Talisman

Yesterday we had jacket potatoes with cheese and a nice big salad. Today we are having brown rice with Quorn chunks and mixed veg in a sweet and sour sauce.

I will drink both, although I prefer coffee - preferably decaf and preferably Kenco. I was brought up drinking tea and until a few years ago that was my drink of choice but then I changed. I never used to even like coffee, but one day I was taking the trolley round at work for all the residents at the nursing home I worked at for their morning coffee, and the Manager decided she didn't want the coffee I had poured for her, so I drank it and I found that actually I did like it. I have been drinking coffee ever since.

I used to do that on long haul flights, but not so much these days. It seems sensible of course though to make sure you have any essentials such as medication and so on. I know what you mean about hand luggage restrictions though. It can be a right pain in the proverbial. I am usually the one with the smallest case wherever I go and try to avoid putting stuff in the hold when I can, but of course if you are going for more than a week you pretty much have to. Different airlines do have different limits though. We came back with EasyJet this time who are one of the better ones, with a reasonable size and no weight limit at all. When I travel hand luggage only with them I tend to book the upfront option - for an extra £5 or so you get a reserved seat and the ability to take an extra item on board such as a handbag or a small rucksack, which for me is worth it. Cameras and so on are not insured if you have to put your bag in the hold because of lack of space, and that's not a risk I would be prepared to take.

Thank you - and the same from me too for anyone I may have missed. We got back to Gatwick from Jersey just after 2pm, and then had to wait almost an hour for our luggage. Not sure what the problem was, but we got it in the end so that's what counts. Our neighbour picked us from the airport and we were home by about 4pm. It was a brilliant 2 weeks all round - great weather (it started raining en route to the airport this morning), great food and great company. It's back to work though on Monday, and normality - whatever that is.

Thanks Lau Lau. I haven't figured out how to do the whole quote thing using my phone. It's much easier with a desktop as you have a mouse to play with. It was a very good birthday though. We went to a small fishing village near St Helier to see one of the old castles, with a visit to Europe's oldest passage tomb en route. We had a lovely lunch in a little Italian place by the harbour - all gluten free and delicious, washed down with Jersey ice cream. Yesterday was so hot, we thought we would both melt, but today was much better, so we went for a 7 mile walk around the north, starting and ending at different bays and with German fortifications and gun batteries in between. Tomorrow being our last day we plan to have a somewhat shorter walk proceeded by a gluten free cream tea. They are in short supply out here, as in Cornwall also, but we have managed to find a lovely little tea room not far from the zoo that offers them. It seems a fitting way to end our time here.

It has been absolutely scorching here on Jersey - they said today was the warmest day, but yesterday was the worst for me. We were sweating in places I didn't know existed. Despite the heat it has been a good few days though. On Sunday we pottered around St Helier and walked along the beach for a few miles. Yesterday we visited the War Tunnels and then went on St Aubin's Bay before rounding off the day looking at some old German bunkers and so on. This morning we visited the lighthouse on the westernmost point of the island and then went on to the Jersey Lavender Farm, which smelt wonderful. My feet and legs are covered in insect bites from all the walking, so I bought some lavender oil, which is supposed to be a natural antiseptic. Tomorrow is my birthday so we are planning another celebratory lunch. We hope to visit some of the neolithic passage tombs and so on, and go to one of the small fishing villages on the east side of the island. I will be glad when it starts to cool down a bit though.

Hope the baby is okay Virginia. I am sorry that I haven't been following other people's news like I usually do at home. It is much more difficult to read and edit everything on a small phone screen than a large desktop. Coran and I though arrived on Jersey this afternoon. The ferry crossing was smooth and uneventful. Coran has managed really well I have to say with the travelling and all the walking we have done. We have averaged probably 7 or 8 miles a day, with 9.5 on Herm. We have settled into the new flat though and will go out exploring tomorrow around St Helier. There is certainly a lot to do here. Today is Corans birthday and also our 20th anniversary, so we are planning a celebratory lunch for tomorrow, which we are both looking forward to.

