Rhian's reads in 2026

Welcome to my first thread of 2026 and to my fourteenth year doing the 75 Book Challenge - I hope I manage to keep this year's thread going better than last year's. I've been retired (from accountancy) for five years now - my husband (aka Mr SandDune) now works part-time as a history teacher and will be retiring himself in July. We live about thirty miles north of London and our 25 year old son Jacob lives with his long-term girlfriend Caroline in a nearby town, so we see both of them frequently. Our much loved Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Daisy, died at the end of 2025 and I still miss her terribly. But we have acquired two five month old kittens, Smot (female) and Seren (male) who are cheering me up.

I'm originally from Wales rather than England, so I do have an interest in all things Welsh and I tend to get huffy if people call me English rather than Welsh! I've been studying the Welsh language seriously for the last four and a half years and am now doing the advanced course part 2. I've also started doing an M.A. in English Literature with the Open University, which is keeping me very busy.

I read mainly literary fiction, science-fiction and fantasy, and some crime (but nothing too gruesome). As far as non-fiction goes I’m interested in a number of topics, in particular books about the environment and nature. I’m also starting to read books in Welsh, although still only ones designed for learners or children at the moment.

All my family are avid readers. Jacob has inherited a love of reading science-fiction and fantasy from me and a love of reading history from Mr SandDune so our books are frequently shared. I read hardbacks, paperbacks, on kindle and listen to audio books.

Apart from reading I love travelling, eating out, and going to the theatre. Since my retirement I've been enjoying craft activities, particularly crochet. I dabble in family history from time to time as well. I'm also getting more and more concerned about environmental issues: I'm a member of the local Green Party and have been quite involved in campaigning on climate change.

I'll continue this year with photos of Wales. Firstly a photo of the waves breaking over the pier in my home town of Porthcawl. I know I've posted this one before but I do love this image. It's a very characteristic image: it does this pretty much whenever there is a storm, as long as the tide is high. (The Bristol Channel has the third highest tidal range in the world - it's not quite as high in Porthcawl as it is further up, but it still has a maximum range of about 9-10m - so the state of the tide makes a big difference). You can often see pictures of Porthcawl pier in the U.K. news media when they are reporting a storm. And by the way, the people that you can see standing are not about to get washed away - the waves don't actually break where they are - although it is always deceptive in the photos and they are likely to get very wet.

Books Read in 2026:

1. Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy ****
2. Fiends in High Places D. C. Farmer ***1/2
3. Paradise Lost John Milton
4. Caleb Williams William Godwin ***
5. Finna Nino Cipri ***1/2
6. Pulling the Wings Off Angels K. J. Parker ***
7. Ysabel Guy Gavriel Kay ***
8. Raising Hare Chloe Dalton ****
9. These Days Lucy Caldwell ****
10. Northern Lights Philip Pullman *****

Here are the kittens - Smot on the left and Seren on the right:



We have had them for a week and a half now and they seem to be settling down nicely. We weren't really expecting to get them so quickly - all the cat rehoming websites that I looked at suggested that it was likely to take several weeks to be matched with a suitable cat, but I filled the form in in the morning and they phoned me back in the afternoon asking if we would like these two. So here they are.

>3 SandDune: *CHOO*

I'm glad tuh see yuh here, Rhiand.

*CHOO*

I hope 2026 is a better year for you, Rhian!

Nice to see you back for 2026, Rhian. I'm hoping for a better year in 2026 too!

Welcome back, Rhian!

Welcome back Rhian. Love the opening photo of Porthcawl.

>3 SandDune: The kittens look cute. My youngest Belle has also just added "Matteo" to her little family (she also has a tortoise whose name escapes me just now). I have renamed her cat Persil as she was rescued after getting herself in the washing machine and given a good soaking. Thankfully she was rescued in time but one of her nine lives has gone already.

>3 SandDune: They are so sweet, Rhian! My daughter and her husband adopted two black cats (no white fur at all) that they simply adore. Like you, they didn't have to wait to adopt them. Apparently a lot of people are superstitious about black cats (don't get me started on that). All the better for you!

Happy new thread, Rhian.

>1 SandDune: Spectacular foto!

>4 richardderus: Sorry about the cats Richard! Jacob’s girlfriend Caroline is slightly allergic to the cats. Her solution seems to be to get as close to them as often as possible so that she gets acclimatised. But then she loves cats!

>5 katiekrug: >6 Familyhistorian: >7 drneutron: >10 EllaTim: Welcome everyone! Hope everyone has a great 2026 as well!

>8 PaulCranswick: >9 lauralkeet: I’ve always really liked black cats. Our very first cat, Edward (who we had from a kitten), was all black. Mr SandDune was very reluctant at the time (he had never had pets as a child) but he was moving away just after we got married to do his teacher training, so I said that if he was leaving me so soon after the wedding I wanted a cat. When he agreed I took the next day off work and went to get one IMMEDIATELY before he could change his mind. And then we had Edward for the next 14 years. It took me a little bit longer to persuade him about a dog …

>8 PaulCranswick: I used to have a tortoise as well, but unfortunately it escaped from the garden and was never seen again …

Rhian, I am so sorry for your loss of a very precious pet. My grand daughter, while visiting often, had moved with her significant other. He is a very special person and I wholeheartedly support her choice. She left behind a cat (four year old Meow,) and a ferret whom I called Stinky (but he isn't.) After successively losing two Shetland Sheep dogs, I vowed no more pets. It was too painful to love and lose them. But, alas I do love the two I now am the responsible one for them.

Meow has asthma and summer heat is bad, and now I find that winter cold impacts also. Your two cats are beautiful. I could look at them for a long time. Congratulations on bringing them into your home.

I may have mentioned awhile back that we share Welsh ancestry. My extended family from long ago moved from Wales and England. The area of Bangor, PA was rich in slate quarries and provided jobs for those who mined coal in their former countries. It continues to be a blue-color area, rich in history, and very hard working people. There is a beautiful carousel in the nearby town of Pen Argyl, also rich in Welsh and English ancestry.

I never cease to be amazed at the folly of people and their perceptions. I lived in Bangor, PA until the age of 11, then moved to Pen Argyl, where my grandmother lived. When I came to visit her when l lived in Bangor, she quietly told me to be sure my mother packed good clothes to wear because people of Pen Argyl had more class. I loved her immensely, so, while I thought her comment was odd, I smiled and packed my own clothes, never telling my mother her opinion.

Thank you for posting the beautiful image of Wales. I'm always interested in learning about this rich history. I appreciate your knowledge base. And, hope you continue to share.

>12 SandDune: That's a great story, Rhian!

