Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Back in the Scottish Highlands with Hamish Macbeth this week. This time on a fishing holiday with a group of people, all with a skeleton in the cupboard and another who is an outrageous gossip.
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Just finished this… Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games.
Brutal. Horrifying. Addictive.
Saturday night was spent searching through The Cheeky Book again, which meant that Sunday morning saw us climbing Sussex’s very own mountain, Mount Caburn- old Iron Age territory – near Lewes in East Sussex.
Starting at Lewes Golf Club we crossed fields and valleys before the ascent up Caburn, where according to local legend a Giant by the name of Gil is said to have walked the slopes, hurling his hammer from the summit. Happily fellow walkers we met on the climb were a lot more sociable!
This was followed by the descent into Glynde village for a packed lunch and flask of tea stop. We then began the climb up and back towards Lewes.
The skylarks flew above in clear blue skies, the air was crisp and cold and all was good with the world on the seven mile round trip.
Another walk today from the Cheeky Walks in Brighton and Sussex book- this time across rolling downland around Woodingdean, ‘crossing the abandoned ghost village of Balsdean, evacuated and destroyed by Canadian artillery training practice during World War Two’.
Abandoned farm buildings, sheep and the Amex Stadium (home of Brighton and Hove Albion FC) made up the landscape. It was a grey November day, but a good trek across the chalk land all the same. According to the book you needed to walk it to the sound track of Brighton musical duo Grasscut’s album 1 inch/ 1/2 mile- apparently a ‘musical romp through the Sussex landscape’. Incidentally Grasscut also designed the route.
Daughters of War by Dinah Jefferies
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Daughters of War is the story of a small village in the Dordogne area of world war two German occupied France in the second world war, told through the perspective of three sisters. The struggles to survive when the Germans took everything, the terror and horror of their treatment at Germans hands and the bravery of the Resistance fighters. and woven into this backdrop a family secret that devastates all three sisters.
Told simply but with clarity- Dinah Jeffries at her best.
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Directed by Pablo Larraín. With Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry.
The Christmas holidays with the Royal Family at their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England. The Christmas when Diana Spencer, struggling with mental health problems, decides to end her decade-long marriage to Prince Charles.
“A fable based on a true story”. The opening statement perfectly sums up this film- as does the closing reply by the princess, when the Kentucky Fried Chicken worker asks her name: “Spencer”.
Not about the Royal Family, nor is it an account of Diana’s life. It’s a film about traditions and the Sandringham staff.
I’m a relative late comer to the beautiful game, although my dad was a life long Southampton supporter. I love a feel good football story and Robbie Savage and local businessman Rob Smethurst created a great one when Rob brought Macclesfield FC and with Robbie put the club back on the football league map.
Macclesfield FC currently sit top of the North West Counties Football League Premier Division.
This BBC drama is set in Scotland. The mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler and a death onboard a Trident nuclear submarine bring the police into conflict with the Navy and British security services.
Absorbing, gripping, explosive. BBC drama at it’s best!
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love those clever meddling OAP sleuths from the retirement village-authoritative Elizabeth (and ex MI5 officer), gentle Ibrahim, calm and measured Joy and rough diamond Ron are off solving another murder mystery. You can hear Richard Osman’s voice loud and clear in this clever, hilarious second Thursday Murder Club novel.
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‘Oh Sussex, Sussex by the Sea!
Good old Sussex by the Sea!
You may tell them all we stand or fall,
For Sussex by the Sea.’
The Brighton/ Newcastle game at home at the Amex Stadium, was my first Premier League football game and I was filled with both a sense of county pride and being a part of something, as fans sang a rousing rendition of Sussex by the Sea, Brighton’s Anthem, prior to kick off.
Whenever it’s played, Sussex by the Sea binds Seagulls fans everywhere into more than a century of pride in Albion and Sussex history.
We didn’t win against Newcastle, it was a draw, but whatever the score, nothing will take away the excitement at being at a Premier League match, with all the accompanying atmosphere and excitement of the moment.
I need to be back doing this…!
This evening I took a trip to Cucuruzzu the enchanted forest, with Eli the moon elf and her best friend Luna. They were on a mission to find the Hallowshine dragon. On the way they met a fairy, a unicorn and an underwater witch and eventually the dragon, who turned out to be very different from what his reputation suggested.
A lovely fantasy fiction picture book to fire the imagination of all ages.
Comedy written by and starring Greg Davies.
After CSI have done their stuff, the cleaner mops up the grisly remains.
This was good…! Looking forward to a second series.
Death of a Cad by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A military Captain, a London playwright and the Scottish landed gentry. Murder in the Scottish Highlands with Hamish Macbeth to the rescue. kept me thoroughly amused for a couple of rainy evenings.
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Milly Space 