a view through my own eyes

Many thanks to Chris and Jeanne for the T Shirt that arrived in the post this morning, with the phrase:

rm is forever

emblazoned on the front. I laughed mightily and then explained the joke to mrspao who looked baffled. I will wear it with pride to work on Monday and expect the point n click boys to not have a clue…

Chris & Jeanne also deserve the ‘buggering up the Christmas break plans’ award, for sending us a circular 1000 piece jigsaw of cats. My grandmother was so impressed that she wagered us 10 pounds that it would not be completed by Christmas 2009. So red rag to a bull as it was, we did it by New Year’s Day. Progress reports and photos can be found on mrspao’s blog. Several late nights were involved along with every minute not doing something else far more interesting - thanks guys.

Revenge will be sweet.

It has occurred to me that every now and again I make a list of things to do. Usually this takes the form of a list scribbled onto the back of an envelope and placed in my wallet. For some reason that I cannot explain it is important to me that the list goes on an envelope, perhaps this is out of spite of PDAs and other organiser software.

In the past various lists have been made, one was the wedding list of jobs that I had to do for sorting stuff out like: hire car/bouncy castle/ice cream van/best mens inside leg and so on; most items were done, a couple were not but on the whole mostly successful.

Another list made when I was redundant from work at the end of 1992 had the following items: improve education, get job, somewhere to live, BONUS ITEM:girlfriend. I think I can claim to have completed that list.

Since we are at the early part of 2009, it is time for a list of things to do over the next year, none of which are enormously exciting but do give me a chance to set some targets - nothing particularly personal will go on this list as it is after all a public list so apologies if my aims appear low, the loftier and personal goals are listed elsewhere (probably on an envelope); none of the following items are work related.

So, in no particular order:
-tidy the garage so the car can go in there
-varnish the rest of the window frames
-wash the car at least twice
-play (and complete) Zelda on the Game Cube - finally
-sell one of my photographs
-change the theme of this blog to a design I actually like
-read more books for leisure than last year (30 - so will be resetting the counter for this year)
-go and visit my brother and his family (terrible that has to go on this list - but it is said publicly now)
-visit all the pubs in the surrounding villages and walk to them from home as part of that task (a map etc will be sorted out for them in due course)
-lose some weight (I know this is a classic for this time of year but I want to do this through some basic lifestyle changes rather than a sudden fitness/diet crash plan)
-fix the loo in the en-suite bathroom (this will please mrspao)
-tidy and sort out the garden
-make a photobook
-arrange a game of Civilization (the board game), it only takes around 16 hours for a game and has been sat on the shelf for a few years so it is about time that a game was played.
-host a murder mystery evening (the game has been provided - now to pull finger out and actually do so)

I think that will do for now, will blog as and when things are done or abandoned - if I remember.

So onto the last finished book of the year. Yet another Dalziel & Pascoe from the job lot of earlier in the year.

This time we have a spate of burglaries of high class properties combined with Pascoe setting off for a weekend away with friends, who he discovers on his late arrival have been murdered.

It is difficult to say much more without giving anything away. On this occasion though Hill did keep me guessing most of the way through as to the who, what and why. So this goes down as a thoroughly enjoyable read.

To be honest - it does occur to me that most of the books get a general thumbs up - here I have to admit I have not blogged about the books that I have given up on, this is mainly down to the fact that I am not always sure why I have given up on a book. To me it varies on the frame of mind that I am in and the type of entertainment that I am after, consequently some books get started one day and put down to be read sometimes years later. Others of course never get finished, next year I will blog the ones that do not get fully read and get dumped straight into the charity bag.

There are also other books that I read that are not necessarily read for pure entertainment purposes and so may be instructional or work related.

So 30 finished books for the year, I don’t think that is too bad, if I add in a few non finishers and other books that I feel are inappropriate for here then I think that the number is probably nearer 50.

The counter will be reset so at the same time I can track the number of books that I do read over the year.

On the way into town yesterday I notice that the steering is a tad stiff on the car and it is pulling to one side. Places to stop safely are a tad rare on our way into town so I live with it and go for the nearest car park (the works one that is the nearest car park and also free - which in Canterbury is incredibly handy).

So we have a puncture, which is not a problem. Mrspao heads into town and I change the wheel. Whilst extracting the spare which is underneath the back of the car and naturally the catch has jammed, I observe a pair of feet heading towards me - well the view was limited.

-Hello dearie.
-Excuse me?
-I am from a market research company, do you have time to do a survey for me?
-To be honest I am not entirely sure that this is the most appropriate moment.
-It is only a few questions and look at some pictures, anyway it is not as if you are going anywhere!
-That is, I grant you a valid point.
-This will only take a few minutes; really.
-Well you have as long as it takes me to change the wheel.

So three minutes later (I was still changing the tyre - the survey did not take long), the survey is completed and I have some vouchers that are valid in some shops on the high street. Incidentally the survey was about becoming a teacher and had I seen the Governments adverts about incentives for retraining as a teacher. Why I would want to give up my new job to retrain as a teacher I have no idea. Amusingly I work at the biggest teacher training institution in the area.

Mrspao, I should point out loves doing these sorts of surveys, personally I cannot stand them. But I have learnt over the years that by the nature of the person I am, I can do the survey and manage to hit all of the filtering questions and so take the shortest route through which infuriates the survey people no end.

