Connections from Afar ...: I got the most wonderful surprise just now in the mail box. Not just one snail mail post but TWO! I am beside myself, like a little kid who just got to open two Christmas presents early for good behaviour (unheard of, not the early part, the good behaviour part). First up I want to say a BIG thank …

Flood Alert!: Minor first world problems abound here at Chez Alex this morning. As the master drain that services both our laundry and kitchen sink has started backing up. So that, ever time someone in a floor above us uses their dishwasher, sink, or washing machine, water and soap suds is coming up through our …

Hey, Miraz I was thinking of you last night as me and mine watched a couple of new shows over on Acorn TV. The Whistable Pearl and a new one to me, DCI Ellis. Both UK made and based. Both excellent female-starring police-based dramas. Have you seen either of them?

WeblogPoMo AMA #3: Today I thought to answer another of the great #WeblogPoMo AMA questions floating around. This question was originally asked by Hiro and answered by Gabz and also, Helen. “What’s the best music-related experience of your life so far?" Narrowing my answer down to just one person or act is …

This was taken yesterday, of course, this morning it’s raining …

It's Pet Peeve Time: I’ve see a few people sharing their pet peeves recently, so that to add a few of my own: It drives me nuts when someone tells you not to break up a relationship over politics. Honey, let me tell you, if you're compromising your values to suck up to a jerk who votes right-wing conservative, …

Today is a day for rearranging the furniture in my digital world and cleaning house. Playing around yet again, with layout, themes, and fonts. Do I need a garden? Of course I need a garden. Now, I just have to decide what to plant in it. Metaphorically speaking.

Last night I spotted the moon rising in the night sky, as I closed the curtains for the night. (rather blurry as it was taken through dirty windows.)

The sun is slowly setting and the clouds are rushing by reflecting all the sun’s glory!

What's In My NOW?: Following in Gabz footsteps and, like him, having never heard of, What’s In My NOW, I had to go check it out and, of course, write up my own, What’s In MY NOW post. Each week one interesting person shares the tangible and invisible things that are influencing the NOW — 3 physical, 2 …

Mama says He's Special: Waiting at the bus stop this morning to come home from my grocery run and … a guy waltzes up and stands in front of me. Glancing at his backpack I spot a tiny button but can’t quite make out what it says except … I can see it has a Nazi Swastika in the centre. Feeling a little …

America Has Fallen ...: Today, as the news finally sinks in courtesy of every news channel, online outlet, and newspaper on the entire planet, we are all fully aware of just Who has won the US Presidential election: He whose name shall never be uttered out loud! And those of us who are sane enough, rational enough, …

Movie Weekend Watch: Of the two movies we watched this weekend, Kung Fu Panda 4 on Saturday night and, DUNE 2 last night. I have to say, I think I preferred and enjoyed Kung Fu Panda more than DUNE. Why? It was light, silly, funny, full of clever in jokes, and I love that it featured Jack Black back as Po, and Awkwafina …

Once Upon A Halloween: Back in my day, and I’m taking way back when before halloween was a big thing in the UK like it is in the US. Way before people really dressed up or went trick or treating like they do now. I remember our family living in Scotland (who had a different set of traditions) carving out not …

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2: So last night we came to the end of watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 on DVD and … Talk about ending the season on yet another cliffhanger, right in the middle of a battle with the Gorn and … and making us wait well over a year to get to see the conclusion. Although …

TV Shows: Agatha All Along S1 E7: 

Agatha All Along : Death’s Hand in Mine
Season 1, episode 7
Watched Oct 23, 2024

This review contains full spoilers.

Well … where to begin. Last night’s episode was so dramatic, heartfelt, heartbreaking and full of more surprises than any other episode so far. And that’s …

Can't Wait Wednesday: Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday that was hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Having just …

I’ve been out all day shopping for among other things, new winter shoes, as winter is just around the corner here. We also stopped in at the comic book shop which, since I was last there, has grown in size by a few 100 square feet or more. I checked out the Saga series but decided to add it to …

Lady Bug, Lady Bug: It’s a beautiful sunny day out there, today. I was going to go out for a walk this afternoon, camera in tow, to take photos of trees but. I stepped out onto the balcony to check how cold it was because Siri said 4 degrees and … I couldn’t get back inside quick enough. With the …