>13 Whisper1: it’s been a very long time since there was no animal in the house, and I really wouldn’t like to be without one. It does cheer me up having the kittens, although I miss Daisy terribly. We do intend to get another dog, but will wait a little for that. We had such a nice card from the vets about Daisy. She had been there so often in the last couple of years and was always a favourite as she was always so pleased to make friends.

>14 lauralkeet: Suprisingly, Mr SandDune is very much enjoying the kittens. He’s usually a little indifferent to cats, but these are so funny and playful.

Happy new thread, Rhian! I hope you enjoy your new fur kids and my daughter just left this morning for England!! She is so excited. : )

Hi Rhian! Happy new year and happy new thread!

I know the pain of loosing a pet all too well, and I'm very sad you have to go through that.
The kittes are adorable! I love tuxedo cats - our first cat was one and looked very similar to the one on the left in the photo (white plume by the nose and all). Good to hear they're settling in with you already. I'd love to have a cat again but now is not the best time - hopefully later.

And how exciting about your MA in English Lit! I'm immensely envious of you! I'd love to go back and just study my heart out but it's not a financial possibility right now (uni is free but I do need to pay my bills).

>16 Berly: What is your daughter going to be doing here, Kim? Is it a holiday or will she be here for an extended period of time?

>17 PawsforThought: The M.A. is a two year course with the Open University. This year is taught ( https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/modules/a893/ ) then next year is all dissertation (I have no idea what my dissertation will be on). Some people are working full-time and doing the course as well, and it is a real mystery to me how they do it!

>18 SandDune: She's going for a two-week vacation with a girlfriend! They have a list of things they want to do and see. I am very jealous. : )

>19 Berly: I hope she has a great time!

Mr SandDune is still on his Christmas holidays so we had a day out yesterday to Orford, on the Suffolk coast. It's a pretty spot, at one time it was a fairly prosperous port but sometime in the late Middle Ages the port silted up, and now there's a really long spit of land that has built up between Orford and the sea. So Orford itself is rather more on a tidal river rather than on the sea, but it has a maritime sort of feel and it's a pleasant place for a walk. And the fact that it was relatively more important in the past means it has a decent castle. So we had a lovely walk and a pub lunch which was very pleasant.



Back in the dim and distant past (mid 1980s) when Mr SandDune got his first car, our very first major day trip out was to Orford. At the time we were living in Watford - these days the sat nav estimates the 115 mile trip as taking 2 hours 15 minutes. It took us 6 hours to get there! We left Watford at 9.00am and got to Orford at 3.00pm (although I think we had to stop somewhere to get something to eat as we clearly weren't going to get there in time for lunch). At that time the M25 around London wasn't built (or at least not finished) and none of the smaller towns along the way had bypasses so we had to drive through the middle of all of them and got snarled up in traffic everywhere. It's a journey that's seared in my memory for ever!

Happy New Year!

I wish I wasn’t so allergic to cats.

Starred.

Happy New Year!

Smot and Seren are adorable! I love the splashes of white on their faces.

Wishing you an excellent start to the new year!

New Year greetings from Kuala Lumpur. My project is at least physically completed and an addition to the city scape.

Look forward to keeping up with you in 2026, Rhian.

Happy New Year All!

Blwyddyn newydd dda. Just dropping my star. I almost missed your thread because you didn't put SandDune in the title! :)

>24 PaulCranswick: That looks a very impressive building Paul!

>26 sirfurboy: I almost missed your thread because you didn't put SandDune in the title! I don't know why I did that! I only noticed after it was too late to change it!

>3 SandDune: Your kittens are adorable. Welcome to 2026.

Happy New Year, Rhian. I hope 2026 is a better year than 2025. I look forward to following your reading and travels. You have the best vacations.

I want to hear about your MA course. How exciting.

>3 SandDune: Congratulations on your new owners! I'm sure they'll have you catering to their every whim soon, if not already.

>12 SandDune: That's so funny about getting your first cat, Rhian. When we were first married, my husband was in the Coast Guard; he was sent off to a technical school soon after we were married, and his regular duties required him to stay on base overnight often, so I wanted a companion. I didn't think our tiny apartment was suitable for keeping a dog, so I suggested a cat--he wasn't keen, but agreed, and of course he became very fond of the little wretch, who was not a snuggle bug like the cat we have now.

Rhian, I often wonder if my cat Meow, Meow, would like companionship. Your two beautiful cats look so comfortable together. For awhile, I'll stay with one, as I am single with one income, and the vet bills tend to be high because of Meow's asthma. Drat!

Happy New Year, Rhian!

Happy New Year, Rhian! Glad to see you back.

Welcome everyone!

>28 RBeffa: >29 BLBera: >30 thornton37814: >31 Berly: At the moment the cats do most things together. It'll be interesting to see if they carry on doing that as they grow up. It's interesting seeing their personalities develop. Smother is the more cuddly one - she likes to sit on a lap - while Seren is friendly but less cuddly. They are both playful but Seren probably likes to play with toys more and is the more adventurous.

>29 BLBera: The M.A. is a two year course: this year is taught and next year is the dissertation (although I have no idea what I want to write about yet). This year the course is divided into four blocks. Each block has a core text and then (apart from the first block) a number of subsidiary texts depending on what options you have chosen. The core texts are:

Heart of Darkness Joesph Conrad
The Moonstone Wilkie Collins
Paradise Lost William Blake
The Complete Stories Anita Desai

Starting next week I will be on Block Three 'Literature and Revolution' and in the option I have chosen (Representing Revolution) I will also be studying The Prelude by William Wordsworth, Caleb Williams by William Godwin and Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History. A Play in Three Acts by C.L.R. James

I wish you a healthy and happy New Year filled with many exciting books. May all your wishes come true.

Rhian, I am so sorry that 2025 was not a happy year for you. Here's hoping that 2026 will be a much better one.

Happy New Year, Rhian!

>37 Ameise1: >38 kidzdoc: Happy New Year Barbara & Darryl!

I bought my first book of 2026 today. We went to Saffron Walden to exchange one of our Christmas presents to Jacob which wasn't suitable (you probably remember Saffron Walden Darryl) and there is a rather nice independent bookshop on the same road as the shop that we needed to go to. I really, really didn't need any more books but of course I bought one: Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans. I've read several of her books before and always enjoyed them.

<36 You make me want to go back to school, Rhian. I will have to look into some classes although my music classes do keep me busy.

I loved Small Bomb at Dimperley! Lissa Evans is usually a sure thing for me. I still have V for Victory on my shelf. I am saving it, for what I'm not sure.

>39 SandDune: I do remember Saffron Walden! That is where we had a very nice Sunday roast in a pub near the town's train station IIRC, and I got in trouble with both Bryony for ordering Moroccan lamb (it was on the menu, right?!) and with your husband for comparing Yorkshire pudding to American (or French) popovers.

