New reading material

Being away from home has meant not only access to SkyTV, but also to a mini-library of books too. It's a good place for me to visit. My parents have fairly distinctive taste in reading material which doesn't actually match my own, and they are forever buying new books. This is good. It means that I have the opportunity to try authors I would otherwise pass by on bookshelves elsewhere.

Here's the selection of books for my reading pile so far:

• Knots and Crosses - Ian Rankin


• Strip Jack - Ian Rankin


• The Last Temptation - Val McDermid


• Kick Back - Val McDermid


• Warriors of the Dragon Gold - Ray Bryant


• Vadim - Donald James


• Samurai William - Giles Milton


• The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber

All are new writers to me so I am looking forward to seeing if I can find another "must read all their books" author.

I have begun Knots and Crosses and am finding the reading easy going. This is a good thing as my time for reading has shrunk considerably, and my memory seems to have gone with it. Hopefully I will remember enough about each of these books to scribble out a short review once I am done.

Do you have an issue?

If you have an issue you would like to share with the world in general or your local MP, you might be interested in visiting mySociety and their sites:

• FixMyStreet


• HearFromYourMP


• PledgeBank


• NotApathetic


• WriteToThem


• TheyWorkForYou

Now, most of these sites are specifically for the United Kingdom, but you can set up or support pledges at PledgeBank for your own country of origin. Currently all of the pledges for New Zealand have been met, and I can't think of anything I'd like to start rolling. If you have any suggestions for a pledge, leave a comment, and I may have a go at this.

If you aren't feeling the need to bring issues to the attention of your local MP, or community, but perhaps need to keep yourself in line with regards to a promise you have made, then the mySociety folks have created a website you might like to look at. It is the HassleMe website, an online nagging service that you set up for yourself. It's true. You can become your own mother.
I am about to try it out this week so I'll let you know if the hassle did it's job, and how well it did it.

Happy nagging everyone!

Renovations - II

Unfortunately I don't have any photos to update you with today. When we arrived to take a brief look through the house this morning the floor sanders had just finished the last coat of polish, so there was no way to go into the house for snaps. I will take a look and see if we have any from Mr O's visits over the past couple of weeks that give you some idea of the changes.

At lunchtime today however, we met the builder and kitchen manufacturer to nail down the design and colours and materials, etc. We are being exceedingly boring and staying with the neutral theme as much as possible. We are having colours called espresso and oyster for the cabinets. And get this... we are having a feature wall in our kitchen! I didn't know there was such a thing, but a couple of Trends magazine issues later and we figured this would be a good way to break up the design a bit so it won't be too bland and boring.
But the thing that will be Mr O's pride and joy (and bane of his life I suspect) is the funky 2.5 metre wide, 750mm high, bright red glass splashback that will be going across the wall behind our stove. No doubt it will make for cleaning nightmares, but he was keen on it and it is primarily his domain so I wasn't about to argue too hard.

I can also tell you that we are planning to move into the body of the house next Wednesday, all being well. And that should mean a return to broadband access, and easier blogging for me too. In the meantime, see you all tomorrow.