Bookcases installed
and filled! Downstairs there are three
full Liatorps and a half Liatorp, plus a corner Hemnes. I've spent most of my
spare time recategorising and moving things about to get the right balance between
similarity, aesthetics and practicality (different shelf heights). Life at the
moment revolves around children's parties; I haven't managed a run since the
Great South in October, and I have a half-marathon in a few weeks. In the week
we have a new pick-up routine which seems to be working; I head down to nursery
to pick up Libby first. Normally this is walking, but I had Fred's scooter last
week and almost killed myself and several bystanders by scooting far too fast
down White Rose Lane and attempting to stop by jumping off. What an idiot.
After picking up Lib, who is so chatty at the moment and has new words all the
time, mostly related to food, violence or the assertion of possession, we take
the buggy up the hill, singing 'Wheels on the Bus' on the way. Lib does the
'Gangnam Style' horsey ride dance when I sing 'The Freddies on the bus go
'Gangnam Style!''. Then we pick up Fred from Gemma's, which always turns into
an event with their wonderful whirling sofa that spins round. Luke and Fred seem
to get on so well. They had a playdate on Sunday and then a party; Freddie
seems to be turning into a real little boy, with a little gang running round causing chaos.
Freddie's favourite
game at the moment is 'wrap and sandwich' which involved him and Lib pretending
to be cheese and salami and getting wrapped up in a blanket and then lying on
top of a pillow, having another pillow put on top, then Libby, then another pillow.
I've been writing a joke for him every day too to encourage his reading. A
Sample is 'What flies and wobbles? A Jellycopter!'
After pick up from
Gemma's we have a scooter race back through the town centre. Normally this
involves stopping at the ice cream parlour, Starbuck's, the Library, the cookie
shop or similar. He's getting really quick now, I have to really run to keep
up. He's been out on his bike a few times too with me holding the handle.
I struggled with the
history of the Thirty Years War, 800 pages of battles and politicking. At the
end of it I couldn’t tell you the first thing about that messy period. Miss
Smilla was the book that kickstarted the Nordic noir genre in the UK. It seems very
familiar now with the dark brooding atmosphere, but must have seemed very new
at the time. The early part on the book is set in Copenhagen, and after The
Killing and Borgen it eas like reading about an old friend. When the action
switched to a ship and then later Greenland I got disoriented; outside the
comfort zone. . .