>40 BLBera: I've read Old Baggage and V for Victory (but not Crooked Heart, as I didn't realise V for Victory was a sequel at the time), and enjoyed both of them.

>41 kidzdoc: That's the one. And we walked around the town centre as well - it's the town with a lot of very attractive plastered and timber framed buildings. It's now also got this very nice independent book shop as well.

Happy New Year, Rhian! I'm sending wishes that this year will be a much better one for you than last year. How exciting that you are doing an MA! I hope that goes well for you and you enjoy your studies. And hurray for the new cats! I know they will help as you miss Daisy.

Happy New Year, Rhian! I am so sad to hear about Daisy. If I remember correctly, Daisy was a puppy at about the same time as our Albus, who just had his 14th birthday and can no longer hear or leap onto furniture with ease.
Enjoy the new kitties--they are adorable.

I enjoyed Small Bomb at Dimperley. Good choice, Rhian. Best of luck with the coarse work for your Masters.

Hi Rhian- It's always nice to reconnect at the start of the year and read some not-really-new-but-happy-to-be-reminded-about factoids about you and your life.
I'm sorry to hear about your beloved dog, and am impressed to hear about your ongoing Welsh lessons and your ongoing learning!

Happy reading in 2026, and like me, I see you are hoping for more LT time this year.

Happy New Year, Rhian. I'm so sorry about Daisy. Your two new kittens are so cute!

>43 atozgrl: >44 AnneDC: >47 norabelle414: Thank you for the kitty love - they are settling in very nicely. Smot in particular is very affectionate and spends most evenings on my lap.

>43 atozgrl: >44 AnneDC: >46 LovingLit: >47 norabelle414: Daisy would have been 14 next month, so was a decent age for a staffie. By the end she was completely deaf and couldn't walk very far at all with her arthritis, but still was always pleased to see people. But the last few weeks she wasn't really eating properly and was going downhill rapidly.

>45 Familyhistorian: >46 LovingLit: The M.A. is certainly time consuming!

>48 SandDune: Thumbed, Rhian. Wild Dark Shore was one of my 2025 Top 5 reads.

>48 SandDune: I was able to obtain a copy of Wild Dark Shore from my library. I'll read this after I finish a very interesting book, found on Joe's thread, regarding an in-depth look at the forces and people who came together to build the atomic bomb used on Japan which played a major part in ending WWII.

Happy Day to you.

Belated happy new year to you, Rhian! I hope 2026 is a much better year for you. The kittens are adorable and I'm glad they're settling in.

>48 SandDune: I'm seeing several recommendations for this from people I trust - I'll have to add it to my wishlist.

>48 SandDune: I have Migrations on my shelves. I need to get to it.

>50 lauralkeet: >51 Whisper1: >52 Sakerfalcon: >53 BLBera: I have discovered that I have Migrations on the shelf already! I'd completely forgotten about it. I think I might have bought it and decided it looked too depressing...

The next couple of days I have several workmen coming around - dishwasher repair man, plumber and oven cleaning man. The dishwasher was actually fixed before Christmas but it's being temperamental with the same problem that it had previously, so there should be no charge for tomorrow's visit. And the plumber needs to fix a leak in the shower which started a couple of days after Christmas, so we haven't been able to use the shower in our bathroom since then (we do have another one). Ideally, I wouldn't have booked so many things at the same time, but everyone was on holiday until 5th January so these were the earliest appointments I could get. But I really don't like having so many interruptions all at once ...

Hi Rhian my dear, i have starred you again and hope to be more visible on your thread this year. I love the photo of your Kittens, they look so cute.

>55 johnsimpson: Nice to see you John!

I've finished reading (or at least listening to) Paradise Lost. I'll be studying it for the next few weeks so I won't post a review as yet. First thoughts are that God doesn't come out of it very well and that Paradise sounds boring!

>58 SandDune: Your initial thoughts made me smile, Rhian. I haven't read it myself as yet, but it is possibly Kyran's favourite and he is a disbeliever himself (don't tell his mother!) so you may be right about Milton's impact!

Good luck with your home repairs.

>58 SandDune: Great observation.

>59 PaulCranswick: I've a lot more to delve into about Paradise Lost, but it's definitely thought provoking.

>60 BLBera: Unfortunately, further work needed on the shower, so the plumber is coming back next week.

This morning I went to my monthly Welsh coffee morning, consisting of learners at various levels as well as some native speakers. A couple of us who are in the same Welsh class were talking about a fellow learner who has attended our class on a couple of occasions, and who featured in a social media article yesterday. This is a man from Pakistan (currently living in Wales) who has only been learning Welsh for 2 years, is now fluent, and is now doing a PhD in Welsh looking at elegy in Welsh, Persian and Urdu poetry. And who speaks nine languages! And has published a novel! We were fairly open-mouthed at his ability to do that! I remember thinking when I encountered him that he seemed too good for the class I was in, but didn't realise quite how much too good he was!

A fairly quiet day today. We booked a cottage in North Wales for a week at Easter, something I have been meaning to get around to for ages. And then spent a fun afternoon sorting out our bathroom cabinets. What I want to know is, why have we got 6 spare toothbrushes.

>62 SandDune: Tooth brushes multiply in the dark like coat hangers in the hall closet. Judy and I probably have at least six

>62 SandDune: - We also have an abundance of toothbrushes, though I have switched to an electric one. Not sure about in the UK, but it's basically standard to get a "goodie" bag from the dentist after each visit with a toothbrush, floss, and mini tube of toothpaste in it. We each go twice a year, so that's four toothbrushes right there... Thankfully, my dentist has started asking if I want one, and I can now politely decline :)

Like Katie, it's standard to get a goodie bag from the dentist. I also use an electric tooth brush , but my husband doesn't , so no problem. I'm glad you enjoyed Wild Dark Shore so much.

>58 SandDune: First thoughts are ... that Paradise sounds boring! This is the usual opinion from readers of The Divine Comedy too!

>62 SandDune: I'm glad you have the trip to North Wales to look forward to.

>61 SandDune: He sounds amazing, Rhian. In the US right now, he would probably be in detention somewhere. Sigh.

Happy new year and happy reading, Rhian. These kittens are super cute (imagine 2 heart eye emojis here).

>63 magicians_nephew: >64 katiekrug: >65 vancouverdeb: And now I have even more toothbrushes. The reason I had a lot to start with was that I'd accidentally signed up for a subscription order of wooden toothbrushes. I did know this but thought we'd pretty much used them up. And I also could have sworn that I'd cancelled the subscription ... which of course I hadn't. So an additional 8 toothbrushes that I didn't want arrived last week. I have a subscription with the company for other things with no problem at all so its totally my fault, but annoying!

