and stayed up late into the night finishing it. I loved the characterisation and background. I loved that Talyn felt like a real person: likeable, heroic, but far from perfect. Most of all I loved the plot, unfolding in surprising ways.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/412296.html with comments.

Borrowing this lovely idea from Ailbhe (DW/LJ):

Let me tell you why you are awesome. Yes, you. Leave a comment and I promise to write at least a sentence about why you are awesome. Some will be longer than others, depending on how my day is going ...

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/408897.html with comments.

Timothy Zahn has written an engaging and accessible military-sf novel that happens to be set in a movie tie-in world. This book is a prequel to the movie Terminator Salvation, and introduces us to the post-Judgement Day world in the ruins of LA.

John & Kate Connor are leading a Resistance cell and there's some kind of command structure co-ordinating resistance (across the US alone, I presume, no hint of any other countries anyway). Meanwhile in a broken up hotel, a teenage Kyle Reese is part of a small community of civilians trying to stay alive against the threats both of Skynet and other humans.

The book follows the attempts of Connor's cell to capture a Skynet "staging post" while all its defences are out murdering the remaining humans in this part of the city. The action is seen from many viewpoints, both fighting in the streets & aerial battles, and Zahn's ability to keep the reader gripped is as good as ever.

The book comes to a resolution and a satisfying close, but it is clearly just a chapter in a longer story.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/411454.html with comments.

I went to work for half a day - that was practically normal. Then on my half day off I:

• got my hair cut shorter
• went to London (running into auntysarah and friend going climbing)
• wandered across to St Pancras to see the ICE train being shown off there (4 hours London-Amsterdam? Yes please!)
• walked to the British Museum, getting thoroughly rained on and undoing the hairdresser's careful work with blowdryer
• played trainspotter for a bit with a map showing the 100 objects
• walked to Westminster, making use of the new London visitor maps a couple of times along the way
• waited for ages in an enormous queue for the visitor's entrance, getting rained on again (at least until a kind member of staff lent me a huge umbrella)
• got loomed over by a huge statue of Oliver Cromwell
• disagreed politely with the man sharing my huge umbrella on his thesis that "everything was much better in the old days", inspired by the aforesaid statue
• finally got into the Palace, only 15 minutes late for my meeting
• had useful productive first meeting of the LibDem IT & IP policy working group, trying hard to fight off imposter syndrome
• had a drink on the terrace overlooking the river
• left the Palace by the MP's entrance to the tube station
• admired again the Jubilee Line's 1960s-vision-of-the-future design
• missed the last bus home when back at Cambridge
• shared a cab with 3 graduate students who gave me too much money when they got out

Westminster is very strange indeed: Julian's description of "a cross between Ghormenghast and Hogwarts" is better than anything I can come up with. Old Cambridge Colleges turned up to 11, perhaps.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/408731.html with comments.

Book 15 in the Anita Blake series. In what even the characters agree is a cheesy plot, Anita agrees to pretend to be the girlfriend of her friend Jason so he can go back to his hometown and try to rebuild bridges with his abusive father who is dying of cancer.

Arriving in the home town, they hit a media circus as the governor's son is getting married the same weekend, the governor is a potential presidential candidate, and the governor's son looks uncannily like Jason. The media merrily go down the wrong track at first, but being convinced of Jason's and Anita's real identities doesn't make things better as they manufacture controversy about them and their relationship with Jean-Claude.

So far so cheesy, but something else is going on and Anita can't help picking up on it: extra security around the wedding, odd reactions from the security guards she can't help baiting, and a very drunk bride-to-be. And then in the middle of the "bachelorette party", the Mother of All Darkness intervenes spectacularly.

I enjoyed this book more than the previous: there's still a lot of sex-and-relationship angsting, but there's also some gripping non-sexual action, actual character development and creepily convincing depictions of what its like having one's memory and perceptions messed about with. And hurray and hurrah, Anita suddenly discovers how to feed on something other than sex, and Richard gets to stop being the annoying whiny bundle of angry angst that has put me off some of the more recent books.

Anita's never-ending power-uprating continues, this time getting her (and Jean-Claude) entangled with the insular were-tiger community. This book only gets a chance to skate over the new problems: to be continued in number 16?

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/411338.html with comments.

Another installment in the Anita Blake series: some very nasty very powerful vampires come to town and put Anita, Jean-Claude, Richard and the rest in mortal danger. Anita gets yet more Mysteriously Powerful and there's some more shapeshifter politics. I found it gripping while I was reading it, but have no strong wish to read it again.

