Tag Archives: kindle

Rats, Clutter and Politicians

Jackdaw

It’s been a strange week for wildlife this week. Long-tailed tits have appeared nearly every day and we had a Jackdaw at the start of the week too. They are very occasional visitors to the garden, even though we frequently see them overhead. We have also had a Brimstone flutter across the garden twice this week (it may be the same one twice, of course) and today a Peacock woke up from some cranny in the conservatory and began to flutter round. Julia ushered it out and I hope it found some early nectar. There’s going to be a steady decline in temperatures over the next week so I hope it doesn’t regret its decision to wake up. Julia bought some wallflowers in pots from a roadside stall while she was out today, so at least we have some nectar to offer.

Then we had a visit from my least favourite garden visitor – the brown rat came back. We will try more peppermint and see what happens. It’s weeks since we last saw it, so we aren’t doing too badly.

The rat came back but the rabbit did not return

I’m now looking for suitable trees for the conservatory – once I get a couple of small citrus in there I will definitely begin to call it the Orangery. At the moment it doesn’t even rate the title of Conservatory, as it is really just a glass lean-to where we are storing junk. Yes, It’s building up, despite our good intentions, but we are just about keeping up.

Though I have bought a few books they are all on Kindle, so they aren’t clutter and two of them were actually free. I had to pay 99p each for the other two, but I don’t mind that. It’s when you see Kindle books advertised for the same sort of price as a physical book that I have reservations. Kindle books are all very well but after the nuclear winter settles in the wake of the Third World War books will still be good for making fires and using as makeshift bedsheets. A Kindle will only be useful as long as the charge lasts. After that, it is just a very poor substitute for a plate. I’m just wondering whether to name the new axis of evil Trutin or Puump. Any thoughts?

I dream of attracting four birds at a time

Day of Little Progress

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The title doesn’t really narrow it down as most days are like that. I made breakfast cobs (bacon and tomato and bacon and black pudding for those of you interested in the opposite of fine dining), done a bit on WP and watched TV. I had to go for Prime in the end, as terrestrial TV is dire. It’s either garbage or repeats or football and Songs of Praise. I didn’t mind Sogs of Praise when it was in the evening, but it seems wrong when it’s on in the afternoon.

The film I watched was Renegades. It’s not a great film, but it’s a decent effort and has a great cast. The script is quite sharp and there is sufficient action, though if I’d been directing it I’d have put in more gunfire and explosions.

I then moved on to Decline and Fall. I like the book, though I probably haven’t read it for 20 years. I like the series too, though it’s a touch long-winded. I keep meaning to re-read Waugh, so this might actually get me doing it. First I need to get through my current book. It’s about the rise and fall of Rome, but I’m only just moving on to the Republic, so I have a long way to go yet.

I just looked up Waugh’s books on Kindle. I will probably join a library. I’m not paying £5.99 for a book that doesn’t physically exist and which, as I understand it, I don’t actually own. I don’t mind paying decent money for reference books and newly written books (authors need some sort of encouragement) but I don’t see why Waugh’s literary estate needs to milk it quite so much.

After that I made soup. Red Pepper, Bean and Tomato soup. It will be good for lunch for the next week. I may take a photo this time.

Things to do when I retire –

Join Library.
?
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Love Laziness and a Lively Discussion

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It is so tempting to call this one “The Second Post of the Year”. Using numbers freed me up from thinking about titles for much of last year, but in the end it is boring and uninformative, so I have resisted temptation.

At the time of writing I have not yet decided what to call the post. It may be something side-splittingly funny. The balance of probability suggests it won’t be, but we can hope. At the moment, I can’t even think of three words that start with the same letter.

Big news of the day is that I submitted ten poems on 31st December and have just had two accepted. It’s a good start to the New Year. Even better, I can send the other eight off to one of the magazines accepting submissions this month.

Using Kindle I had another go at Charlicountryboy’s book. I bought the paperback just before Christmas but haven’t managed to read anything apart from non-fiction (which you can dip in and out off) since having Covid. I’m still not back to fiction, but that is down to old eyes, which aren’t a problem when you have an illuminated page. It’s a good book and I will be reviewing it soon.

That’s about it for now. It hasn’t been a lively day, though we did have some discussion on how lazy I was which provided a few minutes of witty cut and thrust. I ordered McDonald’s via Just Eat and this is considered to be the height of idleness by Julia. However, if I’d toasted bread and warmed up some beans that would have been industrious. I don’t see much difference. Beans on toast is cheaper and almost certainly healthier, but it’s not to much fun and we’d have missed the Festive Pies. Plus it would have made washing up. Lazy? Possibly. Efficient? Undoubtedly. A lovely festive gesture for my beloved. Apparently not.

Having failed in my attempt to attract sponsorship from Parker Pens I am trying a new target for 2023 – I’ve always like McDonald’s. . .

Day 96

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I spoke to someone about Kindles last night. Today I mentioned them in one of my replies to a comment.

This is how it is. I like books. I like sitting in a room with well-filled bookshelves. But I like having several hundred books contained in something the size of one slim book, and I like the ability to increase the font size and have lighting readily available. As my eyes have aged I find the last two points to be of growing importance.

Now, for a moment, place yourself in a forest glade. See the beams of sunlight that penetrate the foliage, smell the damp soil as it sinks beneath your feet, and listen to the birdsong. That is how I see reading a book. With a book you have physical presence, weight, and the smell of dust and mould and paper (yes, I do have a lot of second-hand books). Reading a Kindle is like watching a nature programme on TV. They can show you the sunbeams and record the birdsong, but there is nothing physical beneath your feet, and no scent.

