Mud & Mischief

I’ve been avoiding doing this for ages, for some reason. But today, as I feel crap, it’s raining outside, I’ve had to put the heating on inside, RJ is snoozing, and I have an hour of absolute quiet, I found myself choosing hairstyles and accessories. It’s so sad.

However, it is amusingly like me.

Did you know it’s Apple Day on 21st October? No, neither did I until I just went looking for it. I’ve got a couple of apple trees in my garden and this year, I got the most wonderful crop. As soon as we find somewhere bigger/permanent to live, I’m going to plant a whole orchard full of wonderful English apples with fabulous names such as ‘Peasgood Nonsuch’, ‘Adam’s Pearmain’, ‘Pitmaston Pineapple’ and ‘William Crump’.

If I get a yen to make cider, I’ll grow ‘Slack ma Girdle’ and ‘Sops in Wine’ and maybe even ‘Fillabarrel’ And if you think I’m making these up, go look at Adam’s Apples. I got my raspberry canes and a blueberry bush from him two years ago and this year we were inundated with raspberries.

Now all I need is a bigger garden to plant my orchard in…

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

~ Buddha

I’ve just finished “The End of Mr Y” and it was outstanding. I read it a little each evening, whilst waiting for the small ones to go to sleep, as I didn’t dare sit and read it all in one go. Mainly because it’s one of those books that turns into a bit of a runaway train - it starts off by gently piquing your curiosity, and then gathers pace until you really, really don’t want to put it down. 500 mind boggling pages.

The blurb reads:

“When Ariel Manto uncovers a copy of The End of Mr Y in a second-hand bookshop, she can’t believe her eyes.

She knows enough about its author, the eccentric Victorian scientist, Thomas Lumas, to know that copies are exceedingly rare. And, some say, cursed.

With Mr Y under her arm, Ariel finds herself swept into a thrilling adventure of love, sex, death and time travel.”

Now as blurbs go, that makes it sound kind of interesting, but nothing special. It was the cover and the black edges to the pages that made me pick it up, and Philip Pullman’s comment on the back “Ingenious and original. A cracking good yarn, fizzing with intelligence.”

It’s got everything from theoretical physics and a deconstruction of Einstein’s theories to sex in Little Chef toilets and what it’s like in the mind of a mouse. Extraordinary.

I can most definitely recommend it.