Friday's Fave Five - 6/2/26

Yes it's Friday again (how?) so time to look back on the blessings of the week and then link up at Living to Tell the Story with other like minded bloggers.  Susanne is the one who keeps us on our toes.  Thanks Susanne.

1)  A lazy weekend.  It was good to just be able to quietly relax at home with no commitments etc.

2)  I made it to my keep fit class on Tuesday despite waking up feeling really lazy and my back wasn't great.  Glad that I did because of course it helps with my back and I get to socialise with former work colleagues.

3)  A good book club session on Wednesday - this was with the afternoon group that meets at the local library.  There were only 4 of us but 2 were new members who both seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a good discussion on the book we'd read - The Power by Naomi Alderman.

4)  A Knit and Natter session on Wednesday evening.  I'm making good progress with the little bag for Ella.  I've done the main bag and cover.  I've started the strap so then it will just be the ears and horns to do.  Need to brush up on doing a magic loop for those.  It's a long time since I did any crochet apart from granny squares!

5) 

Happy birthday to our younger son.  He is such a great Dad to these two and he's settled well into life in the US - he even got a promotion in his job recently.  He probably gave us the most grief when they were growing up, particularly as a teen, but so proud of the man he is today.

And a bonus - I applied to renew my passport earlier this week - it was really easy to do online but they won't start on the process until they receive your old one which I posted off as instructed.  Well I heard today that they've already printed my new one and it will soon be on its way to me!

Have a good weekend all!  Wet and dreary here but I have more daffodils in the house and spring is coming!

Read then Write - 5/2/26

This is what I am currently reading:

This was gifted* to me at Christmas by my eldest son and his wife although I'm sure she will have been the one to pick it out.  I'm only a little way in but I'm already loving the writing.

It's been a bookish week.  On Sunday I decided to see which of the books on my TBR pile I could use for the 52Book Club Challenge.  I think I managed to pair about 14 books to the prompt list so I'll be reading those first.  

This is some of the TBR pile.  There are a few more in the house and then quite a selection in our garden room.  

The trouble is that now I'm part of two book clubs I'm reading books from the library so the TBR pile is not going down very fast (if at all - see above*) but I do enjoy reading.

We had a good meeting of the afternoon book club this week and we discussed The Power by Naomi Alderton which I reviewed here.  We all agreed that it was quite a clever book even though none of us really enjoyed it.  It turns out that none of us are big fans of dystopia. 

Hopefully our next read will be more fun:

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 4/2/26

It's Wednesday so that means it's time for the Hodgepodge which is hosted by From this Side of the Pond.  Thanks Joyce.

1. The Winter Olympics kick off on Friday, February 6th...on a scale of 1-10 how excited are you? (1= eh and 10=watching every event all day every day). What's your favourite Winter Olympic sporting event?

I'm probably a 5.  I know it's happening - BBC keep running ads for it - but I just had to google where it's happening lol.  (Milano Cortina) Thankfully there isn't a massive time difference (+ 1 hour) between here and where the games are being held which makes viewing easier, although with today's technology that isn't as much of a problem as it used to be.

I like watching the Ice Skating and we've often done well at Curling so that's one I might check out.  Ice Hockey isn't really my thing but I was just reading an article which suggests one of the rinks may not be completed by the start of the event plus:

"The rink in Milan, approved by the International Ice Hockey Federation, is shorter than the minimum requirement in the NHL, leading to suggestions there could be an increase in high-speed collisions. The quality of the ice has also been questioned.

The NHL said it was "pleased" with the test event at the arena in January, although that did not pass without incident. During the event there was a short delay while a small hole in the ice had to be repaired." (Taken from the BBC website.)

2. In other sporting news, the Superbowl (American football's championship game) will be played on Sunday, February 8th. So tell us...what's your superpower?

Oh gosh I wish I had one.  I guess I'm quite organised and logical and usually calm in a crisis but I really wish I could teleport.

3. Are you a romantic?

Not really (see above) but I do like to be surprised with flowers and reading romance books.  (In between the crime thrillers that are my favourite genre lol.)

4. Blue cheese-yay or nay? How about feta? If you said yes to one or both, what's a dish you like that calls for one of these?

NO AND NO! I do like plain cheese though - especially a really mature cheddar.

5. What's more important-doing what you love or loving what you do?

Ummm is this a trick question?  It seems not. (Thank you AI.)  In an ideal world we'd be doing what we love and following our passions.  Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world so I think it's more important to love what you do and find ways of getting the most out of what we're doing.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

One of the things I do is to keep our bird feeders topped up and today I'm loving watching the antics of the birds as they come and feed.  The parakeets are usually the first followed by the smaller birds but the pigeons hover on the ground waiting for anything that drops.  Until the squirrel appears.

Have a good day all.

In the News this Week - 3/2/26

Well I'm trying to keep my blogging up so I'm resurrecting this idea which I was doing 10 years ago!  The idea is to find stories under the headings of:

LOCAL

INTERNATIONAL

SPORT

ENTERTAINMENT and

MISCELLANEOUS

LOCALLY the big talk seems to be about the works that Thames Water are doing in our area.  This has led to various temporary traffic lights all over the place where the road is restricted to single file traffic.  There are also some roads that have been completely closed involving diversions.  These are often planned works - our Victorian infrastructure is gradually being updated but.....then add in works due to burst pipes here and we have chaos, particularly when some bus routes are on not one, but often 2 diversions.  It's produced some heated discussions on Facebook and there is no end to this in sight. Sigh!

One of the big INTERNATIONAL story that keeps rumbling on is all about the Jeffrey Epstein files and why no one is being prosecuted despite their clear associations with Epstein.  Prominent figures here in the UK are of course Andrew Mountbatten (the former Prince) and Peter Mandelson (former US Ambassador).   Although it seems clear that if any prosecution were to be brought against Andrew he would not be getting any support from the royal family.

In SPORT - well who knew that the production of cricket bats was such a complicated thing?  Not me for sure.  But the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) which seems to be the authority on all things cricket, will be amending Law 5.8, entitled "categories of bat" to allow bats that were previously illegal to be used.  As well as 72 other changes to the Laws.  And I thought it was just a game lol.  People do seem to take it very seriously though. 

One big ENTERTAINMENT event this week was of course The Grammys.  Obviously a star studded affair with all sorts of wonderful (?) outfits on display which you can read about here.  Many of the names were completely unknown to me including that of Olivia Dean (winner of the Best New Artist award) despite the fact that apparently she grew up in Highams Park where I live.

And for MISCELLANEOUS  I give you SKIPTON, apparently the happiest place to live in the UK.  Not in the news this week, the poll results were back in December but hey my blog, my rules.

As you can see I've stayed away from too much doom and gloom or anything contentious but I'm working my way back into this gradually.

And did you know that the BBC are about to air a four part dramatisation of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"?  There's an article about it here but personally having read the book I'll be giving it a miss.