I guess I must be different to the norm then in that I genuinely do not really care what people might think of my reading choices. I would have no problem being seen reading any of the books you describe in your post, and like to feel that I would not judge anyone else for doing so. If anything, I would use it as an excuse to start a conversation with that person - I gave met some really interesting people on trains and so on this way and ended up talking philosophy with them for hours.

Coran and I are nearing the end of our week on Guernsey - tomorrow lunchtime we get the catamaran to Jersey for another week. We have loved being here and exploring the island. It is just the right size and easy to get around with a great bus service. We have managed to see a lot, although of course there is still much that we haven't seen. Highlights have been the beaches and walks around the west coast, a beautiful day on Herm, visiting the local Guernsey trans group, and of course the delicious food. It will be interesting at the end of next week to see which of the 2 islands we prefer.

I think you made the mistake that a lot of people do David James when you say that because someone reads about a certain idealogy they support it. It doesn't mean that at all, but it does at least mean they are open minded enough to find out more and understand anothers point of view. That is essential in my view if we are to understand more about this world that we live in.

Coran and I arrived on Guernsey just after 1pm yesterday and jumped straight on the bus to our accommodation. It's a lovely little apartment complex with the apartments all facing inwards around the communal swimming pool, and very cosy. The first day is always spent settling in, but today we walked along the coast to St Peter Port and spent the day exploring the gardens and some of the museum's there. We had a lovely lunch in a Chinese restaurant with a special gluten free menu, which was pretty impressive, but also expensive. It was worth it though. We walked almost 8.5 miles today so my calves will be feeling it later on.

It's been mixed today here on Guernsey. It started off a bit dull and overcast but my mid afternoon we had sunshine and lovely blue skies, just perfect for walking in.

Thanks Virginia - it is a little bit cooler than Texas right now, but the forecast is looking good. Our next door neighbour is taking us to the airport around 9am, for the flight just before midday. I wouldn't ordinarily get there that early, but Coran is taking some medication and a syringe with her, as her hormone injection is due, so we need to allow more time to get through security. We are though more or less packed and ready, just need to tidy the house a bit, shower and get rid of all the rubbish. I will be glad to get away from all the politics for a while!

They are all valid points which I wouldn't necessarily disagree with. I guess the key is perhaps for all of us to be that little bit more mindful about how what we do may affect others - not just with regard to books but with pretty much everything.

Yes I know what you mean MRTR - I think a lot of people feel like that. I voted Lib Dem although I know the best we can hope for is a few more seats. They are the ones though that best reflect my views, which is what you have to vote for at the end of the day. In my constituency it would take an earthquake of seismic proportions to unseat the Conservative incumbent, but stranger things have been known to happen, as we saw in Richmond Park. Realistically it will be either Conservatives or Labour though that gets in - perhaps not straight away if it is a hung parliament, but in the end it will be one of them. The Lib Dems have ruled out going into another coalition with either of them, so that's a non starter. I start work at 7.30am, so decided to go on my way in to get it over and done with. When we got there just before 7am we were surprised to see 2 people waiting outside already. We were then 3rd and 4th to vote respectively. The local Lib Dems asked us if we would like to observe the votes being counted, to make sure it is done correctly, which would have been quite interesting ordinarily, but of course I have to go to work tomorrow, and Coran has a hospital appointment, so that was not going to happen. Perhaps if I had a job where I had Fridays off I may have done it. but I prefer my sleep. One thing I do know is that whatever the result is it will be an interesting one. I also know that I will very glad indeed to finish work at 3.30pm tomorrow and get away from it for 2 weeks. We both need the break.

You are right Chesil when you say that retailer reward schemes such as the one operated by Waterstones have no impact on how much the author earns as this comes from the retailers profits and bottom line. I don't think you will ever stop the practise of discounting to be honest, as the public (and I include myself in this, as I too buy discounted books) have got used to this and it has become the norm. Not many people these days buy books at full price - they are always discounted in some way, either as old stock the store is trying to get rid off, or in some other kind of promotion, such as Kindle Daily or Monthly Deals or in the case of paper books, 3 for 2's and so on. For me then the bigger issue will always be and remains the practise of selling used books and friends lending books to each other and that sort of thing. When books are discounted the author at least earns something. When you borrow a book from a library the author earns something again through public lending rights, but when books are just given away for free the author earns nothing. I don't think it is something you will ever solve unfortunately as people will always want to have things for free - some authors are happy to do this perhaps for a short period of time in order to garner interest in their other work, but the bottom line is that authors like the rest of us need to eat and pay the bills, and you cannot do that if you keep giving your work away for free. You cannot walk into Tesco's and offer the cashier a book in exchange for your shopping, it doesn't work that way. You need money.

