Talisman

My main sport is walking - it is a passion that started a child after I joined the Brownies and later on the Guides. I have always been an outdoor person, and can quite happily spend up to 12 hours a day walking, watching birds etc - the further north and the rugged the terrain the better ! We are very lucky living where where we do, surrounded by one of the National Trust's largest estates, with miles of countryside literally on the doorstep. Apart from walking, I go to the gym 2-3 times a week as well, where I do a mixture of cardio and resistance.

Gosh where do I begin .. I have learnt so much from books oevr the years on so many different things. I have learnt about different countries and cultures from travel and history books, about new ways of cooking and eating from cookery books, about conspiracy theories and alternative views of history from various books, differing views about differing religions and belief systems, about so many other things, from both fiction and non fiction (mostly it has to be said non fiction - fiction tends to make me think and question rather than learn). One of the most important things that I have learnt from books is also of course how to get published and how to publicise your work once you have achieved that.

Me too - love the meerkats though !

I read a few short chapters before I went to work, but not much either - browsing through someone else's trashy magazine that they left in our staff rest room doesn't really count. There isn't much on TV tonight though, so will switch the computer off and read some more in a minute. I am getting to the climax of the story.

I have read all sorts there as I visit the island 3 times a year - both fiction and non-fiction. In fact, half my own book was written there - not at the top of the lighthouse, but in the converted pig sty that I usually stay in. Come to think of, a converted pig sty in the middle of the Bristol Channel is a pretty strange place to read as well !

The strangest place for me is probably the top of the Old Lighthouse on Lundy - in a gale force wind.

You know me too well !

I am like Mollie - usually one at a time, but occasionally two (usually non fiction).

There is not much I am interested in at the moment - but there are 2 films I am waiting for - The Last Airbender (I think it's called that - same Director as Unbreakable and Sixth Sense) and Avatar (James Cameron).

I love ice cream too - especially Green and Blacks.# What I really love though is pinching the left over roasties at work on a Sunday - it's the one thing that makes having to work on Sundays bearable - that and the extra money ...

Quite - thank you Sarah. Texting someone with important news (to my mind at least) is not communication - and neither is it appropriate - you need a proper conversation for that - in order words to actually talk to each other. Incidentally - I love my passport photo - the first one was awful though !

We normally have our main meal at lunch time since I work in the evenings. We were naughty today and went to one of the National Trust places where we had veggie burger and chips.

I am woman in 12th Century Iceland who is heavily pregnant and recently widowed. My husband died when his boat capsized which was due to witchcraft on the part of some men from the Hebrides. My brothers are set on avenging the killing, but will have to bide their time as the men responsible have been given sanctuary by someone who ought to have known better, but is about to find that out!

They are all interesting, although quite heavy going in places, as you have to keep track of all the family relationships, and who is related to who and how (through marriage or whatever). The sagas were and are bascially an account of the lives of the original Icelandic settlers and their descendants, who came from Norway in the late 9th Century. I have quite a collection of them, some of which I bought on previous visits to the country (I hope to make my 6th visit next year - the last one was in 2001), and some of which I obtained via a magazine called Iceland Review which I used to subscribe to. Some of them including Laxdaela Saga are published by Penguin Classics, so you should be able to get them via Amazon or most book shops, but I would recommend that you learn a bit about the history of th country and Viking culture in general (which isn't at all what most people think) first to get the background. I am convinced I must have had at least some previous lives in Iceland, as I have fascinated by the place for as long as I can remember, and whenever I go the Icelanders think I am one of them and start chatting away to me in Icelandic. One of these days I will learn the language, as I would be able to read the sagas in Icelandic - the language has changed so little in the last 1000 years that it is possible to still do this.

I have been reading some of my Icelandic books again today - I am about a third of the way through a book on the history of literature in the country, which is all fascinating stuff with translations of some of the Eddaic poems and so on. I have also read a few more chapters from one of my favourite sagas - Laxdaela Saga, which is the tale a love triangle between a woman from Breidafjord and 2 foster brothers, both of whom married her at different times and were intensely jealous of each other. Wonderful stuff !

You are welcome Pipread, veggie food generally is very easy to make. It astonishes me the amount that people spend on ready meals when it just isn't necessary!

We had coconut rice. It's very easy to make and very tasty - soak about 5 or 6 ounces of white basmati rice (for 2 people) overnight in the fridge in a can of coconut milk. Simmer on the hob mixed with a little water until the rice is done and stir through some red kidney beans - delicious and much cheaper than the processed and over priced junk from the supermarket.

I used to practise Tai Chi a bit, which I think qualifies as a martial art, but haven't done it for some time - I would like to go back to it at some time, but there don't seem to be any classes at times that suit me in my area.

My reading isn't that consistent either - sometimes I will read for several hours a day and get through a book or more a week, but more usually it takes several weeks, as like others have said, life is just too busy. On holiday it is different - I will get through a book every 2-3 days.

Sorry, not even heard of it !