Various ramblings by the small hobbit

Or really Downs and Ups, but that sounds odd.

Firstly the down: Having enthused about the idea of Richard Armitage reading Poirot last week, I, along with a lot of other Audible subscribers, have now received an email saying their current rights only entitle them to make the titles available in the US.  Which is rubbish - I do understand about rights and, albeit reluctantly, accept them.  But to be offered something and then having it taken away is particularly disappointing at a time when little things are disproportionally important to happiness.  That they made a bad error is obvious since they've now given me (and everyone else affected) an additional credit.  I may finally buy David Copperfield.

And onto the ups.  My mother phoned and said she wanted to do some crochet, could I see if we still had her wool and a crochet hook.  I'm fairly sure I got rid of the wool - I took it in for her when she first moved into the home but she said she didn't want it.  I told her I'd used some of it for Brownies, which is true, and she was very pleased that it had gone somewhere it was of use.  And I promised to buy her some wool and get it sent directly.  Not being sure how much wool she would need for a shawl I contacted my friend K via Twitter.  We had a conversation and she suggested an online craft supplier who had an offer on wool and even better an easy grip crochet hook.  It was really helpful having the recommendation, so at 10pm Sunday night I placed the order, and it was delivered to the home Friday morning.  My mother was very happy and delighted with the crochet hook.

Then yesterday I decided I really would buy myself a tablet.  I'd been thinking about it for ages, but with the current ongoing situation I decided it would be a good addition to my life.  After a bit of a search I decided to go with a Lenovo and ordered direct from the company.  It arrived today and so far I'm delighted with it.

When I'm stuck for a subject to blog about I either go for a meme (I keep a note of any which interest me) or I look back at posts from the same time the previous year.  This time, when I looked back, I found I'd been writing about audiobooks, so I've decided to update what I've been listening to.

First up I spent most of the year working my way through the abridged Albert Campion stories by Margery Allingham.  They're all read by Philip Franks, and I've enjoyed listening to them.  The final story is still in my car, two of the three CDs still to be listened to, but I haven't driven anywhere for the last eight weeks.

Audible-wise I've listened to the next three Jackman & Evans books: The Fourth Friend, The Stolen Boys and The Patient Man, all of which I've thoroughly enjoyed.  Read by Richard Armitage, and I have no problem imagining him as DI Jackman.

Other RA audiobooks I've listened to were A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvarsson (co-read with Emily Watson and Georgia Maguire) which initially I wasn't convinced by, but drew me in.  The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (co-read with Emilia Fox).  A retelling of fairy tales (perhaps better folk tales) which I didn't expect to like, but enjoyed.  Romeo & Juliet: A Novel by David Hewson - good for a Juliet who isn't going to be pushed around by the world.  Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel by A J Hartley and David Hewson - interesting insights, but rather too long, I felt.

I also listened to RA reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.  Which was about as interesting as you might expect, but did sterling duty when stuck in traffic queues due to roadworks last November.  And Voices of History: Speeches that Changed the World by Simon Sebag Montefiore (various readers).  Too often the introduction, by a female voice I found wearing after a while, was longer than the actual speech.  Also, the speeches chosen reflected overmuch the bias of Montefiore.

I do have a few non-RA audiobooks, and I'm enjoying Benedict Cumberbatch as Horace Rumpole (John Mortimer) in some of the short stories.  However, with one credit per month, I generally chose to use it for RA!

I'm currently listening to The Other People by C J Tudor.  It's an interesting concept, and I'm waiting to see how all the strands are brought together.  I'm making a point of listening every day now - I normally listen while travelling - either driving or by train/coach - but this isn't happening at the moment, and I hadn't realised how much I missed just listening to a story until I saw I'd heard nothing in April and decided to do something about it.

I currently have a number of pre-orders - all RA, why do you ask? - including a Poirot which should be released in October.  There are two, I'm just waiting for my next credit before pre-ordering the second.  So my listening for the next few months is assured!