TV Shows: Agatha All Along S1 E6: 

Agatha All Along : Familiar by Thy Side
Season 1, episode 6
Watched Oct 16, 2024

I am so behind in my reviews of Agatha it’s not funny. This week’s episode was centred around Teen (Pet/familiar) and is packed to the gills with surprises and reveals …

So, where to begin? At the …

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada: It’s Monday. It’s raining. And it’s Thanksgiving Day here, in Canada. So yes, of course it’s raining. I could almost believe I was still back in the UK, the amount of times it rains here every bank holiday. The rain, however, is outside so thankfully, I don’t have to …

Jelly Baby Girl: One of my all-time favourite sweeties as a child were Bassetts Jelly Babies. And I mean the original flour dusted version, not the more recent chewier Maynards imitations. As anyone who is a regular reader to this blog might know by now is, most of my favourite things have came to me by way of my …

Planetside by Michael Mammay: The first in a trilogy, Planetside melds the best in the military science fiction tradition with a murder-mystery, and a droll and somewhat jaded perspective of the lead protagonist, in the guise of Col. Carl Butler. Who, with a healthy dose of scepticism, in an action-packed plot infused with …

Weekend Watch: This last couple of evenings we’ve crammed in the latest episode of Agatha All Along, which was excellent—you can check out my review HERE. Thursday and Friday night we started watching Vigil, a six-part BBC drama set aboard the Royal Navy nuclear-powered Vanguard-class submarine, Vigil. We …

TV Shows: Agatha All Along S1 E4: Agatha All Along : If I Can’t Reach You / Let My Song Teach You Season 1, episode 4 Watched Oct 03, 2024 If you are not watching this one then you are definitely missing out on one of the campiest, funniest, silliest, fun-filled, snarky, Marvel Disney collaborations I’ve seen in, well, …

Internal Monologs: Like Veronique mentioned in her newsletter this week, I’ve had an internal monolog running in my head since I was probably 3-4 years old. I know I spent a lot of those first aware years—between 3 and 5—firing questions at my father almost non-stop. Asking him why this, or why that. Questions …

The 60s: Way back when, and I’m talking the mid-60s in Singapore, when my sister, who was ten years older than me, worked part time for an Army liaison officer. She was part of a team who organised rock bands tours, and, as a result, I got to meet with some of the biggest bands of the era. This included, at …

TV Shows: Slow Horses S4 E5: Show Horses : Grave Danger Season 4, episode 5 Watched Oct 02, 2024 Not only was last night’s episode of Slow Horses glacially slow, it was also brutally boring right on up till it got violent and nasty at the end. Like it was lulling us into a false sense of dull tedium only to shock us awake …

Projects: I’ve done it again. Started one too many projects. All the while telling myself I won’t start another just as I’m getting caught up in the latest, which means, older ones slide or worse, get waylaid. Forgotten. All these partial projects sitting like so much drift wood blown up on …

Autumnal Changes: It’s that time of year again. Like the slow change of winter into spring when I feel restless to get out, and start exploring the world with long walks in my local park. Autumn does the opposite to me. I feel a different kind of restlessness. One in which I feel almost a sense of panic knowing …

TV Shows: Agatha All Along S1 E3: Agatha All Along : Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials Season 1, episode 3 Watched Sept 26, 2024 Finally, we’re on the road, in this week’s episode we’re also finally getting down to brass tacks. Having thrown these disparate women together, aided and abetted by Teen, the …

TV Shows: Slow Horses S4 E4: Show Horses : Moving Target Season 4, episode 4 Watched Sept 25, 2024 There is a lot to unpack in last night’s episode of Slow Horses titled Moving Target. We had a trickle of information from the numerous threads in play. What with the French assassin having survived Jackson Lamb’s taxi …

TV Shows: A Discovery of Witches: A Discovery of Witches Season 1, episodes 1 to 3 Watched Sept 23, 2024 Well, last night I discovered A Discovery of Witches, which has just started airing on Acorn TV. They have the full 3 season available and, while everyone else on the planet has probably seen it already, me and mine are just at …

TV Shows: Agatha All Along S1 E1 & 2: Agatha All Along Season 1, episodes 1 & 2 Watched Oct 8, 2024 We’ve been waiting for this one ever since it was announced at the end of Wanda Vision there would be a spin-off. I love Kathryn Hahn and thought she stole the show in Wanda Vision, along with Mrs. Hart played by the hilarious …

TV Shows: Slow Horses S4 E3: 

Be warned, there are possible spoilers ahead!

