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HELLO FORKERS ⛄️🍾 JAN 21

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Posts

  • Morning all, 

    Can't seem to get myself going this morning, dropped Charlie off at school at 7:45 (no frost) but have to collect again at 11am. Not long enough to do much but too long to do nothing, although I am making a good job of that so far.  ;)

    Apparently there's an important meeting going on with the government this morning regarding the next step for Covid, reconfinement, more curfews, schools to stay open/close, it's very unsettling, not that it really makes a difference to me, it just brings home the situation more. I really don't see restaurants opening until March at least. 

    It is also drizzling outside, not cold, but very wet, impossible to work in the garden. I have refilled the birdfeeders, they got through ever such a lot this week whilst it's been frozen. If we're very lucky it will brighten up enough just to go for a walk this afternoon, I might go around our local lake, that takes about an hour and a quarter and might give me a bit of a boost. 

    I've finished my book (Cormoran Strike) and my Netflix series, Valhalla and am looking for a new book. I do love a mystery/detective novel but of late I have found Rebus and even Strike a bit depressing. I don't like frivolous romances but all the book reviews I looked at last night seem to be either too gruesome/frivolous or badly rated. I quite fancied Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, but the review of the first in the series, In The Woods was very disappointing and put me off. Anyone got any ideas? I really am not up to any deep soul searching or in depth political/social study at the moment, I just need a bit of escapism that has a decent amount of plausibility to it and likeable (or at least interesting character (s) in it.  I would appreciate any suggestions. 

    Also, more brain picking, anyone grown Nandina plants? That is another mission I am on, trying to find a suitable shrub. I have written it up on another thread. 

    Anyhow, good day to you all, I will pop in later when hopefully I am feeling at bit more lively. :)
    • “Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Morning all - hi Pat!

    Minimum 7C last night was a bit of a shock.  Higher than the max daytime temperature (apart from yesterday's) for the year so far... raining again though.

    I believe some phones can be set up so only certain incoming numbers make them ring.  Not that I'd know how to do it, of course   :/

    Marmalade making today   :)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    @D0rdogne_Damsel- have you read any of Kate Morton's books? Mystery rather than death and destruction. Quite complicated storylines - ones that go back and forth in different eras usually, but engrossing.  :)
    I only have an old type of phone, Even then, I get a fright if it rings  :D
    @Liriodendron - we went from minus nine on Saturday, to plus nine with rain on Monday, then back to minus four that night. Very weird. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • BigladBiglad Posts: 3,265
    Have you tried the Jack Reacher series (by Lee Child), @D0rdogne_Damsel? There's a fair amount of death and destruction but at least it is normally the 'bad guys' ;) 

    Ex-military cop wanders around the USA getting involved in extreme situations, slowly discovering what exactly is going on and attempting to put it right.

    I read the first one without knowing that my Dad used to work with the author (pre-writing) and that I'd been to quite a few Villa games with him in my yoof.
    East Lancs
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    @Biglad ... you probably have enough tech ability to turn the ‘ring’ off and just check for missed calls occasionally in the evening in case friends or family ring 😉 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    Ed McBain's 87th Precinct stories? Maybe a bit gruesome in places.

    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    We both really like the Val McDermid ‘Karen Pirie’ series. Believable, not too gruesome, well written, well-drawn characters, good sense of atmosphere and place ... intelligent writing without being ‘difficult’ ... and OH doesn’t usually ‘do fiction’. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    @D0rdogne_Damsel   Bonjour.  If you can find some Victoria Hislop.  Not crime stories but stories based on real events.  "The Return" - the Spanish Civil War and "The Island" about the leper colony in Greece.
    Tui
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • Thank you all for your suggestions. 

    @Biglad I have read most of the Reacher books and did enjoy them. 

    @steveTu, definitely something I fancy.  (not you per se, the 87th Precinct stories)   ;)

    @Fairygirl I have downloaded Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden just because it sounds so different from what I am used to reading and I really am in need of escapism at the moment. I will let you know how I get on. 
    • “Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066
    Afternoon all,  A depressing day today, wet and miserable.  Woke up with a lousy headache and Gabriel now has Chickenpox.  I'll be looking after him Thurs and Fri so Secondborn can go to work.  No plans for today.
    Had the last of my veg seeds arrive this morning.  Hopefully I'll cheer up a bit when the pills have kicked in.  Sorry to be a bit of a moaning minnie.
    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
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