It suffers from the two main flaws of this series: Anita continues to be implausibly and increasingly powerful and irresistible; and the sex-and-relationships chapters take up so much of the book that very little other plot takes place. The early books were thinner but had a lot more (non-sexual) action packed into them.

I want to like that the series shows working polyamorous relationships, but I'm a bit dubious about most of it being on Anita's terms and no-one else's. Some of her lovers seem to be little more than a name placeholder for all the character development they get. In addition, I don't think it's a spoiler to say I really wish the author would either kill Richard off or allow him to grow up a little. The nearest I came to giving up on the book were the chapters with him in.

On the good side, Edward appears again in this one. I've always liked Edward, probably because Anita isn't having relationship angst with him.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/410986.html with comments.

I think I've found and catalogued all the to-read books now. So the total stands at 347, of which 9 are library books. This is not meant as a contest; I'm fed up with myself for continually acquiring rather than actually getting on and reading the acquisitions. I think when I buy books I'm also buying the happy fantasy that I have time to read them.

Anyway, from now on I want to do at least 2-out, 1-in on the to-read pile (not counting the library books). Trying to stop obtaining new books outright has failed lots of times in the past, but this seems a more achievable target. Also having a computer do the counting should help me stick to it.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/408332.html with comments.

I'm afraid I bounced off this book without finishing it. The execution is good, in that I kept turning the pages when I first picked it up, but on having to put it down for a few hours I found in myself no desire to pick it back up: none of the characters particularly interested me and there was a fair bit of unpleasant pain-and-torture I could have lived without reading.

This may be a weakness of a series book: I picked it up at the library because it looked interesting, not realising how far through the series it was. There was perhaps too much backstory I was missing out on, even with the narrator chattily filling me in. I did find the narrative voice intrusive sometimes, especially the recurrent "by the way".

This book, maybe even this series, is not for me, but I will look out for other works by the author.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/410672.html with comments.

Jonny's friend Grace, who lives around the corner and is always very sweet to Charles, won a bronze medal in Delhi for heptathlon. We saw her on tv, smiling and unmistakeably Grace. I'm really pleased for her.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/408129.html with comments.

Fifth and final in the "Young Bond" series by Charlie Higson, this book has a teenage James Bond learn to ski, save the King, discover some of the grey areas of espionage, defeat some Nazis, and have his first taste of a broken heart.

From the Tyrolean alps to Eton and back again, this gripping book kept me turning the pages, and filled in a little more of Bond's early life. The setting is firmly in the 1930s, and the attention to detail remains excellent: skiing equipment, Eton rituals, royalty and references to the rise of Hitler.

Of the four books I've read in this series, this one is perhaps the most serious, the one that starts taking a likeable young boy down the path towards the ruthless man of Fleming's novels. That said, it's still suitable for the "young teen" target audience: with only moderate violence and only the mildest hint of sexual feelings. It should be enjoyed by Bond fans of all ages.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/410579.html with comments.

We spent yesterday on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, riding steam trains, drinking beer, and visiting the Brontë Parsonage museum in Haworth.

Now, the nearest I have got to reading any Brontë novels is reading the Eyre Affair, and watching the first part of the most recent TV adaptation of Jane Eyre, but I still found the museum interesting: giving a real sense of life-at-the-time and a lot of useful background to the Brontë family. There's currently an art installation in the museum, alongside the existing displays, with book cuts and a contemporary dress cut with heather.

The gift shop is packed with every possible edition you could want of all the books, including the comical Twilight-style edition of Wuthering Heights, but I resisted for I am strong (and I just finished cataloguing my to-read shelves on LibraryThing and anyway they should be in the local library).

Mostly I was left with a rather sad sense of the waste of life and potential to early illness and death: thank goodness for TB jabs, smear tests, good sanitation, insulation and central heating.

Back in Leeds, someone has been knitting ornaments for the many statues in the plaza in front of the station. Most of the women have got little knitted bikinis, though others have a knitted icecream instead. And one rather imposing gent by the door of the building had a rock guitar when we were heading out to Keighley:



Sadly it had disappeared on our return, presumably nicked.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/407839.html with comments.

We had a fun birthday yesterday. Charles woke up and immediately told me it was his birthday. I had to get into work and it was also his first full day at nursery, so we had agreed the day before to postpone present-opening until we got home in the evening.

He seemed to have a good time at nursery, and once I'd collected him we set off for our usual Wednesday evening in the central library. As Charles was on his balance bike and apparently full of beans, this meant me jogging-to-keep-up nearly all the way from Gilbert Road to the Grand Arcade. (Luckily I was wearing my trainers and managed this with no real difficulty though I did go rather pink.)

