Talisman
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A few more countries I have completed in recent months:
The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan for Cote D'Ivoire
Patchwork by Ellen Banda-Aaku for Zambia
The Blind Fisherman by Mia Couto for Mozambique
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay for Kashmir
Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo for Madagascar
Uncertain Light by Marion Molteno for Tajikistan
My Trip to the Central African Republic by Martin Whitacker for Central African Republic
White Sand Blue Sea by Anita Hughes for St Barts
Conquered Hearts by Michael Heath for Jersey
Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pistanek for Slovakia
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I'm a bit behind tis year at 66. I set myself a goal at the beginning of this year to read 100, but have downgraded it to 85. At the moment I'm not sure if I'm likely to achieve that either. It doesn't matter that much though as there are other things to life than just reading, as much as I enjoy it!
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I will have to see whether I have the time to visit, but yes, I have heard that.
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Nice photo Quinn - it sounds like a real adventure.
We had a nice weekend in Bournemouth recently for the Lib Dem conference which was fun - and glorious weather. The next longer trip for me though will be to Portugal during the 1st week of November - it should still be reasonably warm (low 20's) I hope. I will be spending 4 nights in Lisbon and 3 in Porto, so must remember to book the train between the 2 different cities this weekend. It should be fun.
I am starting to think about next year as well now, although holding off a little bit because of the dreaded B word. Hopefully though it will be a trip to Valencia in Spain in February. I will have to see what dates are best - EasyJet offer several flights a day from Gatwick so there are plenty of options.
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Isaac Hayes - By the time I get to Phoenix - love that organ solo at the end.
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That Old Devil Called Love - Billie Holiday
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Sounds good to me. We have a week in a cottage in Somerset coming up soon as well.
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Far too many to mention! If you give us some idea re what sort of books you like - crime, general fiction, non fiction etc. perhaps we can help you a bit more.
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I use Amazon as being a Kindle reader, I have to buy my books from there. It currently has over 100 items on it and seems to get longer by the day!
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I am going more and more paperless - I rarely read paper books and all my news subscriptions are now digital as well. I use my phone to make lists of things I need to do rather than writing things down (although I still write things down at work as I don't always have my phone on me). For the first time this year I didn't buy a paper diary, which I don't really miss - I do still have a paper calendar though and one at work for writing everyone's holidays on!
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Countries I have got through this year include a few overseas territories that are not on my original list -
So Many Islands by Thomas Laughlin for Fiji, Kiribati and Niue,
Tropic of Violence by Natasha Appanah for Mayotte
The Old Man and the Mastiff by Patrick Chamoiseau for Martinique
The Svalbard Passage by Thomas Kirkwood for Svalbard
Silent Territory by Fredrik Louren for Western Sahara
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I'll miss them like mad - and so will Coran!
I love those cats!
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I am off to Bosnia this weekend - in 6 days time - I am going via Dubrovnik in Croatia so wont actually get there until Sunday evening - about 7.30 local time, but I am really looking forward to it. Coran hasn't been well for the last few months, so it was touch and go for a while as to whether I would have to cancel, but we both decided that wasn't going to happen as I REALLY need this holiday to recharge my own batteries. Coran is going to stay at her sisters for a while with our lovely neighbours once again looking after the cats, who I will miss like crazy - I have turned into a crazy cat lady since we got them! This time next week then I will on the bus heading towards Mostar at the start of my adventure.
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It certainly is. Coran and I had a fabulous weekend near Amesbury in Wiltshire over Easter, with perfect weather and it's 4 weeks this weekend until I am off to Bosnia. Coran hasn't been well of late, and I had to cancel a much needed trip to the Canaries in February hence the few short breaks we have had in between. She is still not good unfortunately, but I am not cancelling another trip - we will just have to find a way to make it work.
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On 08/04/2019 at 9:02 AM, Athena said:
I hope you have fun during all of these birthdays
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Thanks, I did!! It was really nice to spend some time with my family. I feel tired from it today, but that's okay. I had a lot of fun yesterday.
I suppose that makes sense!
