Talisman

Like you I have skimmed through bits of it on Amazon, and can't see the fuss either ! I guess some people like escapism, for that is all that it is, but I prefer real life. Real life to me is not all passion and romance, but watching your partner cut his toe nails, while you watch your favourite TV show (guess what I was doing last night ! )

Completed Turkey last night - Ali and Ramazan by Perihan Magden.

Dirty Old Man - Three Degrees

Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran

Finished Rwanda - Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron. It was the Kindle Deal of the Day a week or so ago. Although slow to begin with, it did get going about halfway through, although for me it lacked the grittiness of the more similar 'real life' stories I have read from similar parts of the world. This is it has to be said is not a tale about the genocide par se, but very much a tale about an individual. Nevertheless it is a good story, and one that I did enjoy once I got into it, but I prefer the real life tales that I have read, such as Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains.

Wings of a Dove - Madness

They won't miss out directly as far as our newsletter is concerned, as we are not ourselves a charity, but as our proceeds go towards local charities and groups in and around the village (in the past we have helped causes such as Help for Heroes, Regain and so on), they will miss out indirectly. We are hoping that we may be able to sell it from the village hall instead which is set back from the road, but I am not convinced that that many spectators will venture that far outside the ticketed zone, as it is at least a 3 mile from the nearest train station. As for the cafe that CoffinNail mentions, I have heard so many of these stories. The latest one I read which was in this weeks local paper claimed that LOCOG are now banning people from downloading videos and pictures from the road races that they make themselves onto Youtube and Facebook. How they can say this when it is not their copyright is beyond me. Personally I think it's all hot air anyway, as there is no way they will be able to Police it.

Yes indeed. At msot of the public meetings I have been to we were repeatedly told that this was an opportunity for local people to "exercise their enterpreneurial skills". A rep from SCC (Surrey County Council) even suggested a meeting between the newsletter that I represent and the Council. All of it has gone out the window. After 4 months of hard work on our Olympic special Coran and I discovered that we will not be able to sell it within a couple of metres of the actual route, which seeing as the village only has one road is somewhat of a problem ! Neither can we sell it around the National Trust areas as these will be controlled by LOCOG and only open to official sponsors - in other words, only goods from sponsors can be sold. While I was told that were exceptions for "current periodicals", it is not clear what these are, and in any case, in order to sell the magazine within the ticketed zone we would need tickets - unlike paid journalists and no doubt, SCC officials, we will not get free tickets, and personally I do not see why I should pay for a ticket when I will too busy trying to sell our newsletter to enjoy it! The icing on the cake is the fact that we cannot use the word Olympic on the cover, as they say it is a brand - my arse (pardon my language). All this depsite the fact that we are a voluneter organisation, the profits of which all go towards local groups and charities. I can understand why a lot of the villagers are so against the games when we come up against all these ridiculous obstacles. It makes you think that it is not about what will benefit ordinary people, but all about protecting commercial interests, but then again, aren't most things ? ! It does make me angry though as it is the charities and groups that we support that are going to lose out - and they wonder why I want to give up as Editor !