Top Ten Tuesday: Redeemable Characters: Bonjour tout la Monde, today’s Top Ten Tuesday, brought to you by The Artsy Reader Girl, is all about Characters Who Redeemed Themselves. Snape from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Edmund Pevensie from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Ove from A Man Called Ove …

Movie Weekend: 

In the spirit of the Mini Book Review trending about the web, I thought to write my own (rather sarcastic, or it that, scathing?) mini movie reviews. You’ve been warned, there are SPOILERS AHEAD.

TV Shows: The Old Man S2 E1 & 2: The Old Man Season 2, episodes 1 & 2 Watched Sept 14 I watched the double-header of Disney’s second season of The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow, as ex CIA and FBI agents. And, well, am unconvinced they should have done a second season. That is to say, it was in comparison …

TV Shows: Slow Horses S4 E2: I so love this show for the many layers of each and every episode. So much so, I now watch them a second time because I know I probably missed something. Whether a snide remark that is a clue, to a shuffle of papers that will have repercussions, to the odd man out lurking in the background who looks …

TV Shows: Agatha All Along S1 E5: Agatha All Along : Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power Season 1, episode 5 Watched Oct 10, 2024 Wow, okay, this was the shortest episode so far, but one that still packed a heartbreaking punch and, without giving too much away, we got to learn a little more about Agatha’s background. As this was an …

Star Wars Goes Solo: Continuing with watching Star Wars on Disney+, we watched the Han Solo movie, SOLO, and, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But then I got into a discussion with the OH about why Disney only gave Han a single movie (which, by the way, was fine with me) but gave Andor, a minor character at best, …

B(u)y Candlelight: Can someone please explain to me what happened to lightbulbs. When did we go from having cheap incandescent bulbs that fuelled our winter-nights with light to read by, to mercury-filled, evil planet-polluting $6 spotlights which, while they are supposed to last several times longer, don’t? I …

Can't Wait Wednesday: Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday that was hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Like a number of …

Q&A with author, Steph Broadribb: The first question has to be, how did a girl from Birmingham (in the UK) end up training as a bounty hunter, in the US? It was all in the name of research! Once I knew that Lori Anderson would be a bounty hunter I knew I needed to find out as much as I could about the realities of that job - and …

Top Ten Tuesdays: Books that Provide an Escape: Bonjour tout la Monde, today’s Top Ten Tuesday, brought to you by The Artsy Reader Girl, is Books That Provide a Much Needed Escape. Which, when you think about it, really, is just about every book we read (except maybe, crime, no one escapes into a crime book … eh, that I know of!) So …

Movie Weekend: Time for another movie update from the weekend. First up was The Mother starring Jennifer Lopez who, on the whole, was believable enough in this standard action thriller. Grab a bag of popcorn, suspended your disbelief at the door, and just enjoy the action sequences. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The second action …

Letting Go: I was reading Robert Birming’s post, Letting Go, this morning and had a rush of childhood memories and a little pang, and a sense of loss at all things I had to let go of, as a child in a military family. Any kid who’s grown up in the same situation, whatever the military: army, navy, …

TV Shows: Madame Blanc Mysteries: Madame Blanc Mysteries ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Season 3 Acorn TV Three seasons in and while there are a couple of annoying characters who, quite frankly, I could well do without, this show has been fun. Almost a satire in it’s ability to poke fun at British stereotypes. The Madame Blanc Mysteries which is …

Me and My Phone: I have no relationship with my phone. Unlike successive generations brought up glued to social media and their phones, doom scrolling to find a connection, any connection, I came out of a different era. One that smiles at people in the street, chats casually with the person on the next table in the …

TV Shows: Slow Horses S4 E1: It feels like it’s been a long time in coming but, in truth, the last season finished in December. So we’ve only had to wait 9 months (a little like a pregnancy?) for the birth of season 4. And was the wait worth it? Damn right it was. As usual, there is always more going on than meets …

