Another longish gap since last posting. On a positive note, the latest opus has gone off to the publisher.
On the whole I've enjoyed the latest book and I'm dead keen on the subject matter. I definitely plan to take it further.
I've had two great walks since last posting and a trip to the beach (first sight of the sea since the holiday in Scotland).
Walk No.1 was from near the top of Blackdown to the village of Northchapel and back again via a different route. The only problem with this walk is that the way out includes a steep downhill and the way back an equally steep up. I wouldn't attempt it today because it's too hot but two weeks' ago was just perfect. The way out was a new route for me and the start was confusing. The National Trust have put wild cattle on the top of Blackdown to maintain the heathland habitat etc. etc. This means that there's a fence to stop the cattle walking off the hill. There are also several gates which - I now know - have no relation to public footpaths.
At Northchapel I had a pint of bitter in the Half Moon and read about Noah Mann, landlord, who was a famous early cricketer and famously tall. Apparently, he died young from carousing in his own inn and then falling into the embers on the hearth in the small hours.
The way back linked up with a previous walk from Lurgashall.
walk No. 2 This started from a lane just past the Lickfold Inn and went up to the top of Bexley Hill (close to the TV mast). Most of this walk was along the north (scarp) face of the hill and a lot of it was under the trees. According to the map it's all woodland up there but there's an extensive open area. This walk's refreshment was taken at the Duke of Cumberland at Henley. I chose Staropramen because it was a hotter day and took it outside to the pub's enormous garden.
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We've been digging up our crop of salad potatoes - very tasty - and yesterday I was picking the beginning of the blackcurrants (maybe beginning and middle would be more accurate).
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I've read a couple of good books lately. Firstly, Alan Furst's 'The Spies of Warsaw', which is another in his series of convincing espionage stories set in the late thirties. However, there was one anachronism; he refers to embassy staff in Singapore but surely Singapore was a colony at that time and would only have had consular staff.
The second good read was Stephen L Carter's 'Palace Council' which is a thriller woven around a group of influential mainly black Americans from the fifties to the seventies. This excellent, educative if you want to learn some American modern history but somewhat long.
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I don't have a lot to say about the political situation except that I hope that David Cameron and the political correspondents are able to pin the government down about its spending plans. The next election has got to be all about spending cuts and tax increases and complete openess about government finances.
It seems as if the Prime Minister sees vision as synonymous with spending to bring about change; but doesn't allow much room for everyone's native wit helping to bring things around.
Personally, the future looks more like an age of people being well versed in all sorts of interesting subjects and ideas, lots of creativity and rather less consumerism.
