Often Slimming World meals can be nice enought but after a lot of faff. So much so that I would say that moree likely than not I would rather a little more fat in return for a little  it less faff.

This Christmas we have  been enjoying their new Festive Feasts book. Already we have enjoyed a delicious recipe of Mediterranean Sea  Bass on a bed of roasted red peppers and black olives. Tonight, for New Year’s Day we had seared duck breast with an orange sauce and a side of mashed parsnip. It was quick, it was easy, and super scrummy. And most importantly of all it was faf-free.

Watched the first episode in the new series of Sherlock which was predictably equal measures of Clever and the Incomprehensible (does Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock understand some of streams of dialogue to escape his lips?). I think my favourite moments were the text exchanges between John Watson (Martin Freeman) and the person whom I shall call ‘the girl onf the bus’. I don’t remember her haeing any spoken lines at all and would like to remember it as this being like this.

• Death Comes To Pemberley – P.D. James
• The Caravan Puppets – Michael Bond
• Polar Shift – Emily Mah
• The Hairy Bikers’ Big Book of Baking – Si King and Dave Myers
• The Girl With Glass Feet – Ali Shaw
• Unrest – Michelle Harrison
• Ragnarok: the end of the gods – A.S. Byatt
• The Moomins and the Great Flood – Tove Jansen
• Longshore Drift – Katrina Porteau
• Independent People – Halldór Laxness
• Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp – Philip Pullman
• Laurel for Libby – Vivienne Green
• Across The Sea – Emily Mah
• Someone Else’s Fairytale – E.M. Tippetts
• Grubson Pug’s Christmas Voyage – Jane-Anne Hodgson

Of this year’s books, which one’s stand out for recommendation and which one’s to be avoided? Michelle Harrison makes the recommendation list for the second year running with her newest book, Unrest, and Ali Shaw’s Girl With Glass Feet was an unexpected find. I read Halldór Laxness’ Independent People, spurred on by cousin’s recommendation when in Iceland. It’s a hard, and depressing read, but if you go to Iceland, I’d recommend it because then you will understand. Not listed here is Philip Hensher’s The Mulberry Empire which was good, but I only got half way through it as I wasn’t altogether into it.

2012 was also the year that I published my first book, The End Of All Worlds, and (preparing for that, and marketing it subsequently) took up a great deal of my time. As the year closes, so my sales hit a cool 100 (although thanks to free promotions, its been downloaded almost 3000 times) and that’s something to be remembered and celebrated.

emej and I also had a fantastic holiday this summer to Iceland. We went full circle round the country which is something that not even I (with my three previous visits) have done, and had a fantastic time seeing all my Icelandic family. I feel so close to them all. 🙂

What else stands out? Attending the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Garden Party on the banks of the Thames in Henley is surely something that will probably never be repeated, and going to see some of the Olympics is something else to be remembered.

I wonder what next year will bring?

Our words:

liatris

• a grey clay of Jurassic origin
• a plant of the daisy family
• the orignial name of one of the lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

deckle

• a ten-sided biscuit (18th century)
• to garland with tinsel or ribbons
• a belt in a paper-making machine

wheech

• sound made by an Asian owl
• to snatch or move something quickly (Scottish)
• a small brass shim used in clock-making

leporicide

• a killer of hares
• an old, seldom used word to describe people with leprosy who committed suicide
• rabbit poison

cervisial

• belonging to the deer family
• obsequious behaviour
• of or pertaining to beer

cheeselip

• a kind of footstool, padded with carved feet
• old word for a harelip
• common woodlouse

And our dinner…

After the endless rain that was yesterday afternoon and evening, this morning was bright, sunny, a little bit cold and crisp and utterly, utterly beautiful. So we had a good walk out on the forest before heading back home at lunchtime to where 7 cats were to found standing shamefaced around a spilt tub of (Arthur’s diet) food, and very full tummies.

This afternoon I have mostly been reading, and finishing, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. It’s brilliant. I love the simple concept of a baby, orphaned by an unknown killer, escaping into the graveyard to be brought up by the ghosts who ‘live’ inside. I’m really glad that we visited Highgate Cemetery last year, and slightly amazed that we had the same idea about the place as Neil Gaiman – that of these tombs on these streets, and how you can easily imagine the dead, once left alone by the living, coming out of their front doors and meeting and talking, discussing the people who had walked through that day. And here, in this book, Neil Gaiman has written about them.