Obviously we're not back at Brownies, so I decided to use the next holiday badge which Girlguiding had designed, since in the end eight had completed the Easter badge.  This time though it's for Eid.  Since this is an Islamic festival I checked with Doodles (the Unit Guider) if she was happy for me to go ahead, and she replied yes, because if the children had been at school they would have learned about Ramadan.  Girlguiding is open to girls and women of any faith, or none, and although I have more own beliefs I think it is important that the girls learn about others' beliefs.
( Eid badge )

Writing figures for the month are okay - to date this month I'm around 9K, which brings my year-to-date figure to 54K and therefore ahead of target (50K), due to a good start to the year.  Although there's still not a major impetus for writing, so I'm trundling along with my regular output.

As I mentioned yesterday, I've written some Vienna Blood ficlets, and my inspiring_tables 50 prompts Eight Days in the Country now stands at 23 chapters posted with 33 chapters written.

story_works in addition to my new (and temporary) fandom have had a Comfort challenge.  So here's some classic Lucas/Adam comfort: Comfort Food

One thing I have tried lately is writing with a playslip - currently New Adventures have been posting a new playlist to Spotify every Sunday, so I've been writting to that, with at times interesting results.  whatif_au Reunion Challenge: (Lucas/Adam post WWII) - The Café de Paris ; fan_flashworks Sideways Challenge: (BBC Sherlock) - A Trip to the Ballet ; and ficlet_zone Charmed (Reverse Fandom) Challenge (Werewolf!Lucas) - Once in a Blue Moon

I've been working for some of fan_flashworks new badges: The Access Pass for canon characters with disabilities (Call the Midwife) Two Cakes ; The Emigre for canon immigrants or emigrants (Call the Midwife) A Suitable Flat; and The Map Maker for fics set outside US/Canada/UK but still on earth - Vienna Blood (of course).  And finally I wrote a poem for the Play Challenge, as a response to current events:

The Play's The Thing

The curtains stand closed across the empty stage
The lights are dimmed, the many sounds turned down
No playwright’s words come from a distant age
No costumes needed here for lover, king or clown

Yet once again we shall hear Shakespeare speak
And Chekhov, Stoppard, Williams, Coward too
Cheering audiences return on opening week
And applause rings out for actors and stage crew

I.e. Three things make a post!

Firstly, a couple of pictures from last week's full moon:
( moon, thoughts, rainbows )

Brownies haven't met since my last Brownie post, so I'm very glad we managed to complete and award the Stage 3 Explore badge.

Some units are running things online, but we're not - there's only so much time and so much energy.

However, Girlguiding had just designed a new set of holiday badges, including one for Easter, so I decided we could use that for a suitable badge for those who wanted to do something. 
There were three simple challenges:
- Design a brightly coloured Easter egg, for which I provided a template shape
- Work out the names for the baby animals where the letters are mixed up
- Make a flower out of coloured paper/lego/junk materials

All very simple and easy to do at home, and so far seven of them have completed the challenge and posted the results on our (closed) Facebook page.

We're also encouraging the Brownies to work on other interest badges if they want to.

Today's photos, taken over the last two weeks, concentrate on the bushes and their flowers and foliage:
( Foliage )

I've been looking back over my goals from the last six years, which has been really interesting.  There have been some which I've completely failed at - two years of 'I will do some art' I'm looking at you - and some which have been a great success: reading more and widely has had a major impact, as has the year I challenged myself to try twelve new things, and discovered the joy of crafts. 

I've also spent a year doing a monthly photographic post, plus one year's worth of journalling about being a pastoral assistant.  Both of which I completed, but decided I didn't want to pursue.

When I originally set my goals back in 2014, I was looking to do things which would stop me stagnating, and I'm delighted that they have done that.  Even if I haven't fully achieved what I set out to do each year, I did more than I would have done otherwise.

I shall be setting my seventh year of goals next month.  I think they will be variations on a theme.  I shall of course keep the same first goal: to Write All The Things, because I still think it's important to write out of my immediate comfort zone.  Even if not a great success, it's going to improve my general writing.