Madeleine

Just heard from a friend who had a tat done on her stomach a while ago, and has been ill for months after getting coloured ink poisoning! happily she's on the mend now, but it sounds very nasty, as they didn't know what was wrong at first and didn't suspect the tat might be the cause, it was done by a reputable tattooist apparently. Ick

Lost in a good book - Jasper Fforde

The Safety Dance - Men without Hats

OH yes, I love Broken Strings which she recorded with James Morrison. And this one is nice too.

Thanks, Athena, I'm particularly looking forward to The Chalk Pit, it's one of my favourite series.

I got fed up with Sue Grafton's series around R, still have the first few letters of the alphabet to read though!

It was pretty unsettled in my area over the weekend too - dull on Saturday, with a couple of brief showers, and yesterday was very muggy, also with a couple of showers, and one brief downpour around 1900, but not that nice overall. Today is warm and sunny so far (as Shirley says, typical when we're back at work!)

I have to agree with Noll - after all, the way things are going lately, with practically every TV drama being female dominated, the alpha male seems to be getting more and more emasculated, or at least severely endangered! I haven't watched that much of the last series - only 2 or 3 episodes, and I think a lot of the problems lie with the writing, and the seemingly incomprehensible plots (going as far back as Matt Smith, when I did still watch it every week). I think it's looking distinctly tired now, there is so much other sci fi out there and time travel isn't even a novelty any more, so maybe casting a woman will give it a bit of a boost and refresh it. I have nothing against Jodie Whittaker in person - she was very good in Broadchurch and as the new Who writer also wrote Broadchurch I don't suppose it was that difficult in choosing Capaldi's successor. I hope for her sake this doesn't kill her career, and she's not getting abused on social media as often happens now over the slightest thing. Best to take a wait and see approach, and good luck to her.

Cool for Cats - Squeeze

Oh that's an old one! Whatever happened to Tanita?

I think this will be make or break for the show - either it'll be a disaster, or it'll be great. I hardly watched any of the last series, as I think I've finally outgrown it, but it'll be interesting to see how it works. Wonder what will happen with the assistant though?

White Lines - Grandmaster Flash

I agree with you about the swearing in this book, it was a bit much! However I've just read the second book (The Silkworm) and although a bit gruesome there's much less swearing (still a bit, but nothing like the first book - I wonder if she got told to tone it down a bit) and Robin and Cormoran both develop much more as characters. Might be worth a try?

I've been to The George at Southwark, it's lovely with a gorgeous courtyard garden, it does get packed though. It's actually owned by the National Trust now, I think it's the last galleried coaching inn in the country (definitely in London anyway).

Got quite a haul over the weekend: from Amazon: Murder on the Run by Lesley Cookman Cragside by L J Ross And in a bookshop: The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths (latest Ruth Galloway, yay) Last Seen Alive by Clare Douglas

I loved White Nights too, I think it's the best of the Jimmy Perez/Shetland series.

That last book photo looks like my room.... you're doing a good job of organising everything, well done.

And it's a woman - Jodi Whittaker. Hmmm.

The new Doctor is going to be announced tomorrow after the men's final at Wimbledon - Kris Marshall was mentioned today; I hope not, he didn't do much for Death in Paradise; in fact I think Ben Miller would be a better choice for the Doctor.

Congratulations Will, from another jealous worker! Hope you have a long and happy retirement. That's a good haul of books, your class obviously know you well.

Been muggy here as well, rain was threatened but hasn't happened yet, or if it has, only briefly. Very dull at the moment.

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Well as forecast the weather did clear up around mid day and we had a lovely afternoon in the park, it was sunny and cloudy, and quite breezy so not too hot, although I'm looking a bit rosy today! Just caught the sun though, not burnt (thankfully). Nice again today.

I used to like Charmed as well.

She's lovely, and yes I agree with Athena about the temptation of a book not being available at such a good price another time!