• Artemis Fowl – Eeoin Coifer
• The Winter Ghosts – Kate Moss
• Four Quartets – T.S. Eliots
• Tender, Vol. 2 – Nigel Slater
• Time and Memory – Lesley Clare Walker
• A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness
• Thirteen Curses – Michelle Harrison
• Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book – Terry Jones
• The Crowfield Curse – Pat Walsh
• Thirteen Secrets – Michelle Harrison
• Ghost of a Chance – Rhiannon Lassiter
• The End of All Worlds – T E Shepherd
• Father Christmas: All About Me – John and Judith Atkinson
• The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

Books I would recommend? Michelle Harrison’s Thirteen Treasures trilogy and books to avoid, the dreadful Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness about vampires and witches in the academia and libraries of Oxford – I gave up on it because quite frankly I just didn’t care.

• Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger
• Enchanted Glass – Diana Wynne Jones
• A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
• Deep Secret – Diana Wynne Jones
• The Merlin Conspiracy – Diana Wynne Jones
• Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
• Four Hedges – Clare Leighton
• The Oxford Murders – Guillermo Martinez
• Living With a Black Dog – Matthew and Ainsley Johnson
• Ring of Bright Water – Gavin Maxwell

Of these, if I were to recommend any to you to read, Four Hedges would stand out brightly as a must. It’s a beautiful book; in its production, in the gorgeous woodcut illustrations, and its writing. Read it, now. Also of note would be Her Fearful Symmetry, the follow up to the amazing Time Traveller’s Wife, and Deep Secret, now shockingly out of print.

If I were to pick one to recommend not to read, it would be Twilight. In truth, I read it as an exercise in trying out my new Kindle and were it not for that I would not have read it. It is lamatable. If I had not known there were vampires in it I would have given up on it much sooner as for a ‘fantasy’ nothing fantastical really happens until you’re 60% of the way through it?!? Its nothing more than a, not terribly well written high school romance. That is all.

I’m currently reading Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, after which I may read Nigel Slater’s Toast (and maybe on my Kindle)…

• A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
• Smoke and Mirrors – Neil Gaiman
• The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
• 13 Treasures – Michelle Harrison
• Jackdaw Summer – David Almond
• Four Quarters – T.S. Eliot
• Monty Halls’ Great Escape: Beachcomber Cottage – Monty Halls
• The Seance – John Harwood
• The Crossing of Ingo – Helen Dunmore
• The Ghostwriter – John Harwood
• Fleshmarket – Nicola Morgan
• Notes From An Exhibition – Patrick Gale
• The Glassblower of Murano – Marina Forata
• 44 Scotland Street – Alexander McCall Smith

So that’s 14 then – one less than last year. That said, it’s been one of heck of a year of getting married and getting a new job for which I’ve been driving to work instead of bussing it and talking to people at lunchtime instead of reading…

• Voices – Ursula LeGuin
• The Children of Green Knowe – Lucy Boston
• Northern Lights – Philip Pullman (a re-read 12 years on…)
• The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
• Once Upon a Time in the North – Philip Pullman
• The White Darkness – Geraldine McCaughran
• The Deep – Helen Dunmore
• Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day – Winifred Watson
• House of Many Ways – Diana Wynne Jones
• Grass For His Pillow – Lian Hearn
• The Chimneys of Green Knowe – Lucy Boston
• The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
• Alis – Naomi Rich
• Ivy – Julie Hearn
• The Tales of Beedle and Bard – J K Rowling

So that’s 15 then – just one more than last year. That said, it’s been one of heck of a year of moving house and decorating and the like, its no wonder I’ve had other pressures on my time. A look down the list too, and you might notice a predominance of children’s/young adult/crossover titles. 🙂

We then visit Emma’s Aunty Heather (Grannie’s sister) who is on the eve of the eve of the eve of her eightieth birthday (or something like that). She lives in a modern three bedroom house on the edge of Buckingham with a nice garden, and would be the kind of place that would be ideal for us. One day…

Then its home – only 10 miles and a little over 10 minutes – and just time for me to cook an early dinner of roasted squashes stuffed with sun dried tomatoes from the Jamie Oliver book. Another nice meal. All too soon, Emma has to leave, and I am left to dismantle the Christmas tree and take down the cards. I find myself feeling a little sad, but also optimistic. This has probably (definitely?) been the last Christmas tree that I have in this house – the last Christmas indeed. By this time next year, hopefully Emma and I will be living together and that is going to mean a new home for both of us – our home. It’s an end of an era, and that’s got to be something worth pausing to reflect with nostalgia on, but at the same time it’s a moment to look forward to things. Things aren’t going to be the same again. Things are going to be different.

