Little Brother?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by nicdempsey

A long time ago somebody told me that they couldn’t think of Ben as my little brother, but he is and today is his birthday!

Nowadays our relationship is pretty straightforward, it didn’t used to be. As we hit our 30’s, it got easier and Oliver put the seal on it. As Ben says that he can talk about Olly’s fabulousness all day and as I agree with him, there’s no fighting!

That’s not entirely true but Ben is a great Dad and being a father seems to have made him more relaxed about other stuff, including his bossy big sister!!

This year Ben and Laura went through something really horrible, they coped and are coping in a way that I’m not sure that I could have.

So happy birthday Ben, hope this year is better than the last!

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Books read in September

Posted on October 13, 2011 by nicdempsey

54. Starcrossed  – Elizabeth Bunce

I need to stop reading Bookshelves of Doom. Generally, if Lelia liked it, I will and it will make my bank manager cry and Amazon happy. Loved this, loved Digger and how she changes over the course of the book but at the same time, how her changes aren’t out of character. Looking forward to the next one.
55. Pink Sugar – O. Douglas

I found this in during T&C’s move, Tina has a couple of copies of it. O.Douglas was John Buchan’s sister and like his books this is very of it’s time. I could see the end coming from a mile away but enjoyed it all the same.
56. 0.4 – Mike Lancaster

Godson no. 3 read this (he’s 10 so it’s a bit ahead for him) and loved it, because “it’s  a really creepy idea”. It is and it’s one for the boys.
57. Warm Bodies – Issac Marion

More zombie novels. I really enjoyed this, not in the way I enjoyed The Reapers are the Angels, it didn’t make me cry but I loved the idea of the inner world of the zombie.
58. Dead Until Dark – Charlene Harris

This is the first of the True Blood books. It’s like fast food, I liked it while I read it and I wanted to read the next one but I can imagine that the writing style gets old quickly. (I bought this in an omnibus with the next two books, so I’ll let you know!) The ideas are great but the execution is pedestrian. One thing happens, then another, then another and then it ends.
59. Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins

This is sort of a sequel to Anna and the French Kiss. It was lovely but I didn’t enjoy Lola as much as I enjoyed Anna. Lola as a heroine felt a bit more made up, whereas Anna’s film reviewing felt like her, Lola’s dressing up felt a bit contrived. I think it’s great that the guys in these books aren’t perfect physical specimens and are human beings who make mistakes and muck up, I’m not sure that even, or especially, for teenagers I like that this books sells an idea of getting together at school and being that couple for the rest of your life. (Yes, I know there are people who get married young and have long and happy marriages but not many and it’s not easy.)

Ok, October so far has been light and fluffy, but I’m back on a history binge (all those castles last month).

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Autumn is not a happy, fun time…

Posted on October 12, 2011 by nicdempsey

…or if one more person tells me how lovely it is to be out of summer and into autumn, I will scream. Even the interwebs isn’t free of this, Christina has been going on about grass being jewelled in autumn, which I don’t even pretend to understand, people are talking about chill and pumpkins, it’s wearing me down…

Sorry, I just don’t get it. I do accept that I have particular issues with this time of year, involving the anniversaries of some people I love dying and general SAD related stuff. However, even if you don’t have those issues and, in fairness, the run up to Christmas is also the time that nephew, mother and best friend all have birthdays so it’s not all doom and gloom, what is appealing about things being cold and dark and wet? That’s not fun, surely people don’t think that being cold and wet are reasons to celebrate. I’m no advocate of nakedness but I don’t like wearing layers of clothes and the cost of heating the flat just doesn’t bear thinking about!

Are people really excited about it not being light until 8am and dark at 5pm? Excited by the idea that it will be really cold and may snow? Well they might be, right up to the point that it happens. London doesn’t function in snow and then all my American friends from Boston and Chicago, will tell me how ridiculous it is that everything stops for 5 inches of snow and I’ll have to agree with them while (in a very Chalet School turn of phrase) wishing them at Jericho….

If you are truly that nuts, please for the love of all that is holy, don’t tell me. You see, I’m in deep mourning for the light days and warm-ish weather, for the joy of not having to go to bed with a hot water bottle, for the nice fruit (strawberries, peaches, cherries, melons). You telling me how great it’s going to be for you is just making me feel worse about it and intensifying my need to hibernate until spring.

Until spring, expect me to be very grumpy indeed…

 

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Sunday Music

Posted on October 9, 2011 by nicdempsey

Jurassic 5 – Concrete Schoolyard.

It just popped up on the shuffle and I remembered how much I liked it.

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Amble

Posted on October 8, 2011 by nicdempsey

 

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Alnwick

Posted on October 7, 2011 by nicdempsey

2nd castle of the holiday. Unlike the other castles, not a ruin. Alnwick is still owned and run by the Duke of Northumberland and is (as they like to point out..a lot) still their family home. I could live with views like this..

The Alnwick Gardens are beautiful

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Belfast

Posted on October 5, 2011 by nicdempsey

We’ve talked, walked, drunk cocktails, watched movies and fallen asleep on the sofa. We are masters of arsing about and it’s really nice..

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Instagram

Posted on October 4, 2011 by nicdempsey

Running out time and on the way to Belfast, these are the photos I would have instagramed (is that a word?), if there had been any kind of signal up north!

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Holy Island

Posted on October 4, 2011 by nicdempsey

So being as Ma and I were so far north as to be almost in Scotland, we visited Holy Island. Ma had been before, I hadn’t. I have often heard it described as a ‘thin place’, a place where the the veil between this world and the other is thin. A place where you might feel closer to God. I didn’t. I have a bit of a problem with the concept of thin spaces. The places, I have found God, haven’t ever been the ‘mountains’ or the places set apart. God comes to me when I least expect to feel Him, a hospital room when my grandfather was dying, at a family party, in the city with the noise and the bustle so although I think Holy Island is special, for me it’s special in the way all of Northumberland is special, the sky feels closer and it’s beautiful.

The priory..

the staircase for the teeny, tiny monks, seriously these steps were the night stairs for the monks and they were tiny..

We also went for a walk (an 8km walk)

It was lovely…

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Warkworth

Posted on October 3, 2011 by nicdempsey

Or, I like ruined castles, part one.

On first day of our holiday, we went into Alnwick to buy food and then decided to walk from Amble to Warkworth, where there just happened to be a castle!!

The walk was lovely, as was the weather, it’s was a short-ish walk about a mile and a half and we weren’t in any hurry.

Warkworth is run by English Heritage and has a free audio tour (which was great). It was a secondary seat for the Earls and then Dukes of Northumberland.

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