I will be kind of working, although not in an official capacity for the organisers, but as Editor of the village newsletter where I live. Early last year, LOCOG announced that both the mens and women's road cycling races would be going straight through our village - the men will be doing 9 laps and the women 2. The Box Hill loop, which is what LOCOG and other parties are calling this part of the route, encompasses I believe more than 50 percent of the men's race, and is then vitally important. As Editor of the village newsletter, a role which I have held for 5 years now, I have then been heavily involved in the consulation process, going to various meetings and providing feedback on behalf of residents via different pressure groups. I have also of course been the voice of the village reporting back from those meetings through what I write. It has been heavy going in places, due to an acute lack of communication from both the organisers themselves and the local Council, both of whom seem to forget at regular intervals that I exist ! Consequently much of the information has not reached my ears until in some cases the day before I am due to print, which as you can imagine, has been a logistical nightmare. Having said that, it is also a logistical nightmare for them - the races are going through no less than 9 different London and Surrey boroughs. What makes our village different though is the fact that the riders will be here for so long. With most towns and villages they will be just passing through, but the men in particular will be there for upwards of 3 hours. The reaction from residents has been mixed - sadly the majority seem to be very much against the games, due to the disruption that it will cause (the roads will be closing at 4am on both days and not re-opening until what they term "late evening". While I can understand this, I also feel it is a shame that more do not embrace it and try to see the positive. This is a wonderful opportunity for the village - the worlds entire media will be here, with crowds of quite possibly up to 200,000 people. It is quite possibly the most important event in the history of the vilage, and most definately the biggest. It has then been quite a responsbility and once the games are over, I am looking forward to giving up the job as Editor. Because it is so important though, we will be doing a special one off Olympic issue, which we had hoped to sell around the route. However, because they have now decided that the National Trust areas will be a ticketed zone, this is no longer possible - there are also all sorts of issues with advertising and what you can and can't do, although I believe there are some exceptions to what they term as "current periodicals" which of course we will come under. Because of all these restrictions though, we have decided that rather than try and sell it in the ticketed zone, we will get a table at the village hall, where the Neigbourhood Council will be selling refreshments and sell it from there instead. The idea is that the entire team will take turns to man the table, so that we can also enjoy the races ourselves. Coran and I were lucky enough to get press passes into the restricted zone for the test race last August, but this will not be possible for the real events, so it looks like we will have to apply for tickets when they finally do go on sale. I will wait to see what the prices are before I decide whether it is worth is or not. The riders will be passing within 5 minutes of our house anyway, so if the tickets are too expensive then I will probably just watch them from there. The crowds will be much smaller in the village and I will save myself that long walk as well.

I found exactly the same thing - I must have read and re-read my own book about 10 times over, but still there were errors, most of which thankfully, my proof reader spotted. Even so, there are still one or two that slipped through the net. Like you say, it's about respect for the reader, and although most people wouldn't mind the odd minor error, I have seen some real howlers.

Finished Estonia - Purge by Sofi Oksanen. The author was born in Finland and is half Estonian on her mother's side, with the book set in Estonia. This was a dark and at times disturbing read, right up my street. Highly recommended.

I find that I can most of the time - in fact very often I can tell from the opening line of the first paragraph !

I will do what I always do - download a sample chapter and see if I like it.

My trousers are gradually becoming looser as well, despite the fact that I have eaten quite a lot of junk this week, when I weighed myself this morning I found that I had lost another couple of pounds. I am now 9 stone 6lbs, which although still a bit on the heavy side for someone of my height is less than I have been for at least 3 or 4 years.

Von/Von Brigdi - which is or rather was, Sigur Ros' first recording back in 1997 and is only available now I believe via their own website. It is very different from their later stuff and much more experimental (if that is possible) - personally though I love it - can't wait for the new one on May 28th !

Ring Ring - Abba

Iceland - where else ? !

Seeing as it was The Church (more specifically the Catholic Church) who seemed to ban most things, I would tend to start with them.

I totally agree Karen - don't get me wrong, if you like that sort of stuff then I don't judge anyone, but I personally prefer something a but meatier. I know where you are coming from on this one too - before you can write an autobiography it helps if you have something to put in it, and it also helps if you write it yourself. Let's face it though, a lot of so-called celebrities can't even speak properly let alone write !

Coran and I have just had a large plate of rice with vegetable and halloumi kebabs. Very nice they were too, with lots of garlic butter.

I would recommend a book that I have just finished - Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace. It is set in a boys boarding school during the 1980's after Mugabe came to power and was the winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2010, among others. Because of its seeing, the book addresses racism from both angles - whites against blacks and also blacks against whites, which to me at least is what makes it so interesting.

Finished Zimbabwe - Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace. Another excellent book by a British born author who has lived in Zimbabwe since 1983.

Have you tried companies house Sue - every company registered in the UK has to by law be listed with them. It might be worth checking on their website. The reports are not that expensive to order. Failing that, there's always Watchdog !

Thanks for that - now I know that it's an LCD screen, I will stick to the one I have. I couldn't really afford another one anyway !

There are always one or two even in the most professionally written books, but I too have noticed more in Kindle books. Maybe it is because it is easier to self publish that way and self publishers don't have the money for a proof reader ? I didn't know about the free updates though. How does that work ?