All of this is true. I do not dispute any of it. There is as you say a very large chain in the production, marketing, distribution and sale of a book - a lot of authors do not fully understand the supply chain in particular and how it works. I guess they don't need to if they have a publisher who takes care of all of that for them.

Exactly. The idea that buying used and indeed heavily discounted books does nothing to help authors is not a new one, and one that has been mentioned on here many times by both others and myself. In the past some members have been quite vociferous in stating that they do not agree with my stance and that their right to buy cheap books supersedes the right of authors to earn a living. I find this not only strange, but also quite disturbing considering we are all supposed to be book lovers on here. This is though a free country and people are entitled to their views even if they are different to mine. It seems to me though that we are living in an age where we know the price of everything and the value of nothing. This is though largely because people do not (or perceive they do not) earn enough themselves - it is then a vicious circle. As to how to break it - that is a whole other discussion ....

Sounds good to me Virginia. I always have to take a few gluten free basics with me as well when I travel, at least for the first few days, as the last thing I want to do is start my holiday traipsing all over the place looking for a supermarket that sells this sort of stuff. It can cause a bit of a headache when it comes to packing however, especially when I travel with just hand baggage, which I am increasingly doing, seeing as most airlines seem to charge so much for this. Today though Coran and I went out for lunch to our favourite vegetarian restaurant in Guildford (and yes, it is vegetarian and not pescatarian). I had a nice veggie curry followed by lemon roulade while Coran had a cheese, potato and mustard seed bake followed by rhubarb crumble with custard.

Indeed Filip, there are many people involved in the production and marketing of books - the author, the commissioning editor and their marketing team, website designers, proof readers, editors, cover designers, printers, the people who work for Nielson registering ISBN's, distributors, book sellers, the list goes on. Somehow I very much doubt that what your used book seller said is true. It would not be in a publishers interest to act like this, not even bothering to proof the books they publish. It would tarnish their reputation very quickly and lead to a large decrease in sales. It is true though that like the rest of us, publishers need to cut their costs. Most of them do this unfortunately by cutting authors advances and royalties, which is another reason for the increase in self publishing. Authors can very often earn far more this way - but of course they have to work a lot harder.

True. Although it's what they seem to do themselves, which is of course just my opinion. I don't like them much either. My own Tory MP is an arrogant **** who when asked about his plans for campaigning in the constituency during the run up to the election said he didn't have any, so certain as he is unfortunately to retain his seat.

36 - as of last night.

The news today is all about one of our Conservative MP's (who are hoping to win the election next week), who has been charged together with 2 members of his campaign team with electoral expenses fraud. This is the seat that Nigel Farage hoped to win in 2015 so may or may not have interesting repercussions.

I concur with Raven - we make judgments about people all the time. I am not sure what people would think if they saw the contents of my Kindle and some of the books I have read this year. They are a mish mash of all sorts of things that I at least think are interesting. I guess most would probably conclude though that I am interested in world literature, travel and current affairs - and I am probably what some would term as a left liberal. They wouldn't be far wrong.

I hope you have a great time in Texas Virginia. It is not long now until my summer holiday to the Channel Islands - Coran and I will be flying to Guernsey next weekend for a week and then catching the ferry from Guernsey to Jersey for another week before flying home from Jersey. We both really need it. As usual I have had a busy week at work, even though it was only a four day one due to the Bank Holiday. I had a HUGE delivery today with enough cleaning products to hopefully last until I get back, so that my cleaners do not have to worry about running out of stock. I made the mistake of lifting a 25 kilo bag of dishwasher salt and wish I hadn't now. I think Coran might be getting the massage table out later on tonight!