Author:  Michael Scott
ISBN:       0722177755 / 9780722177754 

I started reading this book on the flight to Australia a few months ago, and finally finished it last weekend, having read it piecemeal. 

The book tells the tale of Paedur, who has risen to the status of legend, through the ages and his work to restore the “Old Faith” against an incomer which has grown in size rapidly.   Mannam, the Lord of the Dead, assigns Paedur the task of keeping the Old Faith alive through his work as a bard, telling the myths and expanding the knowledge of the old gods.   As they are want to do, the gods assign Paedur a further task … a dangerous undertaking.

The author borrows from the myths of a few cultures, though the Irish seems most apparent, and creates his own world, peoples, cultures, myths, legends and religions.  On reading the pantheon at the front of the book, the reader might feel overwhelmed, but as the tales unfold the names slip easily into place.  

The book was written such that, although I picked it up and put it down often, the characters and the tale stuck in my mind.   The action builds relatively quickly and there are several peaks, arriving at the last sequence with relative ease.   You can feel yourself drift into the action and these other worlds.   There was only one small quibble and that was my imagination was stifled (a smidge) by some overly descriptive passages, especially in the last few sequences, when it made the story feel a little stilted instead of racing (on a smooth track) to the end.   I suspect, however, this won’t bother most readers.

I hope to read the sequels, “Demon’s Law” and “Death’s Law” before the end of the year, that is if I can obtain them through one of the book swapping sites.

Rating:  4/5.

As I drove home the other night, I turned onto an “A” road and was stopped by some police man.

The young officer asked me if I had been drinking?  I had to giggle, which struck him odd, as I said I had just come from work, where I would not be able to drink and that I am, in fact, a non-drinker, whose last drop was over two months ago and in another country, i.e. hot summer’s day in Oz where cold lager is necessary to quench the heat.

He informed me it was a new initiative to random breath check drivers over the Christmas period.  I said I thought it was a good idea that had been very successful for decades back in my town of origin in Australia.   I wished him well and he let me pass.

At no stage did he actually breathalise me.   Oh well, he must have trusted me.   Even so, it would have been a waste of time as, indeed, my last drink was at my sister’s place in Australia.

I do hope that the police continue to use random breath tests over the festive period, as it does save lives and it’s one of my hates: drivers who drink and drive, along with those who use mobile phones while in motion.  To my mind, they are murderers.

I heard loud bangs as I sat at my desk last night, but I wasn’t scared because I recognised the sound as that of fireworks. I looked out my windows, but could see nothing, so I proceeded to stroll around the office and quickly found the display bursting over the rooftops of the buildling behind us.

I raced to get my camera, but I only had my Samsung L830 that I keep in my purse. Even so, I switched off the flash and proceeded to click away. I think I needed a shorter exposure, but I didn’t have time to fiddle about.

I really should be processing the wedding photographs, but, well, this is something a little different. Anyway, through a bit of post-editing, I have managed to salvage a few pictures tonight that look interesting and this is one of the best, so I’m posting it here.

This is an unusual entry, but one I feel obliged to write.  

If you are the driver of a Black cab, licence number 46050, please get in contact with me via this blog.   I witnessed the incident on Friday, 13th November 2009, just after 5 p.m., wherein a large, white transit van ran you off the road near the police box at the Beavis Marks exit on the Aldgate one-way system.  Not only did I witness him run you off the road, but I can attest to his erratic and dangerous driving along Commercial Road and through the first section of Aldgate where he barely escaped causing another accident.  

Anyway, if you want to report the incident to the police, or you need details for your insurance, I have the registration details of said white van man’s vehicle.

Storms raged across the UK over the weekend, but things weren’t so bad in my area.   Of course, I had to leave a bucket on the sofa as the water came in through the beams; one inch of water and the roof in the bathroom continued to let enough rain in to make patterns on my wall, even though my landlady insists they have repaired that roof.

Despite the thunder, and other assorted bangs and clangs as the wind caused drafts to rip through my accommodations, I did catch up on my sleep this weekend.   I didn’t oversleep and miss appointments, but, today, I do feel rather well rested.  My cough still lingers, but I feel much better.

One odd thing has occurred over the last few weeks and that is the reappearance of people from my past; people I’d rather forget.   There are some people who really do just get buried in the back of your mind, and any memory of them slips away into obscurity and you never miss them.   The popularity of social networking sites has given these people a chance to resurface and start niggling in the recesses of your brain.   Even acquaintences, for whom I never had time before, are suddenly wanting to “friend” me and, of course, I ignore them but I am wary as I am not sure if these social networking sites send messages and, if so, what.   Actually, I hope message says “X says they don’t know you; never did; and never want to, so your friend request, and you have been rejected .” … then they might leave me alone.