We don't get free toothbrushes here atdentist visits. i have an NHS dentist so I don't suppose they'd be likely to start giving out freebies, but on the odd occasion I have had a private dentist appointment i didn't get any freebies either.

>66 Sakerfalcon: I haven't actually got through much leisure reading at all the ladt couple of weeks, as the Paradise Lost work requires a lot of additional reading around. I've never read The Divine Comedy so can't comment on that!

>67 BLBera: I have to say from a European perspective, your government looks completely and utterly unhinged at the moment! Sorry! Not that I think ours is doung very brilliantly. But anyway I've bought a copy of the book Four Dervishes by Hammad Rind. And as the publishers, Seren, were having a two for the price of one New Year offer I've also bought Nia by Robert Minhinnick. The blurb on the back of that one talks about a town 'dominated by the sea, duneland and a funfair' which sounds suspiciously like my hometown, perhaps not surprisingly as that is where Robert Minhinnick lives.

>68 Deern: The cats continue to be very cute and into everything!

We had quite a cultural weekend. Saturday we went to see Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre, an adaptation from the novel by Noel Streatfield. The production was excellent and great fun, even if Mr SandDune and Jacob (we went with Jacob and Caroline) felt a little outnumbered by the female members of the audience. And then on Sunday we went on a book club outing to see Hamnet at the cinema, (Mr SandDune once more being outnumbered by the women 6:1.

I did buy a couple of new books in the NT bookshop:
Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfield (never actually read the book)
I am a Cat Natsume Söseki

and also acquired Introducing Mrs Collins Rachel Parris. (Strictly speaking this was a Christmas present from Caroline, but she'd hidden it and then couldn't remember where, so a little delayed.)

>70 SandDune: "Unhinged" is a good description. It feels like that here as well.

I loved Noel Streatfield books as a girl. You will have to let me know how it holds up.

>70 SandDune: >72 BLBera: Ditto to "unhinged." It's very disturbing to live in a country where it feels like that. Lately I've really started to wonder about the president's sanity, and wish Congress would just stand up and do something about it.

>70 SandDune: I am a big admirer of Robert Minhinnick's poetry so I will be really interested to see what you make of his book.

I think that we will struggle to find a country whose government is currently "hinged", Rhian, but I do have to say that both sides of the pond seem to deserve the "un" attachment to the hinge. The bigger nation especially so.

>72 BLBera: >73 atozgrl: I think a lot of people here have had serious concerns about his sanity for a while. I found Trump's speech yesterday just so offensive when he suggested that none of the other NATO countries would come to the aid of the US. The ONLY country that has ever evoked article 5 of the NATO treaty has been the US and many countries did come to their aid, and many of their soldiers were killed in the process. How disrespectful can he get to their memory?

>74 PaulCranswick: I think I disagree with you about the UK government being unhinged Paul. I have been extremely disappointed in them, I think their priorities are wrong and they have been overly cautious and unadventurous, but I would not called them unhinged. whereas Trump is as loopy as a basket of snakes in my opinion ...

Several of Robert Minhinnick's poems refer to places that I know well and this is one of my favourites (from 'The Hourglass' in King Driftwood:

'At Kenfig the fog
fell in a golden
Götterdämmerung. The swan, the sanderlings,
the conger cold as cistern-iron?
The famished sand filched that feast.
And the poets who practised there left nameless;
welldrivers, grapegrowers, wolfwatchers likewise.
If any escaped they are unrecorded. Only the castle sometimes
is mistaken in the mist.
How drunk was that watchman
he missed the dune at the door.'

This references the lost (but real) town of Kenfig, overcome by sand in the late middle ages with only scant remains of the castle still visible . And I like how he also references the lost (but mythical) Cantre'r Gwaelod, land in the west of Wales supposedly lost to the sea as the drunk watchman forgot to close the sea gate as the tide was incoming.

Here are Jacob and Daisy back in 2015 on the scant remains of Kenfig Castle. I remember she struggled so much to get up to where he was as it was a bit of a climb - but she hated him to leave her behind.

"as loopy as a basket of snakes"---that is as apt a description of his craziness as any I have heard. Must remember it. Thanks, Rhian.

>3 SandDune: They are just lovely! Did there names come from a book by any chance?

>48 SandDune: Already in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again. I read Migrations by the same author and am looking forward to reading more of her stuff. Glad to see that you enjoyed it, Rhian!

Sorry it has taken me so long to visit. I do wish you and yours a very belated Happy New Year!

>79 laytonwoman3rd: Just wish it didn't have so much of an effect worldwide.

>80 alcottacre: Seren means star in Welsh and it's quite a common pet name. And Smot, I don't know if you have come across the children's board book Where's Spot? - it was one of my favourites when Jacob was tiny. The Welsh version is 'Ble mae Smot?'. Strictly speaking, spot in Welsh is 'smotyn' not 'smot', but I remeber seeing the book in a Welsh language bookshop and thinking it sounded cute. And she does have a splodge on her face, so a sort of spot.

Actually,thinking about it,I first came across with book in Italian, when it was 'Dov'è Spotty?'. i wonder how many languages it appears in?

>71 SandDune: I'm glad you enjoyed the play of Ballet Shoes! I went to see it in December 2024 with friends and my older goddaughter and we all loved it. I hope you like the book too.

>78 SandDune: That's a lovely photo!

>82 Sakerfalcon: We thought about going to see Ballet Shoes when it was on last year but went to see Little Foxes at the Young Vic instead. Big mistake in my opinion - Ballet Shoes was much better.

I remember that day out well, as it was difficult to find the castle and Jacob was so pleased when we did. I knew roughly where it was but it can be surprisingly difficult to navigate in sand dunes. Any castle always makes him happy, even one where the ruins are actually very meagre.

>78 SandDune: That's a great photo.

>75 SandDune: Don't expect any kind of normal behavior from our incumbent. I wish someone would stand up to him.

>58 SandDune: We tackled Paradise Lost back in high school (not sure which teacher thought that was a good idea). Nice picture of Jacob and Daisy!

>84 BLBera: I wish someone would stand up to him Today he's managed the unusual task of uniting every single British politician against him, including the Prime Minister, who refered to his comments as 'insulting and frankly appalling' this afternoon.

>85 Familyhistorian: We tackled Paradise Lost back in high school That's an interesting choice!

We took the kittens for their second lot of injections today, something they weren't happy about at all. Hopefully the last visit (at least with them) until next year. I'd got used to going almost every week with Daisy so it will nice to go a little less frequently.

Mr SandDune has gone down with a nasty cold so we have been having a quiet weekend. I’ve been taking the opportunity to sort out our holidays for 2026. Mr SandDune is retiring in July 2026 and his burning desire has been to go on holiday in September - last time we went away in term time was June 1988 when we went to Sardinia on our honeymoon. So I’ve booked two weeks in a gîte not too far from La Rochelle in France for September - Jacob and Caroline should be joining us for that one. And I’ve also booked flights to Vilnius in Lithuania for July to celebrate him actually stopping working. We have been to Estonia and Latvia previously, but never Lithuania so I am looking forward to it. I haven’t booked any accommodation yet - I’ll wait for him to perk up a bit so we can discuss.

