Looking after the little ones whilst their parents spent the day at a TEDx event, 5-year-old Chloe was as usual the last to finish her meal. We asked her if she was always the last to finish her packed lunch at school, and she said yes but explained it as follows. She has packed lunch with two boys who she says don’t stop talking! So why, we asked, was she the last to finish if they were always talking, to which she replied that she was constantly having to answer their questions! Sadly, when the two boys finish their lunch they go off to play leaving Chloe to continue eating, on her own. Does she mind being on her own, we asked, to which she said no because the dinner ladies would talk to her. How wonderful it would be to listen in on these conversations, between the children and with the dinner ladies!
When the parents returned in the evening we were in the middle of watching Mary Poppins Returns. One of the TEDx talks had been on the subject of maths, and as a way of thanking us for looking after the two girls, I was given the speaker’s book – with a personal inscription. What a way to finish a lovely day!
Not many books and not a great range to choose from, though I can usually find one or two on my infrequent visits, but these are ridiculous prices for books at the Princess Alice Hospice charity shop in East Molesey.
Stasi Child is a crime / political thriller set in East Germany in the mid-seventies.
I’m not sure what to make of it. It comes across as a bit stilted, a bit clunky, and there are some far-fetched scenes. I’m reminded of the abridged adventure and war novels my dad used to get from a book club back in the early sixties. However it’s well plotted and I was involved enough to see it through to the slightly disappointing ending.
It comes across as a first novel, which it is, but maybe I’ve outgrown crime / thriller / adventure books….
I picked up this history of early American railway stations from the second-hand bookshop at Polesden Lacey. A mere £3 curiosity, with some interesting text, pictures and drawings, it also serves the purpose of tipping my annual total of books read to a new record, 84. But hey, it’s only a number, eh?
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