What is this life if, full of care, we have to get up at arse o'clock in the morning...

Sep 26, 2013 12:25

Ugh, life. What a trial, eh? Every Thursday morning we have what we laughingly call our multidisciplinary team meeting which consists of the screening team plus an ophthalmologist or two. This is at 8am (which I already consider to be a TRAVESTY). Today I arrived at work at 7.05, headachey and starving hungry (for no reason, given that I could have stayed at home for another 55 minutes, come to, had a cup of tea and a lovingly prepared egg/toast combo, and generally segued gently into the morning’s travails) because I am an idiot. Still, I will go home at three (via Waitrose for a year’s worth of chocolate granola, assuming it’s still on special offer), so that will be nice. Tea tonight (and I am sure everyone feels spiritually starved from the long absence of updates re the Fangirl Towers menu) will be tomato and lentil soup* with a hearty crust of rustic bread.

Anyway, let us return, clawing fitfully through the mists of time, to yesterday evening. Katie and I went to see Rush (top notch - really enjoyed it and would recommend to all, F1 fans or not), then returned home to a tasty pasta parcel. Good times. Also, I watched the season opener of NCIS. I cannot lie, chums, I am concerned about the non-appearance of Certain People, espesh since I have heard Rumours. Prepare yourselves for wails of outrage and copious fix-it fics should the worst happen.

Moving on to today’s topic: what I’ve been reading. Actually, I’ve been hijacked a bit by my peripatetic interest in Richard III, so recent reading has consisted of Josephine Tey’s Daughter of Time, as well as Walpole’s awesome Historic Doubts and Markham’s original article in the English Historical Review** (this can be found online); the same issue includes Gairdner’s rebuttal of the Henry VII accusation and the corresponding flurry of letters couched, naturally, in the language of scholars. I have also, finally, got round to reading Kendall’s Richard III, which is extremely readable and I would definitely recommend it (also Walpole: his history is not beyond question, but it’s beautifully written).

Simultaneously, I am reading Peter Ackroyd’s The History of England vol. 1, which is also enjoyable, interspersing what is essentially a narrative divided by monarchies (arguably the most coherent way to structure a chronicle of medieval England) with snippets of social and economic history. I would definitely recommend it. And tonight’s reading will be the Holinshed’s Chronicles account of Edward II’s reign, so that I am fully prepared for the theatre tomorrow. (My edition is the Folio Society’s, and it’s beautiful.)

In conclusion, ooh, we went to see White House Down in the kino the other week and it was fucking glorious! The best kind of ridic action film, up there with Die Hard and Con Air (the twin towers, if you will, of the ridic-but-actually-genuinely-good-action genre).

* I say soup. By the time I’m done with it, it’s usually struggling bravely into stew territory.

** Yes, yes, this is because I can’t be arsed to read the whole book into which he expanded his article; maybe one day…

love nest, books, food and cooking and mixing bowls, tv, films

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