It’s a shame about the cold - he was supposed to be cooking a rib of beef for lunch tomorrow which we were all looking forward to. Jacob received it in his Christmas hamper from Tesco’s - the agreement was that we would cook it and he and Caroline would come and eat it. But Mr SandDune is definitely not up to cooking and I don’t cook roasts - to be honest he’s not really up to socialising either - so it will have to be postponed until next week.

>75 SandDune: Well I am glad to be here instead, Rhian. It seems to be another week another U-Turn. I think that they are not listening to their base to be honest and have effectively split the left and centre-left into four Labour, the Greens, Liberal Dems and Corbyn's new grouping. The concentration has been on the rise of Reform and the collapse of the Tories but I am far more concerned that my lot seem to have lost the plot. Unadventurous is a good description but insufficiently principled as well. Still they did inherit a sh*tshow.

I will allow that I was playing on words to make a point and it is fair to say that the Starmer government is not unhinged but it is a disappointment and I think we agree about the other side of the pond.

>76 SandDune: & >78 SandDune: Nice poem to introduce a good photo!

>87 SandDune: Give MrSandDune my best wishes and my hopes that he return to rude health as soon as possible - hopefully in time for the rib of beef!

>88 PaulCranswick: I am far more concerned that my lot seem to have lost the plot I’d definitely agree with you on that Paul. I can’t help thinking that this time the two party system might really be giving up the ghost. Both Labour and the Conservatives have been consistently polling so low. I keep an eye on the Welsh opinion polls and there Plaid Cymru are outperforming Reform, with both Labour and the Conservatives having fairly dire polling figures, and the Greens polling well enough to form a coalition with Plaid Cymru if necessary.

>89 PaulCranswick: He definitely won’t miss the rib of beef - as he will definitely be the one to cook it! It’s sitting in the freezer at the moment. I’m happy to cook anything apart from a roast dinner - and pastry - so it’s always Mr SandDune who does those.

>90 SandDune: Indeed, Rhian. I am against extremes and we seem to be getting polarized in imitation of the US. It may be that time is ripe for a more democratic state with a proportional representation system coming in that safeguards us from ourselves!

Your post about ribs of beef got me salivating so much that I am going for a roast lunch this Sunday!

>86 SandDune: I too have had questions about his sanity for some time. He sounded nuts on the campaign trail in 2024. But the latest craziness about Greenland and the comments he made about our allies went way over the line. I have seriously thought that someone needs to do something about him. "Appalling" is exactly the word I used when I heard what he was saying about our allies. I was glad to see the Europeans standing up to him and pushing back, since our own Congress seems incapable of doing so--even though almost everything he has been doing is anti-American.

>87 SandDune: I'm sorry to hear that Mr. SandDune is ill. I'm sending all good wishes for a speedy recovery. And congratulations to him on his upcoming retirement.

>78 SandDune: What a lovely picture of Jacob and Daisy, Rhian. I hope Mr SandDune is soon feeling 100%.

I hope Mr. SandDune feels better soon. It seems to be the time of year for all kinds of colds/flu, etc.

>91 PaulCranswick: >92 atozgrl: >93 vancouverdeb: >94 BLBera: I thought I’d avoided the dreaded lurgy but went down with it on Sunday evening! Just starting to feel more human again now!

Hi Rhian! Yes, unhinged is the nicest thing you can say about our government now. Ugh. I love your fall travel/post retirement plans! That's the dream of educators - to travel in the fall. Stelios and I fell in love with Maritime Canada so hard we are hoping for a long (like 5-6 weeks) vacation there when I retire and can travel in fall. Hopefully soon.

>95 SandDune: I spoke too soon about feeling better. As often happens with me I felt better after the original cold for about a day and then started coughing … and coughing … and coughing. I think I really am starting to feel properly better now - I’m getting to the very bored stage as I haven’t been out of the house for nearly two weeks. The worst thing is that my sleep patterns are completely messed up - even when I’m not sleeping I can’t sleep.

I’m hoping to be properly recovered by Tuesday as we’re taking Jacob out for dinner as it’s his birthday tomorrow (his restaurant of choice wasn’t open on a Monday so we ate going Tuesday).

In other news the cats are well and getting much bigger and went out for the first time on Friday (at least Seren did briefly, Smot just looked at the outside world with suspicion). I know there is a big cultural gap between the U.S. and the U.K. when it comes to letting cats go outside, but here rescue organisations are frequently very reluctant to let you rehome cats if you don’t let them go outside, especially young cats, unless there is some medical reason why they should not do so. But at the moment it’s problematic as it’s just so wet - in some parts of the U.K. (South Wales for example) it’s supposed to have rained every day this year. It’s not quite as bad here, but not far off, and obviously the cats do not want to go outside in the rain.

>96 AMQS: We went to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. back in 2008 and loved it too. Definitely an area I would be happy to go back to.

We’ve been watching Riot Women recently. Anyone seen that - basically post menopausal women form a rock band. One of the best things I’ve seen on TV for a while. And it’s set in Mr SandDune’s home patch - Halifax, Hebden Bridge - so he was riveted, despite initially saying that it didn’t sound interesting at all.

>99 SandDune: I watched it and liked it, though I had to steel myself to watch some episodes as they were (or might have been) very traumatic. I'm pleased that there will be a second series soon-ish.

We are currently coming up to the time when we need to think about getting a puppy. We want one to come home about mid-April, so we need to be looking at litters born mid-February. We are currently debating between a cocker spaniel and a Labrador, but are having difficulty deciding.

>97 SandDune: Best wishes for that cough! So nasty, when you think you are doing better. I had this in December, twice.

>101 SandDune: Two good breeds to choose from. Good luck deciding.

Wow, how interesting about making you let your cats outside. People around here hate that. They try to capture them and give them somewhere safe. Even my sister did that once, and I had to put out ads to find the owner. I found him, though.

We have 5, and none of them are interested in outside. Freyja tried for a while, but never went out again after experiencing rain. I would have let him out, but I wanted to wait till he was microchipped.

Do you have something like coyotes or some sort of animal that would eat your cats? We do where I live.

>101 SandDune: Puppy! That will be so much fun. We've had labs and not cockers, but I'm sure either breed would be great. Our Ellie is a mixed breed without a trace of lab in her DNA, but very lab-like in looks and temperament. In other words, delightful. She's been with us for 2 years, since she was 8 weeks old. Our older dog Alys is 11 and someday Ellie will need a new companion. We've agreed it will most likely be a smaller dog (under 20kg). Ellie weighs 32kg and is very strong and boisterous which we can handle now, but with each passing year becomes less of a good idea.

