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[hedge_backwards]

Here is a list of my recent doings, compiled primarily so that I might prove to myself that I am doing something, even if the tenor of my life has become quieter recently.

Comments

[highfantastical]

That looks SO EXCELLENT. You are clearly an accomplished woman in many fields! <3

[hedge_backwards]

Merci! As with all my attempts at baking, there was a decent amount of luck involved however. <3

[littlered2]

That cake looks excellent. Family gatherings are definitely awful, though. You have my sympathy.

There is a lovely independent bookshop four miles away from me, in an area popular with walkers, where they have signs up about what to do with your muddy boots. It's great.

[hedge_backwards]

If we had a massive argument it would at least have passed the time, as it was I was looking for an exit within five minutes of arriving. I am looking forward to going back to Cambridge so that I can plead pressure of work and avoid these things.

If you're ever in Steyning, the bookshop is worth a visit, it hasn't got a huge collection, but it is well-chosen. Where precisely is the one you were talking about?

[hrodberht]

Alfriston; Much Ado Books. Coincidentally, it's where my parents honeymooned (Alfriston in general, I mean, not that specific bookshop).

[littlered2]

As R says, it's Much Ado Books. It's lovely and award-winning.

Being able to plead work is a handy excuse for escaping. I wish I were still young enough to just go off and read a book without it being disgustingly rude.

[hrodberht]

Oh dear, 20th-century history is gloomy, isn't it? (I read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold last week, which is admittedly not history but is Cold War and depressing, so I sympathise.) Are you planning to recast yourself as a 20th-century specialist, or are you hoping to browbeat the school you end up at into teaching more congenial topics?

Hurrah for cake!

I did not realise A Young Doctor's Notebook was by Bulgakov. I really should watch it on the flight home.

[hedge_backwards]

Have you read the Karla trilogy? (Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People.) Those are my favourites. I will have no choice but to teach twentieth century history at GCSE level, so my pupils are going to get a hell of a lot of Russian history, but I'll have much more leeway when it comes to A Level. (There are some exam boards which do papers on the French Revolution, so I am all over that.)

You really should, it is very amusing.

[hrodberht]

I haven't; this was my first le Carre. I already have Smiley's People, so I'll keep your recommendation in mind! I presume it''s best read in order?