Stuff

I got bored of the whole book thing. I still have a book on the go at all times, I'll never stop reading but writing about books is a struggle for me. By the time I sit down with time on my hands I've read a couple more books and the details of the one I want to write about are hazy at best. I thought about deleting this blog but on reflection decided to use it for what ever I feel like writing about (which may well include books at some point). I expect a lot of it will feature my addiction to following the England test cricket team, hence the title.

It's a shame I didn't start this a couple of years ago as since losing away in the West Indies our test team has remained undefeated in a series and are now rightly acclaimed the No.1 Test team in the world! Not only that, we didn't lose one single test match during 2011. This, after decades of, at best, inconsistency and utter crap at worst. We are also the world champions at T20 however our current ODI performances are best described by the previous sentence. It's a great time to be an English cricket fan! However, the winter tours in the new year will not be easy and I'm looking forward to them already. Following that I have tickets to watch England vs West Indies at Trent Bridge in May and I'm at the Oval in July to watch England play South Africa.

What else am I interested in? Beer, wine & food are the first three things to enter my head. My favourite Suffolk brewery and their bitter certainly hits the spot as does the 'Light house' beer from a bottle. I'm no expert on this stuff but I do know a good pint when I drink one. Likewise with Wine. I haven't a clue what makes an expert purr but I am partial to a drop of Red and I know what I like. The Blossom Hill signature Italian for example, three bottles for a tenner in Asda at the moment. Co-op always do good wine and I try not to spend much more than a fiver on a bottle, Lime Tree Cab Sav is a good one. With beer I usually get too bloated to get drunk but with wine I occasionally manage to get myself slaughtered without realising I'm doing it. Often with calamitous results. I pretty much like all food and luckily there's a great Pub/restaurant just five minutes walk away. My favourite is seafood an the 'Captains catch' at the Needham Lion is delicious. This is a much more economical option that flying to Spain for the Tapas but I love that too.

Another thing is music and Friday night saw me and a group of nearest and dearest descend on Saffend to see “Fat boy Slim” play. I think this is the first show I've been to where the headliner has been a DJ and a bloody good experience it was too. Cracking trippy light show and effects with a big banging sound. I danced till my feet ached then went to bed at 0415. At 0645 I got up for work.... Best gig of the year was “The Eels” at the Latitude festival, which incidently is a brilliant chilled out, laid back festival and I have my tickets booked for next year already.

Following on the musical theme, we are no longer allowed to have a radio at work. This isn't down to over zealous bosses but in fact down to some royalties group/musical union or something like that. Apparently we need to pay several hundred pounds for a broadcasting license. What a load of complete bollocks! As we are no longer listening to music all day we will find it much harder to hear 'new' music so are therefore less likely to buy any CDs and the musicians will make less money out of royalties!!! However, on the plus side I'm not being driven insane by those hideous, cheesy, crappy Christmas songs that blight the airwaves at this time of year. I like Noddy Holder but I bloody know it's Christmas, and Roy fucking Wood I'm glad it's not Xmas every day other wise I'd have to listen to your crap all the time.

Finally books. The last really good book I read was a Colin Dexter 'Morse' detective thingy. It was pretty good but I can't remember the title, something to do with a Jewel. I also like the Rebus books by Ian Rankin and have read a few of those recently. Nearly forgot...”On Chesil Beach” by Ian McEwan. Really interesting read, completely different to the other books I've read by the same author and gripping till the end. Really liked that one.

Here are the last two reviews I wrote before I forgot about this blog.

The Museum's Secret by Henry Chancellor

The museums secret is strictly speaking, a children's book but it came recommended and for personal reasons I decided to do just that. It began in intriguing fashion with the prologue but when the story began in earnest I found it a bit laboured.

Through the beginning of the book I was struggling. I didn't find the characters at all convincing and the plot did not suspend my disbelief. However the longer the book went on the better it got and the more I enjoyed it.

As I read further the pieces of the literary jigsaw began to fall into place, not entirely to my satisfaction but enough to hold my attention. It would be possible to pick certain parts of it to pieces but what the hell? I was enjoying it! For me the ending was a bit of a rush but all the loose ends were tied up.

It's inevitable that all books of this type will be compared to the Harry Potter series and this one is not in that league. However all in all it's a good read kids and younger teenagers.

Worth reading

The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell

This came recommended just when I'd run out of reading and came at a good time as it's quite a while since I've read a 'Crime Novel'. This one is a little different as the real star of the show is Nigel Barnes, not a detective of crime but one who researches and finds peoples ancestry. When a series of murders are linked to history, Nigel is called in to trace the past.

A nice book, well written and easy to read. Not a 'who dunnit?' more a 'who is he?'. I flew through the pages during breaks at work but it wasn't a book that had me searching for it in the evening. It's highly entertaining but not riveting.

Enjoyed but give me a P.D. James