I'm looking forward to seeing puppy pics in the spring!

>103 The_Hibernator: There aren’t really any predators around. In theory, a fox could supposedly attack a cat, but apparently it’s extremely rare, and they tend to avoid each other. Either that, or the cat sees off the fox. And then you have dogs, but there aren’t any stray dogs around where I live. And I suppose cats don’t go into gardens where there are dogs unless they are confident they can handle them. (There used to be cats living in the house behind us when Daisy was young, and they could definitely handle her - they would keep her pinned up in a corner of the garden why they sat there and washed their paws. It’s the law that all pet cats must be microchipped, so they can’t be confused for strays. There is obviously a risk from traffic, but the general view here is that that risk is outweighed by advantages of them being able to go outside.

Apparently average lifespan of a cat in the U.K. is 11.7 years and most of the U.K.’s cats are indoor-outdoor, so I think that some of the statistics you see quoted for shorter lifespans relate to either feral cats or cats in locations where there are more predators.

We had had three cats previously, and they have lived to 14, 8 and 14 and all died of natural causes.

>100 CDVicarage: Happy Valley is the other one set in that area but I did find that too harrowing.

>102 EllaTim: >104 lauralkeet: Mr SandDune is retiring in July, and he wants a dog that will keep him active - hence our two choices. His average daily step count is about 16,000 (he walks to work and then walks around a lot at work) so a dog that needs a decent amount of exercise would be ideal. I would love another staffie, but it’s possible we will want to take our next dog away on holiday with us to Europe, and staffies can be problematic for that as several countries have restrictions on the breed. And we need a dog that is likely to cope well with the cats - hence why we are going for a puppy again. I think it’s easier to acclimatise them if you start off young.

>106 SandDune: Border Collie?

>107 m.belljackson: I think a border collie might be a bit too much … I think it’s easier to might try to herd the cats.

>108 SandDune: I'm glad you're moving toward adding a new puppy to the household. Each time we lost a beloved dog, we were ready for another much sooner than we had expected to be. I agree, a border collie might to overwhelming. My sister-in-law had one, and they lived where the dog could run itself out whenever it wanted to---it was STILL a handful. Pretty close to perpetual motion.

>105 SandDune: I'm surprised to hear about this requirement to let cats go outside. I remember when I read Dewey's Nine Lives (the follow-up to Dewey: the Small Town Library Cat), Myron had to say something in the opening to the book about the fact that several of the stories were about cats who were allowed outside, or lived outside. Apparently she knew that that situation would upset a lot of her readers. And cat health was apparently one of the issues of concern. I know that cats can pick up diseases from other cats, and they can also get into fights with other cats.

When I was growing up, we had a few cats. Our first cat was indoor-only, but we got her as a kitten. A couple of other cats we had were strays that we "adopted" or one of the kittens from the stray, so they were outdoor or indoor/outdoor. But one of my big issues these days is that domestic cats are hugely responsible for killing birds, and I think this is a major problem. Even when people put bells on their pets, they can still manage to sneak up on birds. Don't people in the UK see this as a problem? We've found piles of feathers in our backyard quite a few times now, and we're pretty sure it was someone's pet cat responsible, because we've seen that cat in our yard. I am tired of it.

>97 SandDune: that is a cultural gap, though plenty of cat owners let their cats here outside still. We certainly used to, because that's what was done. Now we have three inside cats, and suffer the indignities of outside neighborhood cats - namely they use our landscaped yard (including the veggie boxes) as their litterboxes and eat our wild birds. We enjoy our birds so much and try to create the most welcoming environment for them that doing so feels like a cruel trap. We certainly have other predators - foxes, coyotes, birds of prey, but for our beloved songbirds the cats are deadly.

A puppy!! That sounds wonderful - hoping you will share lots of pictures!

>62 SandDune: I feel like I have finally grown up now that I book cottages in nice places well in advance, instead of attempting to do so in vain 10 days before a long weekend. We also have a place booked for Easter :) (*feeling smug*)

Interesting reading about outdoor cats. Here , you can let cats outdoors , but most are indoor cats and it's a requirement if you adopt from the SPCA here. I see some cats that are leash trained and thus are out and about. Best of luck choosing a new puppy, Rhian.

>111 atozgrl: >112 AMQS: >113 LovingLit: Although the rescue that we got the kittens from don’t rule out indoor only cats, they certainly encourage letting cats outside and from the conversation we had I don’t think they would have let us have the kittens if we had wanted to keep them as indoor only. Kittens are fairly easy to rehome so I think they can pick and choose who they go to. I think most rescues have some cats that they will rehome as indoor only, but they tend to be old cats or ones that have health problems.

This is the advice they give about letting cats outside:

https://woodgreen.org.uk/pet-advice/cat/how-to-let-your-cat-out-for-the-first-ti...

I am also very fond of birds, and do lots of things for their benefit. I’ve banned Mr SandDune from using pesticides in the garden, we grow lots of native plants that benefit pollinators and plants with berries for the birds to eat. So I would get upset if one of the cats killed a bird (although luckily so far none of our cats have really been hunters) but I suppose I look at it like this:

- Wildcats (a very closely related species) are native to the U.K. although we have hunted them to near extinction so I suppose domestic cats fill a similar niche.
- In the U.K. the worrying falls in bird numbers have been in farmland birds, which live in areas where they are much less likely to encounter cats. The R.S.P.B (which is the biggest bird conservation charity in the U.K.) blames habitat loss and intensive farming rather than cats. They advise keeping cats in at dawn and dusk and having a bell on their collar, rather than keeping them in entirely.
-And put it bluntly, usually at least 70% of baby birds are going to die before their first birthday. If something doesn’t eat them then they will starve or we would be knee deep in blue tits. (Sorry, I know that sounds a little hard hearted, but it is what happens).

If I was to ban anything going into the countryside, it would be the 40 million or so non-native game birds which are released every year in the U.K. and compete for resources with the native wildlife.

I think I would feel differently if I lived somewhere where the wildlife was particularly susceptible to cats, such as New Zealand. In that case I probably wouldn’t have a cat at all, as I don’t think I’d be able to keep the house secure. We have doors and windows open all summer and it just wouldn’t work.

>115 SandDune: If I was to ban anything going into the countryside, it would be the 40 million or so non-native game birds which are released every year in the U.K. and compete for resources with the native wildlife.

Would that include pheasants? Several years ago Fliss/flissp and I visited Southwold on the English coast after going to Aldeburgh with Jenny/lunacat and her now husband for fish and chips, and I was surprised at the number of wild pheasants we saw on our walk from the car park in the center of town to the beach and pier. I had never seen any pheasants outside of a zoo before.

