A Grand Day Out at Buckingham Palace

Twenty years ago, I inherited my mum's china tea service, and too good to use everyday, I always thought it would come in useful if the Queen ever popped in for tea.
Imagine my surprise then, when we went to Buckingham Palace for a tour recently, and were given paper cups in the Garden Cafe!
Honestly though, I suppose that china cups with Buckingham Palace emblazoned on them would not last the day and be smuggled out in any bag that the visitor had to hand!
However, apart from the small problem with the paper cups, the rest of the day was wonderful, not to mention that lovely strawberry cake. Yum!

At last I've got round to reading the Book Lovers' Appreciation Society!

I bought the Book Lovers' Appreciation Society a few years ago, and stuck it on a bookshelf and never got around to reading it until now, and I'm sorry it took me so long!
So many of my favourite authors are there like Maeve Binchy, Katie Fforde, Deborah Lawrenson, Mark Mills, Santa Montifiore, Jojo Moyes, Elizabeth Noble to name but eight! It's a real treat to find a short story, or novel for that matter, from someone whose work you love, but to find so many in this book is fantastic. On the other hand it's a wonderful opportunity to try some new authors (to me) like: Nicci French, Victoria Hislop, and Jane Elizabeth Varley.
No need to mention that the stories are wonderful, and Gerri Halliwell says in her introduction that the book is like 'a cosy box of chocolates' she couldn't stop at one and had to read more. I have to agree!
£1 from your purchase is donated to Breast Cancer Care, so it's a worthwhile buy as well.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyles - an Unforgetable Read

I've just finished Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, and I don't think that I've ever been moved so much by a story.
Louisa Clark is literally a small town girl who loses her job and goes to work for the Traynor family to help look after their son, Will, who has been injured in a road accident and is now a quadriplegic.
The last book I read by Jojo Moyes was The Last Letter From Your Lover, and in it she got totally into the character of Jennifer Stirling who is struggling in the stifling early 1960s to come to terms with her feelings for another man.
In this book, she is totally into Louisa's character. A girl from a relatively poor home, but full of love, who has to come to terms with a rich, yet undemonstrative family.
I also love Will's character. For example, instead of calling her Louisa, her calls her Clark, rather like Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones's Diary. A really nice touch.
Of course,  I've been reading this whilst the Paralympics have been on which has made the story all the more  poignant.
I can't go into it too much here, but can only say, read it as soon as you can.