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Involve Food: Bonjour tout la Monde, today’s Top Ten Tuesday, brought to you by The Artsy Reader Girl, is Books That Involve Food (that are not cookbooks.) And … right, I know I’ve read a ton of books that mention food, especially just about every Louise Penny book ever written, but about food, …

Fav Foods: I have a very, and I mean, very long history with Chinese food. From the age of 3-4 years when my father was posted to Hong Kong for deployment, I was eating noodle and rice dishes with the best of them. My parents ate out a lot with a gaggle of kids in tow. I think it was because they got better …

Movie Weekend: As I was out gallivanting about the city yesterday, I didn’t have to time to post my weekend movie night round-up. So here it is. First up was Eternals, a Marvel Studios/Disney comic book adaptation that, to be honest, at 2:30 hours long might have been better served as a TV series. I would …

TV Shows: The Ipcress File: The Ipcress File ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mini Series Apple TV Well, colour me surprised, not only was this TV version of Len Deighton’s book almost true to the authors work, it improved upon the Michael Caine movie considerably. Though, I have to say, the lead in the TV show—Joe Cole—was no Michael Caine, he …

Afternoons are now for reading. Just thought you’d like to know.

Murder Most Royal by SJ Bennett: In this SJ Bennett’s third outing for Her Majesty the Queen, Murder Most Royal, Lilibet is back doing what she does best, solving murders. Only this time, it’s Christmas and we in north Norfolk, at Sandringham, in a particularly brisk winter, where the Queen and family hope to have some much needed …

Life Choices: Having talked about what my dad did for a living for most of his adult life—and yes, while it’s true he once kicked a bomb, the truth is he worked as a Master Armourer in the military. My mother, on the other hand, was the homemaker. Partly because having six kids meant my mother was never …

I Am Not Proud: Taking my cue from Lou Plummer’s post today, I Am Not Proud, and talking about what I take pride in. And it isn’t necessarily my appearance in the way some do. I am happy to wear comfortable clothes, have never done fashion (sorry folks, I just have the wrong body shape) and am not …

All The Queen's Men by SJ Bennett: They’re back. The cast of characters that helped Her Majesty, QEII, solve a murder in SJ Bennett’s debut novel, THE WINDSOR KNOT, are back. And on fine form once again. This time in ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN (A Three Dog Problem in the UK), Her Majesty is in residence at Buckingham Palace lamenting the …

Top Ten Tuesday: It's All About the Relationship: Bonjour tout la monde, this week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday is a Relationship Freebie, in which we get to choose a bookish relations whether it’s characters we’d like to date, or be friends with, or who would be our enemy. Even bookish families we’d love to be a part of. I guess …

Tripping Down Memory Lane: It’s the fourth day in a row that the rain is steadily falling from a slate grey sky, and I’m tripping down memory lane remembering how my parents, my mother in particular, use to keep us—us being six kids—occupied during rainy days at home. Not that all six kids were together all that …

The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett: This debut novel from the imaginative and decidedly twisted mind of S J Bennett is one of the best reads I’ve had this year, and that’s saying something given the quality of reads I’ve had of late. But what Bennett has done is capture the essence of Her Majesty, QEII, and turned her into a veritable …

Random Thoughts: While waiting at the bus stop this morning: Oh, I love the blue of that car. Why is the bus always late when I'm early? Nice to see that woman picking up after her dog. Oh, will you look at that bee ... Are storm clouds angry and puffy summer clouds happy? How many carrots do I need for dinner …

My Dad Kicked Bombs for a Living: As a child growing up I use to tell friends, “… my dad kicks bombs for a living.” when asked the inevitable stupid question, ‘what does your dad do for a living.’ One because I was never sure at first what it was my dad did actually do and had overheard him talking to …

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books from 10 Series: Bonjour tout la monde, this week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday is to list the Ten Favourite Books from Ten Series, which, let me tell you, is no easy task for me. I’m not sure I’ve read ten series. But, here goes nothing: Bury your Dead by Louise Penny (book 6) The City of Brass by S.A. …

The Plan: In answer to Jedda’s post today, The Plan To Not Have A Plan, I wrote: I find plans never go to plan, it's best to have an outline written in pencil, maybe on a napkin that can be toss in the recycle if necessary when it all goes to hell in a hand basket ... Because invariably, I always end up …