At the library we met first my friend Rosie and then arnhem and Lois, and hung out for a bit together in the children's area. Rosie had made a clothkits lion pillow/toy for Charles, which he welcomed enthusiastically. After library and errands we collected Tony from his office to go home.

Charles managed to nap on Tony's shoulders as we walked home (a skill I found most impressive), and woke up 5 minutes from home. He was then very keen to start opening his small of presents, from us and other relatives. The winner was clearly the marble run, which resulted in all three males in the house busily assembling it while I wandered off to make hot chocolate to complete the stereotype.

We also talked on Skype to two of his grandparents, mostly Tony & I doing the talking as Charles was Busy with the marble run.



Eventually we decided it was bedtime and tucked him in a little later than usual. This morning he slept in about 90 minutes later than usual.

Last weekend we had a party-for-children in the local church hall which went fairly well; this weekend coming will be a joint celebration for Charles being 4, my youngest brother recently turning 21 and my mother & stepfather's wedding anniversary. We are going to visit a steam railway: something fun for all of us.

Next birthday, Charles will almost certainly be in school.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/407553.html with comments.

I am quite tired from work. But this time four years ago I was much more tired and Charles didn't arrive until 9ish the next day.

Today Charles was talking about the child seat on my bike that he has grown out of and said "and maybe the baby in your tummy will grow bigger and bigger and it can use the seat".

"Um, Charles, I'm afraid there isn't a baby in my tummy."

"But you should build one and grow it so you can have another baby. I need a little ... friend." [I think he hesitated because he wasn't sure whether to say sister or brother]

... Discussion ensued about how growing babies is quite hard work and I don't think I want to right now, but maybe I will in future. I think this is the third or fourth day in a row that Charles has talked about me having another baby. So far I'm finding it sweet rather than annoying but we'll see how long that lasts.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/407110.html with comments.

A tarot-reading at a hen night tells Fern that she already met her soulmate "but let him go". Fern finds herself obsessed with working out who it could be: first love Luke, now a movie star; college boyfriend Matt, or latest ex Seb, dumped for cheating on her?

Moving around between London and Prague, this fun romance follows set-designer Fern on her quest, along with costume parties, weddings, spoiled dogs and an unexpected swim in the Vltava.

Fern is a likeable thirty-something city girl with a thriving set-design career and a unique sense of style. The plot is slightly by the numbers, contrasting the different personalities and approach to life of Luke, Matt & Seb, and in doing so allowing Fern to assess her life and what she wants out of it. I guessed the happy ending some way in advance, but it was no less fun for that.

I will be looking out for the rest of the series by Jessica Fox.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/410348.html with comments.

I have spent my afternoon off playing around with social library sites (ok, mostly LibraryThing) and starting the slow process of logging the contents of my to-read shelves. I found a copy of Mort in Cyrillic script. (I think ruthcoleman gave it to me after getting it at one of the DWCons she attended.) My Russian-speaking lodger says it is not in Russian but might be in Ukranian. It doesn't have an ISBN, and I can't read any of the information about where it was published.

What language is this book in? And do any of my internet friends or their friends want it?



Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/406857.html with comments.

Thanks to our policy of answering questions as they come up, Charles knows that babies grow in their mummy's tummy, and that he was inside my tummy once and very small, and that we went to hospital in an ambulance to help him be born.

On Saturday he asked "Where did you get me? Where did I come from?"

I said "I grew you inside me. You were made from a piece of me and a piece of Daddy, and you grew inside me until you were born."

He seemed happy with that and carried on the important business of jumping on the bed. I expect I'll answer variants on this question lots of times over the next decade or so, but I want to remember the first time I answered it.

(Charles is currently going through a thoroughly questioning phase, asking about anything and everything and often repeating/rephrasing questions many times. Sometimes it seems to be to tease out detail, sometimes he seems more to be checking that the substance of the answer is the same. It can be tiring, but there's something wonderful about being interrogated in detail by someone who just really wants to know the answer.)

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/403907.html with comments.

The house woe is getting sorted.
( Read more... )

My foot was xrayed and is not broken; and has in fact started to improve in the last 24 hours. At this morning's checkup the doctor said it was most likely tendonitis, though the root cause remains a mystery. Anyway, it should heal up in another 1-2 weeks, if I can continue to stay off it as much as possible and continue with the ibuprofen. This has cheered me up greatly as I feel there is an end in sight to the tedious regime of getting the bus everywhere. At least Charles has enjoyed the extra bus rides.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/403653.html with comments.

I've been selected for the LibDem working group on IT & IP policy, which is chaired by Julian Huppert. I'm really pleased, because this struck me as one area where both my professional experience and my personal politics can come together and I can make a strong contribution. It's also a commitment level I can meet without radical lifestyle changes (meetings about once a month, work in between can be done in evenings/weekends).