The past is the past and I’d rather leave it there.

I have mentioned several times before how I enjoy listening to Sa Dingding’s album, “Alive“, indeed I have posted two blogs on the subject.  The album is on my iPod and I listen to it regularly, as I do other albums.  I am always looking for new music, however.

So, when I have to endure hours and hours stuck in an aeroplane at 40,000 feet, I tend to check out their music rather than movies: the films are often awful and I prefer to watch the flight path information screen, if anything.   So, I set about reading Singapore Airline’s  Krisworld entertainment listings.    I scrolled through listing after listing and what did I find under World Music?   Yes, you guessed it!   Sa Dingding’s “Alive” album.  

Although I didn’t listen to it immediately, I did put the album on when I wanted to snooze and needed something soothing to drown out the engine noise.

I did find another album, which I subsequently purchased, and that was Seth Lakeman’s “Poor Man’s Heaven“.  I didn’t quite “get it” on the first listen; I wasn’t sure what to think.   I went back to it later in the flight and was able to give it my full attention (I think I was too tired the first time around) and found myself tapping my feet, much to the chagrin of my fellow passengers. 

I did notice that the reviews of “Poor Man’s Heaven” at Amazon were mixed indeed, some long-time fans seeming to feel it was a bit monotone in comparison to his other albums.   Well, if this is Seth Lakeman’s worst effort, I will be making sure I listen to his other work, as I imagine I am in for a real treat!

This has been accredited to the London Times, but has done the rounds of the internet for some time.   Still worthing thinking about though.

“Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of Common Sense who has been with us for many years.  No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn’t always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge.)

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.  Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.  Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home for fear the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a bit in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 step brothers:

I Know My Rights;
I Want It Now;
Someone Else Is To Blame; and
I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.”

I must admit to having serious problems with my mobile phone before I left on my trip to Australia.   These were exacerbated by the SIM card dying on my last day in Australia, as I wanted to book my taxi from the airport to home.

I arrived back in the country on the Saturday, and by Sunday I was at my local O2 store trying to retrieve the data stored on my SIM to no avail.  The end result of over an hour’s consultation was the purchase of an iPhone.  I have to admit that my poor little mobile internet connection was unable to download the manual for said iPhone, so I had to work intuitively.

After a lot of hassle retrieving my message from Gmail, I was on my way.   I must admit to having a feeling of smugness whenever I use my iPod, which is frequently.   No more changing CDs, opening and closing storage boxes trying to find a particular song, being able to listen to podcasts, no “jumps” or pauses in the music whilst running or driving, etc. has made listening to music a joy.   Well, the iPhone picks up where my iPod leaves off.   It has applications which act like little assistants with various things, even helping me with my Gaelic language work, weather, tv guides, wildlife identification and moon phases.   I particularly like being able to assign any song from my iTunes library as a ringtone to my contacts.    Everyone now has their own theme tune.   Now, I feel really smug.

Okay, so some might view having an iPhone as a luxury, but I have no landline, so all my communication bills are generated by my mobile internet and iPhone, which means I pay much less than a lot of other people.

There is only one downside to my iPhone and that’s the loss of my previous mobile number.   Despite O2 promising me a PAK number so I could transfer my number of 13 years, the postal strikes and the delay in delivery 30 million letters (which must have included all of my post from the last two months), means I lost the opportunity to keep my old, and easy to remember, mobile number.  

Ah well, I’m off to look for more apps to install. 

Oh wait: there is another downside, the camera.    It’s lucky I carry a small digital camera in my handbag at all times, because the camera provided on the iPhone is rather pathetic.   I guess we can’t have everything after all.

For those that may have wondered what I look like, here is a picture of me. Okay, it is a silhouette done when I was a child. I don’t remember these being done (there were two), but I do remember my mother owning them.

Whilst in Oz, on this last trip, I retrieved both of them and have scanned them. The scan quality is not very good, but as it is a silhouette, I don’t think it’s too bad.

So, this is me – many, many years ago.

Sorry to those folks that read this blog as I have been absent from these pages this past month.

Some of you will be aware that I was in Australia to attend my brother’s surprise wedding.   Well, it wasn’t a surprise to me, or I wouldn’t have been there.   As it happens, he asked me to do the photographs and I am frantically trying to edit those in order to post them to everyone.  

Unfortunately, I sustained injuries while in Australia visiting my grandmother and was unable to type anything for some time.  Upon returning to the UK, I fell ill and so haven’t had the werewithall to think or post on anything.  I am just now starting to recover and I hope, next week, to have some time to spend writing on these pages.

Until then, dear reader: keep well.