RANDOM JOTTINGS


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Quiet day today, still recovering from my weekend of driving.  May be full of eagerness and vim and vigour but tempus fugit and all that and I have to realise not as young as I was, sad to say.  Drove family home from Suffolk to London on Sunday afternoon and while I normally buzz backwards and forwards up the A12 with nary a thought, this time I had my family with me and I found this responsibility a bit scary and subsequently was tense throughout the drive.  No probs of course and arrived safely and after a cup of tea, back into the car and back to Colchester from London.   By the time I parked outside my flat I was welded to my seat and my back, already a bit dodgy from painting efforts earlier in the week, was locked and I staggered indoors looking like Quasimodo. 

But no matter – no need to get up for work so I had an early night (after watching the Wallander I had recorded the night before on my new box of tricks) and slept solidly until nearly 9 am the next morning and spent most of the day padding around in housecoat, slurping tea and sleeping.  Felt like a wrung out
Ex dishtowel and was glad to take it easy.  

While I was doing this taking it easy I looked at my living room walls and realised that the Duck Egg Blue which I had decided upon for the walls was really a bit dark and I immediately threw a wobbly wondering just when I would find the right shade.  Walls currently looking like a patchwork quilt with squares of colours all over the place.  So off to Sainsburys Homebase again and found a Light Duck Egg blue so another tester pot (anybody any ideas for using up unwanted tester pots? I have dozens) came home, sloshed it on the wall and OH YES perfect.  Phew that's a relief.   Think I will leave the painting till next week, have a busy few days coming up, including a trip to London for Florence sitting on Thursday and back Friday.  I still have to overcome this feeling that I have to do things NOW and keep forgetting that my time is my own and that I can pace myself.

Interested in all the responses to my post on Wallander yesterday – nipped to library this morning and found another two on the shelves (am determined NOT to go out and buy entire set of titles when library is handy) and will be making cup of tea in mo and getting stuck in.

Before I do that, please take a look at this interesting article in the Mail on Sunday.  It is written by Daisy Goodwin and tells of the research undertaken in the writing of her super new book My Last Duchess (click on title to see my review of last month) which has just been published. A  great read and for those of you who have read The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett or any of Edith Wharton's novels dealing with dynastic marriages, then you will find it an absorbing and delightful book.  Looking forward to her second novel already.

Right, have just put rubbish out for tomorrow, tidied up living room, washed up dishes and  am now aglow with virtue so off to sofa with Wallander.

Au reservoir everyone.

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5 responses to “Shattered of Colchester”

  1. Debbi Avatar

    Dear Elaine,
    AND, I want to thank you for the information that the new edition from Persephone had been edited, although I am certain that I wouldn’t see a problem . . . If an option is available, I’m kind of a purist when a book is concerned. I will certainly tell you all about it when it arrives. It was shipped today. I can’t wait! Thank you! Thank you for your wonderful advice!

  2. Liz F Avatar
    Liz F

    I used up several tester pots painting the rooms of my younger daughter’s dolls house which we had acquired from a charity shop and was a bit tired looking. She got a distinctive house and saved her money to buy furniture.
    Part way through the Persephone version of The Shuttle and really enjoying it but I hadn’t realised that it isn’t the full novel which is a bit disappointing!

  3. Elaine Simpson-Long Avatar

    Debbi – I have this edition too – does it have a lovely paper picture on the front? Persephone reissued this book a year or so ago but it has been edited won and is not the full text, your edition and mine, has it all. Please do let me know what you think about it – perhaps send me an email offblog. I am simply dying to know!
    Margaret – yes have made the final decision but am going to leave it for a few days before I start the painting. Will be doing the woodwork first as well.
    do let me know whatyou think of The Last Duchess – I enjoyed it hugely

  4. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    First of all, I somehow missed your post yesterday – I possibly looked in before it was up (if that makes sense), so will read about Wallander in a moment or two. Next, glad you are home safe and sound from your perigrinations. Next, glad you have managed to find a colour you like for your sitting room. John Fowler, whom Debo (the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire) called the Prince of Decorators, would paint a wall time and again before he managed to get the colour he wanted (OK, too tiring and too expensive!)Next, joy oh joy, The Last Duchess arrived yesterday just as I finished a book, so my TBR pile remains intact and I shall start reading this tonight.

  5. Debbi Avatar

    You have been a very good girl! Now go enjoy your rest. In the meantime, I want to tell you that on your say so, I have just managed to find a 1907 copy of The Shuttle on Amazon (US)! I reread A Little Princess just yesterday, and was very excited to have another of Francis Hodgson Burnett’s works brought to mind today. I tried to purchase My Last Duchess, but it isn’t available in the US yet . . . sigh . . . I hope I remember to pick it up when it is. You, and Daisy Goodwin have convinced me that these will be my new reads as soon as I can get my hands on them! As always, thank you for the suggestions!
    PS I am so excited about purchasing the 1907 edition!

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