Sadly I'm going to miss the first gathering of the new working group at this weekend's party conference as I'm attending lnr's wedding in Cambridge. I've discovered one other fellow member so far and look forward to meeting the rest in due course.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/403313.html with comments.

Just as we get the bathroom sorted: the washing machine is broken and the boiler is making alarming clanky noises. It never stops!

( house woe )

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/402960.html with comments.

Just of the outside, because there are postcards for sale of the inside. Click through below for the full set.



Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/402813.html with comments.

As a child, I loved the "Green Knowe" books by Lucy M Boston about an old house, a grandmother, and children having magical adventures. A few years ago the out-of-print ones were reprinted by Oldknow Books so I was able to buy a full set and re-read them. They were just as good as I'd remembered, which is certainly not the case for all my childhood favourites. I strongly recommend them if you haven't read them, and if you have and want the set, you can get them

The house in the books was based on the author's home, about 20 miles from Cambridge, and still inhabited by her family. Diana Boston, her daughter-in-law, runs bookable tours of the house (as well as Oldknow books), so I jumped at the chance when rustica kindly offered to organise a visit.

We came over in 4 parties, from Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford, and found each other in the gardens. Once we'd gathered everyone together and stopped being distracted by a most adorable tiny puppy, Diana started the tour with a little history of the house, complete with diagrams. It was built in Norman times, rebuilt in Tudor times, had a complete new frontage in the Georgian times, and then a fire which was only stopped by the thick original Norman walls. From the entrance inward, I started recognising the house of my beloved books, with Diana pointing out things I had half-forgotten and explaining the inspirations for more.

Two rooms made the deepest impression on me. The Music Room, half of the original Norman hall, holding the 1920s gramophone on which Lucy Boston played records for airmen at the local RAF base during the Second World War. Diana played us some of a contemporary record, the sound surprisingly clear and loud through the old bamboo needle and papier mache horn. I couldn't tell you what the music was, but the hair stood up on the back of my neck and tears came to my eyes as I listened and thought of this ancient room full of those young wartime pilots, also listening. I was shaken and I hadn't expected to be.

From the Music Room we went up to the attic bedroom, where all the children sleep in all the books. This is very obviously the room of the books, with many details exactly as we are told in the books so I was shaken all over again, but rather more happily.

The final room was where Lucy Boston's patchworks were shown, and this was a real revelation to me. The grandmother in the books makes patchworks, but I hadn't realised that this too was based on real life. The patchworks are all beautiful, even the ones made in wartime out of whatever fabric could be got without coupons, but the later ones are glorious. The patchworks are almost worth the visit alone; I was surprised to hear that none were included in the recent V&A exhibition. I bought slightly more postcards than was sensible in the gift shop, especially of my favourite design.

A film is just coming out based on The Chimneys of Green Knowe - it is called From Time To Time and is currently on very limited release in arts cinemas and similar. The Norwich Arts Picturehouse will be showing it, so I live in hope of the Cambridge Picturehouse doing so as well (I'm emailing them later). If they don't, I think we might have to make a visit to Norwich.

We finished our visit with a fuller wander around the gardens and then went to the next village for a beverage before making our separate ways home. Many thanks to rustica for making it happen, and beckyc for giving me a lift.

I really recommend visiting the Manor if you like a) the Green Knowe books b) patchwork/quilting c) old houses d) lovely gardens. It might make an interesting day out for people who've "done" Cambridge touristy things and want to do something different.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/402639.html with comments.

A few weeks ago there was Ellie's hen night, which she has already written up.


I got home from that to meet up with my dad and Tony accompanying Charles to the temporary funfair on Parkers Piece, on its last day:


Dad stayed for a couple of days, looking after Charles while J was on her holiday and both Tony & I had to work. He also managed some delicious baking and some useful jobs around the house, all of which was much appreciated.

And then there was DWCon, which I think we all enjoyed very much. Tony and I both got to a few events, but mostly there was lots of socialising, and children playing together and swimming. The children were collectively adorable, and lovely parents let me have lots of tiny-baby snuggles. Babies don't keep and it's a long time since Charles was that small. A migraine knocked me out on Saturday night so I missed the AFP Hedgehog Party, but was kept at bay on Sunday & Monday with copious painkillers (and surprisingly-effective cuddles from Charles).



And finally, yesterday's doctor kindly reissued my migraine meds prescription and referred me for a foot xray (to take place Monday). She also told me to keep off the foot really As Much As Possible, so I am trying harder.

Also posted at http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/402215.html with comments.