Oops

It seems that Whoever is in charge of The Weather nowadays got tired of the complaints about climate change, and decided to throw down some snow today, instead of rain. (Not sure it helps the situation much. It's only frozen water, after all!)

Read in January 2020

The Royal Baths Murder
#4 in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series
by J.R. Ellis (2019)
Kindle + Audible (9:46 h)
Audio narration by Michael Page

A writer of crime novels is found murdered at the Victorian baths in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate. The murderer, whoever it was, seems to have mysteriously vanished into thin air - and on top of all, it all took place during a crime writing festival! Another challenge for DCI Jim Oldroyd and his team... 

This is the fourth (and so far the last) in the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries series, which I happened to come across back in the autumn. I read the first two in October, the third in November, and this last one in January. I'd say you probably don't necessarily have to read them in the right order, as the individual mysteries in each book really come before the private lives of the detectives in this series. Myself, I bought the first one at cheap special deal price; and then decided to get the others as well as they weren't too pricey either. They also all came with a cheap deal on the audio version if you bought the Kindle as well. I like being able to switch between text and audio - and when dialects are involved (in this case Yorkshire), it's extra nice to get some "audio support" for the right atmosphere. 

The Vanishing Box
# 4 in the Stephens & Mephisto series (set in Brighton)
by Elly Griffiths
(Kindle)

I love another mystery series by Elly Griffiths, which is set in Norfolk and with the forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway as lead character.  However, until now I had not read any book in this  series, which is set in Brighton in the 1950s, and in the world of variety shows and stage magic. When I happened to find this one at special deal price for Kindle, I decided to give it a go, even if it's the 4th in the series and I hadn't read the previous ones. 

"Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked 'living statues'. This might appear to have nothing in common with DI Edgar Stephens' current case of the death of a quiet flowerseller, but if there's one thing the old comrades have learned it's that, in Brighton, the line between art and life - and death - is all too easily blurred..."

Much as I suspected beforehand, the showbiz setting and characters did not appeal to me the same way that the Ruth Galloway series does. For some reason I've never really been a huge fan of variety shows and stage magic - whereas I always had a certain fascination for archaeology and history. That said, I have to admire the author for her ability to switch between the two different (sub-)genres.

Have A Seat - Sepia Saturday 508

 

The Sepia Saturday prompt this week shows four young men sitting in deck chairs on a "passage to the Congo", in 1939.

It seemed impossible to me at first to connect that with what I had in mind - which was some kind of tribute to my mum, who would have turned 90 years old this week, if she had still been living. (She died in 2009.) 

Probably not much chance of finding a deck chair in her childhood photo album... Or?? (...Have a guess...)

When I took out the album, it fell open at the middle - and, what do you know! There she was, 3+ years old, having a chat with some kind of stuffed toy in a deck chair...

From the next summer, 1934, there is beach photo of her with her parents. No chairs... But it is a summer holiday photo.

A bit further on I find another deck chair, in a photo from someone's birthday party in the summer of 1940. Here my mum (at age 10) must be the older girl to the left in the background - and I suppose one of the younger ones may be her sister, my aunt.

Climate Change ? (2010 vs 2020)

21st February 2010

 18th February, 2020 

Storm and Flood

Some news report said that over the weekend, we had as much rain in 24 hours here as normally in a month (and then we do have a reputation of being the rainiest city in the country to begin with)...

Yesterday, I stayed in all day, listening to Storm Dennis & The Rain drumming away at my windows and rattling my balcony. This morning, while they seemed to be catching their breath a bit before the next round, I took my camera for a walk down to the riverside. Other people's videos and photos on the internet had already told me that there was a bit of flooding going on. Myself, I live a little bit further away, slightly uphill, and no river view. Just now that feels good, as it also means no real risk of finding the river right on my doorstep one morning... The situation must be a bit more worrying for the buildings just by the river. Not least that white factory/office building and its parking area.

 

PS. At first I had "Dennis the Menace" in mind as title for this post (referring to the classic American cartoon). But then I thought that might be tempting fate (causing a spam flood or a lawsuit or something), so decided not to...