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The End of the World - Skeeter Davis

Want to trade. We are having chicken noodle soup.

Tacos

We had a chicken breast stew with a side dish. Lately, I've been choosing rice as the side. It takes me about half an hour to make the whole thing, and then dinner's ready.

I am about half way through. Beowulf has killed the Grendel by ripping off his arm. Beowulf must have been pretty strong, because I image the Grendel being as strong as a grizzly bear. I expect Jeff Capes would have had a problem ripping a grizzly bear's arm off.

The End - Blur

aspidistra plant, Rosie's pride and joy. I shooed him away and he moved onto gnawing on a table leg. It was starting to look worse for wear, I feared he'd gnaw right through and the whole thing would come crashing down on top of him. He really was a trial. I had a sudden brainstorm, 'Rosie, what Daddy needs is something to keep him company, take his mind off himself ... cheer him up no end.' 'What a lovely idea, what do you suggest, dear?' 'Well, I thought one of the cats. We've been so blessed with them, I think we should find it in our hearts to share the joy. Dingle would be an ideal companion for Daddy.' 'Well ... OK ... if you really think ...' 'I do! I do!' I enthused, 'I'll just ...

Dance Me To the End Of Love ~ Leonard Cohen

Save the Last Dance for Me - The Drifters

Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkees

Last Friday Night -Katy Perry.

Oh, dinner tonight is going to be a comforting chicken and veggie soup! There was a chilly evening last winter when feeling a bit under the weather.

The Night - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (1963) Yukio Mishima Sometimes I wonder if, to be a truly great writer, you have to be slightly dead inside. I wonder this because so many writers avoid giving characters (or first person narrators) any kind of personality or opinions or humour or character. They're always just blanks vessels who remain cold and detached, robotic voices offering only the essentials, the basics, the facts. And yet, despite often finding this annoying, I can't entirely blame them as it often produces some great stuff. Anyway, Yukio Mishima is as cold as they get. It's all very blunt and matter-of-fact. Here is the setting, here are the characters, here are the consequences. And, for the most part, it's immensely good stuff. Especially when the characters in question possess a coldness that meets with their actions. The book is about a lonely widow (Fusako) who lives with her with a 13-year-old son (Noboru). She meets a sailor on leave called Ryuji and begins a relationship with him. Noboru has a peephole in his bedroom allowing him to watch them have sex. He has a group of friends who question (as young people always do) the purpose of adult life. They want life to be heroic, have greater meaning beyond the mediocrity of normal life. They want to be above that. As such they kill a cat by bludgeoning it to death and pulling out its innards for examination. This is proof of their higher function, their ability to place themselves outside of the banal morality and expectations of the grown-ups. As the book goes along, Noboru becomes disappointed with Ryuji and no longer sees him as a hero but rather as just another conformist. And I think you can guess where this leads. I enjoyed it, the writing was very good and Mishima has a beautiful turn of phrase. But it's hard to escape the darkness of the man, that coldness I mentioned earlier. He was clearly not an entirely happy individual and committing seppuka obviously reiterates this but it's more than that. Like I said, there is a coldness to his writing. But that applies to so many. But his particular brand of coldness comes with a thud... a dull, heavy thud. 8/10

100 quid a bowl

The Moon Was Yellow (and the Night Was Young) - Bing Crosby

she realized it was

I'm looking forward to this having read part one last year, so thanks for this.

They're driving around in a car now, so Edwardian.

Yellow Submarine - The Beatles

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin “Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.” This is the second in the Earthsea series and introduces the other main character, Tenar, who is a High Priestess and guardian of the Tombs of Atuan. Ged arrives at the tombs seeking one half of an artifact. It’s brief and feels like it’s setting things up for the rest of the series. There’s no point explaining the plot, but Le Guin is going in some interesting directions as she builds her fantasy world. It is very unlike the first in the series which focusses on journeying. This is more static and looks at the interior life of the characters. There are coming of age and enlightenment elements and I know that this is something of a YA type series. One of the central messages is really that trust and cooperation are central and we get nowhere without them. This feels like a sparser book than the first, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are many themes. Race is significant as Ged is obviously black and Tenar is white. Gender is another issue and as always there are plenty of theories about what Le Guin is hinting at here. What I found interesting was the themes related to faith and religion and letting go of strict and restricting beliefs. The questioning of belief is central to the plot. It was interesting and I will probably read the rest of the series. “Do you know how to read?' 'No. It is one of the black arts.' He nodded. 'But a useful one,' he said.” 7 out of 10 Starting A Song from Dead Lips by William Shaw

Celeste Ng. All I never told you. Good novel of the lives of a Chinese family in USA. She's a good writer.

I thought better of it......Rosie received a text from ' daddy' saying that he was in hospital for ' tests on my lungs' and asking why she never rang him an ambulance. Meanwhile Dingle the cat was eating the

immediately rang Pastor Cross to lay a long list of complaints against his obnoxious little pillocks. "Good morrow, friend. I am presently out and about doing God's business. To paraphrase, 'For we are His workmanship, created for good works.' Ephesians 2:10.' Please leave a message after the beep." I'd like to tell him where to stick his &*^% beep but unfortunately...

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini ~ Brian Hyland