>116 kidzdoc: Yes, mainly pheasants and some partridges.

Edited to add: in my opinion those fish and chips in Aldeburgh are some of the best that you can get, if you went to the Fish & Chip shop that I’m thinking of.

>115 SandDune: I agree with you, Rhian. I have had cats as well, indoor cats, as I lived on a third floor. But I always felt I was locking them up. We had parakeets, in a cage, years ago. One day we let them fly in the room. I couldn’t lock them in their cage again after that, a bird should be able to fly, and a cat not be locked up in a small house. At the allotment several people have cats, and yes, they catch birds, but also mice, and rats. A friend of mine used to walk her cat on a leash. He loved that. But he managed to escape so often, that she finally decided to let him go.
You can help your birds by planting bushes, thorny bushes are a good safe place for them.

>113 LovingLit: I’ve gone from never having a holiday in the school holidays as a child (my Dad worked in tourism) to always having to have holidays in the school holidays with Mr SandDune being a teacher. I’m looking forward to habing a completely free hand!

I live in the US where domestic cats kill an estimated 2-3 billion (yes, billion, not million) birds per year. My cat is indoor-outdoor, but he wears a bird-be-safe collar along with a bell, which is very effective. He has never brought a dead bird to our house when he wears it. He didn’t have one for a bit, and he killed several birds in that time. I now keep extras on hand in case he shucks one. I’ve found that break-away collars are unnecessary and just lead to buying lots and lots of new collars, even though he climbs trees and travels through lots of underbrush. He looks like a silly clown cat, and people tend to think I’m the type of woman who puts her cat in costumes, or something.

He is trained to come inside at night, since we have coyotes in our area. Though I haven’t see any this year, since more and more land is being developed. The cut-paste article link below (based on research done in Great Britain) has really good info, too, on decreasing bird kills by outdoor cats. I need to do a better job playing with my cat for a little bit each day, which is one of the recommendations. Several neighbors have told me I shouldn’t worry about my cat killing birds, since it’s part of nature’s cycle, etc, except that the outdoor domestic cat density in my area far exceeds what it would be for native cat species, since they are fed by their owners. We do have a family of lynxes somewhere in the area, or did last year, anyway.

Sorry for all the non-book talk on your thread, though! But cats and readers do tend to go together:). Also, hurrah for native plants!

https://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/post/simple-ways-found-to-reduce-cat-huntin...

>120 karspeak: I haven’t got them collars yet, but I will be doing that, and I won’t be letting them out at night. They are certainly getting plenty of exercise at the moment as they play together a lot. To be honest, I’m thinking of postponing the whole going outside business until the weather improves a bit. It’s constantly raining at the moment and several parts of the U.K. have have had their wettest start to the year on record. It’s not quite that bad here but it is very very wet.

It was Jacob’s birthday on Monday, so Tuesday we took him and Caroline out for a meal. Tried a new restaurant for us, which we all enjoyed. Tomorrow we are going to see a performance of War of the Worlds, not the musical which is on in London at the moment, but a touring theatre production. Jacob’s coming to that as well, as the theatre is just around the corner from his flat, but Caroline is working.

>122 SandDune: I started watching a War of the Worlds series (starring Gabriel Byrne and Daisy Edgar Jones) and was really enjoying it- but as soon as I started Season 2 I realised that I just couldn't sustain that level of suspense for another whole season. Maybe I'm a lightweight -I do love the creepiness, just not the heart palpitations!

I hope Jacob had a lovely birthday, Rhian.

>115 SandDune: Thanks, Rhian, for the information about bird kills in the U.K. Maybe it's not as bad a problem there as it is here. I also think feral domesticated cats are a bigger problem than pets, but I still have concerns with letting pet cats out. I hope the bird-be-safe collar that >120 karspeak: mentioned works better than the ones I was familiar with.

>118 EllaTim: The indoor cat we had got plenty of exercise in our house and was perfectly happy being inside all the time. We never got the impression that the cat was "locked up."

>121 SandDune: I wish you would send us some of your rain. We've been in a drought here since August, and we could use some of it.

>122 SandDune: Sending belated happy birthday wishes to Jacob. I hope he had a great day!

>122 SandDune: Sound lovely, Rhian! I'm glad Jacob had a lovely birthday.

We went to see our War of the Worlds production tonight, and it was very interesting. The four person company mix live action on stage with video footage. One or more members of the company are always filming whoever is the protagonist at any one time, and the video is shown on a large screen above. But because of the performers’ interaction with props, models and further CGI screens at both sides of the stage, what appears on the video screen can look very different from what is actually happening on stage. I found it technically fascinating . And it generated a good atmosphere of post-apocalyptic England with some unnerving moments. I’d be interested in seeing something else by the same company (Imitating the Dog).

Caroline came as well in the end: she discovered it was a fairly short production so was able to get to work on time even if she came, so got a last minute ticket. The theatre wasn’t full unfortunately: it’s a nice redevelopment of a local theatre, but it’s all quite new and I don’t think they quite have their audience sorted yet. This is the first time we’ve been but I definitely would go back.

>127 SandDune: It sounds very innovative, certainly in Wells' spirit. I'm hopeful for ant venue that will take technical risks because that's the spirit that enables discoveries that really hit with audiences. I hope they survive until one comes along.

>127 SandDune: The War of the Worlds production sounds interesting. I subscribe to TV Hulu. Recently, I watched a WWII series that is excellent. Most recently, the sequential part of this production focused on Germany's eventual demise. I found it interesting that many thought all Germans were responsible and all should pay for what occurred.

>123 LovingLit: I don’t remember that one. It’s the sort of thing that I would have watched- I like War of the Worlds as a story.

>124 AMQS: >126 vancouverdeb: Jacob had a nice birthday I think. Not such a nice day the day after our meal as he had to visit an abattoir for work purposes! And I don’t think he’d realised it was an actual abattoir as well as meat processing so he had a bit of a shock.

>128 richardderus: I think most of the productions that they have there are a little bit more populist and probably get a bigger audience. It’s a nice venue and we’ll definitely go again.

>129 Whisper1: Mr SandDune is a great one for historical programmes, but they have to get their facts right!

Seren’s favourite place to sleep at the moment is under our bed. But how he gets there is he opens the drawer in the base of the bed that I use to store clean towels in, gets in the drawer, then out through the very small gap at the back of the drawer into the very small gap between all the drawers under the middle of the bed. It’s not the most convenient place as it is completely impossible to reach him under there without actually lifting up the bed. And the bed is too heavy to be lifted …

>132 SandDune: oh my what a clever kitten!

>133 Whisper1: I like that picture Linda!

