Monday again

Well here I am back at my desk after 24 hours away. Not nearly long enough to have done any of the very urgent weeding or the house-cleaning or the laundry, or any other boring stuff only long enough to lounge about watching the X-Files then, at Auchindathin, Dirk Bogarde in 'Ill Met by Moonlight' a b&w film made in 1952 which was really rather good in a Boys Own Adventure sort of way. I can't go into the garden anyway because the pollen from neighbouring laburnum trees (very beautiful) is causing me to have a tough time breathing. Strange really. Other years the pollen has caused itchy eyes and sneezing, this year its causing wheezing. I prefer the former. We have had very little rain so nothing to keep the pollen down.
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Saturday evening was spent pleasantly with Kate eating risotto and working our way down a bottle of wine, my capacity impeded by a lunch-time glass in the local coffee bar whilst Tom used the internet here. (Memo to self - no wine in the middle of the day. I was fighting sleep for the remainder of the afternoon.) I believe our conversation strayed into the 'women without men' area as I reflected with pride upon my daughters who are coming to the conclusion that they like life on their own better than life lived joined at the hip with a man. Maybe in another 100 years this will be a common way to live, men and women having relationships, loving and intimate, but ones that don't include keeping house together. There is still this expectation which, as Chillsider has noted today, is expressed in the most modern Hollywood films like "Sex and the City.'
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I’m putting together a ‘local writer’s’ window in tune with the Nairn Book ‘n Arts Festival, none of which I will attend because nothing that’s on in the evenings interests me enough to persuade me to drag my ass over there after work. I suppose that’s ungrateful as at least they get it together to HAVE a festival whereas Forres doesn’t. If I were a) more community minded or b) had more energy at my disposal, I would do something about that.

The fear in presenting such a window display is that I will offend some folk (if they notice) by the absence of those I have left out. I have my reasons (she says darkly.) Anyway, it’s only a small window!

One person who is going to get pride of place is a nice woman called Clio Gray who actually buys my books. Now that puts her into a very special bracket and definitely worthy of my patronage. I do also think she is a superb writer, this opinion based on my one experience of her work, a book of short stories ‘Types of Everlasting Rest.’ The title alone is - arresting. She also writes crime novels which to my shame I haven’t yet read but I am about to buy one from Amazon and therefore will soon have rectified that omission.

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Plenty of Amazon orders today but one I am concerned about. It is for a book called ‘The Principles of Modern House Construction’ dated 1899. I created the listing for it myself I think and will certainly have added the date but it hasn’t appeared on the Amazon information page. So - is the chap hoping for ‘modern’ to mean modern? I have had to send him an email to check . My fear is he won’t see the email. So many people don’t reply when I ask them questions about dubious addresses that I wonder how they have come to order in the first place. It’s inconceivable to me that anyone can refrain from checking their mail frenetically every half hour or so as I do (when there is nothing better to do.)

And as I have nothing to do I've been playing around with the type face here. I prefer this one but it's so pale.... can't find ones that look like Chillside or Walled Garden - it must be something to do with the server. I can't change the type at all on Safari.