From what I have worked out the following are the filter triggers:
TV - I watch very little advertisement funded TV, so rarely see any advertising and when I do it is often on the PVR so 3 minutes of adverts are skipped over in a few seconds.
Newspapers - I do not read them unless I am in a hotel and they offer free papers.
Junk mail - goes straight in the recycling.
WWW - I use ad blockers in my browser.

Occasionally I am asked if I feel I am missing something in my quality of life by not getting adverts. Sigh.

Looking at the vouchers I have acquired, I see that about a third of the stores that would normally accept them have gone into administration over the last couple of months. I guess I had better spend them quickly.

This was a Christmas present from my brother a year or so ago (I think) anyhow I finally picked it up a couple of months ago.

What we get here is the second of Harris’s Roman novels (the first being Pompeii), this time set around the now legendary orator Cicero as he rises into power ultimately obtaining the title Imperium.

History tells us that Cicero was the greatest orator of his time, this does come across in the book, but what the book lacks is the killer thriller pacing that Harris is known for. Whilst I appreciate that key scenes by their very nature and that of the characters are required to take place in the senate and these scenes are wonderful indeed. But the sense of timing and pacing for the majority of the book which is not set in the senate seems to be slightly out, so this book although a good read is not a great read that I would normally associate with Harris.

On this occasion one thumb up rather than two.

Yup another Dalziel and Pascoe - the job lot I bought earlier in the year is being worked through - a few more to go though but only one other for this year I think.

When the body of the founder of the local college is unearthed when her statue is moved the police are called in. Records show that Miss Girling died five years ago on a skiing trip in Austria, so how does her body come to be under a statue erected in her honour?

This one kept me hooked until the end, I really had no idea who dunnit or why.

Yet another catchup - nearly there now - honest. Although I have not cracked a book a week, I have managed one every couple of weeks on average so that is not too bad.

Anyway: Dalziel and Pascoe are back on the case, in typical twisting Hill style seemingly disconnected strands slowly combine together that is a pretty fun read.

Take a dodgy cinema (Climax Kinema Club) in the early 70s so pre internet, pre DVD, pre VHS etc. A dodgier dentist and the sexual mores of adolescent teens and elderly headmasters. You get an insight into 70s that seems dim and distant.

Catchup time again - I read this over the summer.

In a similar tone to Rutherfurd’s Sarum which I previously reviewed. Written in the same way with the strands of families intertwining as London develops from a village in pre Roman times to the modern day city. Whilst it was very soap opera like, there did seem to be the lack of a focal point which was evident in Sarum (Stonehenge and then Salisbury Cathederal) and although we see ‘London’ develop it was somehow lacking.

Given a choice between Rutherfurd’s two tomes (both in excess of 1000 pages) that I have read so far and Sarum is the clear winner.

This is the second Robert Harris book I have read this year (other review in a day or so as I have only just remembered that I read it months ago) and Harris is on fine form.

Set in contemporary times, a ghost writer is employed to assist a recent ex Prime Minister to write his memoirs. The ex Prime Minister is obviously a Blair-alike and the memoirs are centered around the War on Terror specifically with the abduction of British subjects who ended up at Guantanamo Bay. Our narrator (the Ghost of the title) takes on the mantle of the memoirs after his predecessor drowns and discovers that the ex Prime Minister has a secret or two in the closet.

Set in London, New York, Boston and Martha’s Vineyard - this thriller really is an utter page turner with a climatic ended that is a definite ‘wow’. To say more risks giving away too many clues.

Highly recommended, this is one for the bookshelf to read again in a few years, not because I will have forgotten the twist as that is unlikely - but more so I can spot the hints and clues along the way.

Thanks to H for getting me this for my birthday.

For those who don’t know JYS is an ex Formula 1 racing driver who won the world championship three times between 1967 and 1973 when he decided to retire.

Harking back to a an age to just before Formula 1 fully embraced commercial concerns, when in many ways the sport resembled a gentleman’s club there was still a level of exclusivity about the sport.

Jackie’s book though is a story of a triumph against the odds, branded an idiot at school due to undiagnosed (unknown then as it was) dyslexia and so not allowed to finish schooling. He worked up from sweeping the floor of his father’s garage to motor racing against his mother’s wishes (she never spoke to him about motor racing) and then to become the only ex F1 driver to own a team that won a race.

There are two themes apart from the racing that ring through the book. The first is safety - during Jackie’s racing career over eleven years - 57 of his contemporaries died. Through the Grand Prix Drivers Association he campaigned almost tirelessly for improved safety - villified and derided by the media at the time who knew better and even some of his colleagues he fought on. That is not to say that safety ended up anywhere near it is now, but the ball had started rolling.

The second main theme is that from the start he was aware that his career would be finite and that he needed to plan for his future and that of his family. So striking deals with the likes of Ford and Rolex he became one of their biggest ambassadors and did what he was contracted for and more. His key point was always about giving them value and doing the little bit extra and that rings true through the book with every organisation that he worked with - that he always tried to give a bit more.

That takes us to the sticking point that grated slightly throughout the book - the little bit extra, in some ways the book itself is that little bit extra. The gentle plugging of Ford, Rolex and others does after a while start to grate.

It does however have to be said that so far JYS has had an astonishing life and made some amazing relationships and is all in a fascinating read. Anyone who can not only become sponsored by Ford for around forty years of his life, get them to stump up and invest in his own F1 team (Stewart GP) and then sell that team back to Ford at a profit is worthy of a closer look.

On the whole I enjoyed the book and it will remain on the shelf.