Madeleine

I loved the Devil in the Marshalsea, the sequel's good too and there's a third book as well.

Strange mix of sunshine and rain today, managed to get our guest dog out over the local nature reserve when it was nice and sunny, although the duck pond was frozen (with loads of seagulls standing on it), then when we came out of Tesco's this afternoon everyone was sheltering from what must have been a massive downpour, the car park was soaking, and another downpour around 5.00.

Very sad news.

Pool

Got "Conspiracy" by S J Parris today.

It looks lovely, I love those porches, and nice size rooms too.

Yes the film's great.

Glad you liked it Ben I think it's very under-rated.

Had to get my de-icer out last night, and I spotted an icicle on next door's gutter this morning, haven't seen one of those for a long time!

Welcome Sargasso, have fun working your way around the forum!

Yes the blue paint had me in fits as well, shame she didn't make more of the cheese rolling incident though. It's certainly made me look at Troy in a different way, it certainly makes sense.

Wanna be startin' somethin' - Michael Jackson

My other reads for January have been better: Larkswood by Valerie Mendes - another country house mystery, this time set in Hampshire at the house of the title, where a young woman, Louisa, has been sent to convalesce after a nasty bout of glandular fever. The house is owned by her grandfather, who inherited it from his parents who were obsessed with each other and had little time for their 3 children, Edward and his two sisters, Cynthia and Harriet. Edward has recently returned from India, following the death of his wife. Louise gradually recovers and becomes fascinated by the garden and all the different plants and herbs, and soon falls for young gardener Thomas, and despite her mother's protestations has no wish to return to the shallowness of London society and parties so loved by her mother and her sister. But as she tries to find out more about her family, Edward is very reticent and even becomes angry and withdrawn, so with Thomas's reluctant help she gradually discovers what happened in the past, revealing the cover-up of a major scandal which would have ruined the whole family (which I guessed fairly quickly) and several other twists and turns. I enjoyed this, I thought it was quite well-written and it held my interest. Although some of the characters were a bit flat, especially the parents, I really liked Louisa and Thomas and wanted things to work out for them, especially with WW2 looming. 8/10 End of the Roadie by Elizabeth Flynn - cosy crime set in London, in which a roadie for a well-known pop star is shot dead immediately after a gig, and D I Angela Costello and her team, two of whom were at the gig, take on the investigation and uncover some very unsavoury details about the victim, who had a lot of enemies, including the star himself - could he have hired a hitman, or was it someone who the guy had upset with his various scams? I quite enjoyed this, it made a change to read about happy detectives who love their work and don't have the usual problems, although at times some of the characters seemed a bit too good to be true; it was strangely old-fashioned at times and didn't really ring true, however as a bit of escapism it was fine - I was sent a review copy from the publisher through Library Thing. 7/10 A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor - 3rd in the St Mary's series and the beginning is as mad cap as ever - Max returns from a day in Thirsk to discover her entire history team have painted themselves blue - and it won't come off. More seriously, jumps to Troy and Agincourt end in danger and heartbreak, there are shocks along the way and not everyone comes out unscathed. Another great read which can only be described as a rollercoaster. 8/10

Mary Tyler Moore - used to love her show.

I Wanna hold your Hand - The Beatles

Really cold today, but no frost.

They dragged it out for 3 films that's how they ruined it! I watched the first one and had to fast forward some bits, I recorded the second one over Xmas and will probably do the same, they have their moments but one film could have told the story.

I read this quite a while ago but once I got past the rather sluggish beginning I loved it - I did find the writing a bit flowery but enjoyed the story, plus I'd not long visited many of the places mentioned in the book, which helped with getting a strong sense of location whilst reading. I started with a children's version which was heavily abridged, and then read the adult version a few years later, mind you I don't think my copy is over 700 pages long!

I really enjoyed it, very atmospheric.

3 and a half, as one was left over from last year.

Bit milder today but getting cold again now.

I've been watching the Rick Stein shows as well, great aren't they? I also like Michael Portillo's various railway journeys, he's in the US now.

I had one of those checks recently and was a bit miffed to find out I was an inch shorter as well! BP was fine though which is more important.

The Queen's Man - Sharon Penman

Oh that's lovely, Janet.