We actually walk a very long way. I don’t realise it at the time but I end up with a blister on the side of one of my little toes that is as big as the toe itself. Ouch!

London Orbs
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 10.00pm GMT PST.

Angel Gabriel
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 10.13pm GMT PST.

Buck House
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 10.16pm GMT PST.

From Buckingham Palace we walk down Birdcage Walk, but do not get as far as Parliament Square as, by half past ten, it, along with the embankment and bridges that follow it are full already. We turnabout and head back to Buckingham Palace, reassured by a sign that says that if you can see the London Eye then you will see the fireworks…

The Eye
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 9.52pm GMT PST.

Explosive
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 9.55pm GMT PST.

And what a display! Simply awesome! And it was kind of a romantic environment to ask the question. Between rain showers with hoods pulled tight over our heads I gave a ring to Emma and asked her if she would marry me. At first she clutched me tight – tighter than she’s ever clutched me – and cried, and said yes.

Happy Couple
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 10.03pm GMT PST.

The Ring
Originally uploaded by shepline on 1 Jan ’08, 9.50pm GMT PST.

Edit: Apparently my Dad guessed that I might have been going to do such a thing, or at least he wouldn’t be surprised if I did. Everyone is very happy!

Tonight I am going to cook a mushroom risotto from Jamie’s Italy – another one of my Christmas presents, and then settle back to read a bit more and I think watch a suitably entertaining, mindless film of some sort

Whilst at the pool today, starting the new year as I mean to go on (and how blissfully quiet it was there too!), I came across the posters for this year’s Swimathon, and I’m tempted to have a go, give me something to work towards, do me some good, and maybe, just maybe, raise some money for charity. When I was swimming lots last year I got up to 40 lengths of the pool, and I’m getting back to that now (today I did 30 but I think I should be able to get back to 40 pretty soon). So here’s a wee poll for you…

• Swimming, at least once a week
• Half an hours brisk walking every day

Other than that I shall continue to be as kind and caring as I try to always be, and be generally a *nice* person. However, I am not going to allow the views of unreasonable, unfriendly, or in any other ways distrustful people (that I have met in the past), or similar to dictate whether or not I do something that I want to do.

• I shall listen to those good friends that I have and do what I want to do.

• Swimming, at least once a week
• Half an hours brisk walking every day

Other than that I shall continue to be as kind and caring as I try to always be, and be generally a *nice* person. However, I am not going to allow the views of unreasonable, unfriendly, or in any other ways distrustful people (that I have met in the past), or similar to dictate whether or not I do something that I want to do.

• I shall listen to those good friends that I have and do what I want to do.

…does it feel any different? No. Just like before. It’s just the same. Sat down in front of the fire last night with my folks and a plethora of cats and dogs around the room, and watched A Passage to India to keep us awake till New Year – ’tis a good film, a classic of its time indeed, but of its time. I’m wondering whether it perhaps needs to be remade for the modern era…? Hmnn, maybe I shall look into giving the book a read soon… now, where’s my reading list?

Switched over to BBC1 to catch the bongs of Big Ben – had to turn the sound down on Liberty X for a bit – but after they had exited stage left, the next 15 minutes or so was kind of goodly edited together to see the new year in. And then it was just time for a few *first footing ‘fone calls*, before bed.

…does it feel any different? No. Just like before. It’s just the same. Sat down in front of the fire last night with my folks and a plethora of cats and dogs around the room, and watched A Passage to India to keep us awake till New Year – ’tis a good film, a classic of its time indeed, but of its time. I’m wondering whether it perhaps needs to be remade for the modern era…? Hmnn, maybe I shall look into giving the book a read soon… now, where’s my reading list?

Switched over to BBC1 to catch the bongs of Big Ben – had to turn the sound down on Liberty X for a bit – but after they had exited stage left, the next 15 minutes or so was kind of goodly edited together to see the new year in. And then it was just time for a few *first footing ‘fone calls*, before bed.