That just got6 me thinking about blue eyes in animals. Specifically, why do very few animals, apart from humans, have blue eyes? How, you ask did I get to this? Simply by thinking that an orangutan on TV is less easy to bond with than one in a zoo where you can see it, hear it, smell it and make eye contact.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of looking on the internet for an answer, an error further compounded by wandering into Quora. That, for those of you who have been fortunate enough to avoid it, is the digital opposite of the British Library, being a worldwide depository for stupidity.

And with that thought on modernity and the digital age, I will leave you for now.

A pile of books

The Cheeriness Returns

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I’ve just read Lavinia Ross’s latest post, which always leaves me feeling cheerful, with its big skies, cats and wine. She has music too, but despite the recent purchase of a new computer I still don’t have sound.

While I was reading it I ate porridge with bananas and blueberries. It’s not possible to eat that without feeling cheerful either.

So, all in all, it looks like I’m in a positive frame of mind. This might be, in truth, due to the mending of my Kindle performed by Number One Son while he was here. It had filled up and I couldn’t read my new books. It has been like this for a month and it slows me down, as it’s so much easier to read on Kindle than it is to find a book, a reading lamp and my glasses. It turns out that I’ve been downloading magazines instead opf just reading them. Once we cleared them everything is working again.

We had cheese with grated black truffle for lunch yesterday. I had never had truffle before and enjoyed the experience. It was garlicky and very intense. I just looked it up on the internet and found that it may have been nutty too, and that the nutrient profile of truffles is “impressive”. So is the price, but it was a present so I won’t comment, though I will start saving up to buy some for next Christmas.

I thought pizza was exotic when I first had it, now I’m eating truffles. The world really is a wondrous place. Of course, the way things are going I may still be eating sparrows next year, so I won’t let my happiness get out of control.

With any luck Julia may relax her grip on the Christmas cake and let me have a slice this afternoon if I whine enough. She spent three months ensuring it was in peak condition, and it is an excellent cake. Unfortunately this also makes it too good to allow me unrestricted access as I’m not regarded as a man that can be trusted with cake.

Robin on a Fence Post

Book Review – “Pier Review”

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Pier Review: A Road Trip in Search of the Great British Seaside by [Bounds, Jon, Smith,Danny]

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Summersdale (11 Feb. 2016)
ISBN-10: 1849538115
ISBN-13: 978-1849538114

Again, with this being a Kindle book I’ve taken the book cover art from the Amazon website, so thank you Amazon.

It’s a good book, though one with quite a few rough edges. You can tell this before you pick the book up because the less enthusiastic reviews, and even some of the more favourable ones, refer to grammar, blokiness, bad language and beer. I’m not that bothered about grammar, as you can probably tell from reading the blog, and, in truth, I didn’t notice any bad language. That probably results from me being desensitised by having two sons and a background of working on farms and markets. Like so many of my contemporaries that year at Finishing School eluded me.

It’s a tale of two immature mates and their driver, Midge. The narrative is based on them travelling round 55 piers in two weeks. It is, unsurprisingly, a badly organised and under-funded trip. It’s a familiar model and it felt like I’d read books by this pair before. After looking at their previous books I discovered that I hadn’t. I’ve merely read other gimmicky travel books by similarly immature, badly organised blokes.

This isn’t a criticism, just an observation. It was interesting to spend time learning about different lives and their relationships with the seaside, each other, their laundry and their past. There’s even a bit about piers in places, though not a lot.

One of the things they discuss early on is a quote from someone – J G Ballard, I think – that travel books never mention the parking. I take this badly, as my post on Cromer, our first attempted pier visit, does feature parking quite heavily. Now it’s going to look like I’m copying them.

Apart from that, I have a sneaking feeling that they planned the book better than it looks on the surface. They meet people, they stay in various places (a B&B, camp sites, floors of friends) and they space out the reminiscences. It could be an accident, but it could, under all the casual chaos, be quite a well-planned book.

It can be a bit tedious reading about people drinking (even more tedious than actually having to listen to them whilst they are drunk) and about their constant bad planning, but they are likeable idiots and the time passes quite easily as you read.

It cost me £3.99 on Kindle, which is more than I normally pay for a Kindle book, but I was happy with it. However, it’s a book about mates on a road trip: if you want to learn about piers buy a different book. I’ll review that later.

Turning into Nero Wolfe

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I think I’m turning into Nero Wolfe. It wasn’t a conscious decision, it just seems to have happened. I’ve turned into a fat man who doesn’t leave the house. I have the waistline, the aversion to exercise and I even have a selection of orchids. I say a selection, but I’m actually 9,997 orchids short of Wolfe’s total.

OK, I’ll come clean – I’ve had the waistline for a while, but being confined to the house hasn’t helped.

The cost of Nero Wolfe books on Kindle starts around £4, which is higher than I want to pay for something with no physical presence. I’ve bought one for a penny, though P&P is £2.80. It’s a tricky balancing act. £4 for a load of pixels, or £2.80 for stamps and a second-hand book I’ll give away.

I’m currently packing for hospital (just one more day left) though it’s unlikely I’ll get a lot of reading done while I’m in there. I’m making sure to pack Wodehouse this time, and a packet of sandwiches. My previous experience shows I’m likely to need cheeriness and sustenance.

What I really need is an auriga to follow me round the hospital and whisper in my ear how lucky I am. I tend to find that as I lie there in the operating theatre my good fortune isn’t always at the forefront of my mind.

You don’t always get what you want

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Life after the Care Farm