I hope you had a nice weekend
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We did. I had fun yesterday as well. I went up to Parliament again after work to make some noise as there were 2 large groups from North Yorkshire and Cornwall coming down to take part in a sing off against together. They sang their own versions of some popular songs changing the lyrics to Brexit themed ones instead with musical accompaniment. It was all great fun and very good natured - even the Police Officers were singing along! The 6 o'clock shout (where we all stand outside the House of Commons and shout "stop Brexit" was good fun too - with more songs and chants from the 2 groups - we even made the BBC 6 o'clock news! We also managed to ambush Mark Francois who is Vice Chair of the ERG (a group of ardent Brexiteers). He was being interviewed on College Green and when he finished we all followed him back to the Commons shouting "vote leave lied". It's much more fun that cleaning toilets at work, talking of which we have been interviewing for a new gardener for the past week, as our current one is leaving us at the end of next week, so have to make a decision tomorrow as to who to offer the job to. I know which one I would prefer but need to discuss it with the maintenance manager tomorrow as well in my own bosses absence and see if he agrees.
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On 05/04/2019 at 4:53 PM, Athena said:
I'm sorry to hear that
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I wish everyone a nice weekend
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It's fine - you don't miss what you never had!
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On 02/04/2019 at 2:18 PM, Athena said:
Can you believe it's April already?!
Gladly the 1rst of April is over again, because ugh I really dislike April Fools jokes and things too!
My grandfather's birthday is soon and I look forward to going there and spending some time with my grandparents and other family
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Sounds good - I never knew most of mine, as three out of four of them died before I was even born!
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Due to unforeseen circumstances which some of you know about, I had to cancel the trip to the Canaries at short notice. Coran and I ended up with a few days in Portsmouth instead. We also have a weekend break at Easter to look forward to near Stonehenge.
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I sounds like you need to read some Eckhart Tolle!
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On 21/03/2019 at 8:21 PM, Lau_Lou said:
There is only one week of March left! Crazy!! Hope everybody has had a nice month so far. I'll be having a holiday in Whitby the first week of April. Something I am very much looking forward to.
Have a great holiday!
I am getting ready for what could quite possibly be the largest protest in the history of the British Isles - yes, tomorrow I am going to the Put it to the People March in London. The organisers are projecting anywhere between 1 and 2 million participants - that's a lot of people! I am meeting up with a large group of friends at 10am tomorrow and we will no doubt take over half the train - it will be crowded but great fun! You never know, you might see me on TV!
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We have had very windy conditions here for almost a week now, but it is gradually dying down. Today has been mostly sunshine, but we did some hail earlier on, we were driving at the time, so at least we weren't out in it!
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I think we all are - although I would prefer to stay in! There is no deal better than the one we already have (in my opinion).
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3 hours ago, Athena said:
It kind of is complicated when I think about it! And I didn't touch on everything yet haha.
Thanks very much for explaining about the British system
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I hope you have a nice time
! Have fun with your new camera .
It is! I was taught about it in high school, so I suppose I'm used to it.
I have an appointment with my 'therapist / support worker person' tomorrow.
No problem - and hope your appointment goes well. I see you are using the term support worker, which is a great way of describing what they do. It's not a job I could do, in fact sometimes I wonder if I can do the job I have! It is becoming more and more difficult of late with all the changes being brought in. I can but tell them how I feel about it all, and how negatively it will affect my team, but it remains to be seen whether it's taken on board ….
It's only a few weeks now until we Brexit but I am still hoping for a last minute reprieve. The next meaningful vote is supposed to be next week, but we all know Theresa May and her cronies will come back with nothing new, which means it will once again be voted down. This will then mean voting on what to do next - an extension seems a certainty as the legislation is nowhere near ready for us to exit anyway, with or without a deal. If its a short one for a few months only all this does is kick the can further down the road, adding yet more uncertainty with no doubt further job losses - most of them in leave areas (a classic case of cause and effect). In order to give us the time we need to sort this mess out it will then be necessary to go into the European Elections in May, but the hard line Brexiteers will not be happy - they will be even less happy if and when we leave and they see the carnage it will cause. I am getting ready then for the big march on 23rd, and ordered my T shirt last night. The organisers are predicting anything up to 2 million people to attend - that's a lot of people!
June's Around the World Book Challenge
in Reading Challenges
Posted
I don't think I have many countries left now - I don't know what I'm going to do when its finished!