>134 lauralkeet: Seren is always the one who is very keen to get in things: the fridge, the kitchen cupboards, the tumble dryer … we are learning to check very carefully before we close doors!

Today we went to an afternoon concert at a nearby arts centre: Gwilym Bowen Rhys, a Welsh folk singer. Welsh language music is not a common occurrence in this area for obvious reasons, and so it seemed to have attracted every Welsh speaker within a 50 mile radius (or at least the ones that like folk music). I knew several people there, a few from my Welsh course and a couple from the Welsh conversation group that I go to in St. Albans.

A good reason not to buy books from Amazon …

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/17/how-amazon-van-marooned-uk-most-...

>136 SandDune: LOLOL

"I was just following orders" from the infallible, all-knowing machines.

This is an interesting article, about the effects of colour blind casting which I hadn’t previously considered. What do people think?

‘Thorne has taken characters that are classed, gendered and raced in Golding’s book and decided that only two of those three identities are of consequence in his series. A story often viewed as dystopian becomes a racial utopia.’

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/19/lord-of-the-flies-bbc-dive...

Much news today about the ex-Prince Andrew. I can’t help but hope this is the beginning of the end for the Royal Family… But then I am very anti-Royalist, would get rid of the lot of them tomorrow if it was up to me. Our family group chat on WhatsApp is called ‘Down with the Monarchy’. The children changed it to something royalist to wind me up so I changed it to that and it’s stayed there ever since …

>139 SandDune: Interesting...I always thought this subtext was stunningly obvious. Is this a tempest in a teapot? Probably.

>140 SandDune: Almost 350 years since Monmouth was jailed, tried, and executed. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor might die in prison, but execution's not on the table. I think it's as bad as it gets. What's happening with him could easily do your preferred job.

>140 SandDune: As another republican in the British sense of the word, Rhian, I do agree that this may be a nail in their coffin finally. His slug like photograph in the back of the car after his release under caution is not a good look!

The irrefutable criminal wrongdoing which is bordering on treason by Andrew and Peter Mandelson in effectively selling state secrets for in Andrew's case (quite possibly sexual favours) and in Mandelson's case heaven knows why - needs to be prosecuted diligently and without fear or favour.

I am not impressed that Mandelson has not yet been arressted either his leaking of secrets to the Paedo in Chief seems to have been particularly egregious and I do worry that the implications to his ex-colleagues may result in an attempted cover up whilst everyone concentrates on Andrew rightly getting his just desserts.

Have a great weekend, and pass my best wishes to MrSandDune as I am sure he remains proud of our beloved Leeds United.

>141 richardderus: It obviously wasn’t obvious enough for me! Perhaps because Complaints about colour-blind casting are usually frequently tinged with racism, I’d honestly never considered it from another perspective.

>143 PaulCranswick: Well Mandelson has been arrested now as well, so we will see what transpires.

I’ve been very busy over the last few days writing my essay on Paradise Lost. In fact, I seem to have done very little except read things about Paradise Lost for weeks! Actually, that’s not strictly true. On Friday we met up for lunch with my sister at a pub just outside Cambridge. We had a great meal but it took us ages to get there because of traffic issues on the motorway. On Saturday we had friends around who we had not seen for a while - we were originally in the same ante natal group and when our children were little we met weekly, pretty much until the children went to secondary school. These days it’s more like every six months! And Sunday we had some packages to deliver to Jacob so we went over there, went to a bagel shop for lunch and then went out for a walk. It finally seems to have stopped raining and the last couple of days have been quite spring like, which has enticed even Smot out into the garden.

>145 SandDune: I've heard such great things about this book that I hope to read it this year. Great comments. Fingers crossed that spring is here.

>81 SandDune: Ah, I love the story behind the names. I am not familiar with Where's Spot but I love that you could use the Welsh version of Spot.

>131 SandDune: That one sounds interesting to me but then, I tend to like alternative history books. Thanks for the review, Rhian!

>145 SandDune: Dodging that BB as I have already read (and very much enjoyed!) that one. I am glad to see that you liked the book too.

My oldest two cats, Chalfont and Mallory, were kittens that we rescued from our garage, where their mother had deposited them and 2 littermates. They will not even begin to step outside our house now though! We have tried to let them outside to explore and they are just not having it!

A belated Happy Birthday to Jacob from me. I hope he is still board gaming!

>144 SandDune: Indeed he has, Rhian. The political shenanigans carry on seemingly unchecked as the Police leaking to Mandleson's lawyers that it was the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle who tipped them off that he had credible evidence that the Prince of Darkness is a potential flight risk, is simply scandalous.

The turbulent Gorton and Denton (or is it the other way round) is about to get announced and it could be a very poor night for my party. The Greens seem to have fielded an exceptional and quite striking candidate and though the result is not yet announced I think Hannah Spencer will win.

>146 BLBera: Definitely worth a read!

>147 alcottacre: I can’t remember if I said this, but I first encountered Where’s Spot in Italian, as back when I was an au pair in Italy a very long time ago the little girl that I looked after had a copy. I remember being very unimpressed by her bookshelf, apart from that one (and Jan Pieńkowski’s Haunted House which I had bought her myself for Christmas, so it always stuck in my memory.

>148 PaulCranswick: Well according to what I have read the Green result in Groton and Denton was the worst possible one for Labour. I really think they have to start doing something radically different.

I’m feeling a sense of achievement this evening as I’ve managed to submit my essay on Paradise Lost: 4000 words and it’s seemed to have taken forever! This year I just need to pass - the degree grade is all on the dissertation next year …

>147 alcottacre: Meant to say, Jacob is still very much board gaming! I don’t think his girlfriend would give him a lot of choice in that!

Well we think we’ve found a puppy! We had a video call this morning with a woman whose dog has just had a litter. We’ve decided on a fox red boy (they’re not really red, but redder than the golden Labrador colour) and we’ll go to pick one which out in three weeks time and then bring him home towards the end of April. I’m very excited about this!

This afternoon we went to see H is for Hawk at the cinema. I’ve read the book and it was a very good adaptation. Goshawks, (they’re not really hawk in question) are amazing creatures. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one. We’ve had sparrowhawks in our garden before now but they are much smaller.

>151 SandDune: That's so exciting! I'll be watching for puppy updates and pictures.

>145 SandDune: I have a copy of Raising Hare on my nightstand. Looking forward to it.

I don't really have feelings about the monarchy one way or another but it is infuriating to me that other places in the world are managing actual accountability in regard to the Epstein files. We're lost.

Puppy!!!! That’s great news. I can’t wait to meet him.

>152 AMQS: it is infuriating to me that other places in the world are managing actual accountability in regard to the Epstein files There’s been a lot of comment about that here …

>153 lauralkeet: I shall post some photos on my new thread. The owner is sending us daily updates!