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.  

A Day Out on Brownsea Island and Enid Blyton

 This week, when the sun was shining, and it wasn't pouring with rain, we went to Brownsea Island in Dorset, although there was low cloud and drizzle on the way and we nearly turned round and went home again!
I'm so glad we didn't, as you can see, it turned out to be a beautiful day.
I love Brownsea Island so much because it reminds me of the Mediterranean coast with blue sea sparkling through the dark pine trees.
In 1907, it was the site of the first Boy Scout camp and Scouts were still arriving, girls as well as boys in these enlightened times, some with rucksacks almost as big as themselves in the little ferry which sails every half an hour from Sandbanks.
 

The island belongs to the National Trust, and is one of the last refuges for the Red Squirrel, and one raced by me so fast that I ended up with a very grainy photo, not good enough to post here.

 There are several narrow little beaches, where waves lap over caramel covered pebbles, and I could imagine the Famous Five landing a rowing boat and setting out on a great adventure.

I used to love the Famous Five books, and any book with Enid Blyton on the cover is irresistible.  (I bought the Barbara Stoney biography on a trip to Enid's former home, Old Thatch near Bourne End, a couple of years ago.) So I was excited to find Enid Blyton and her enchantment with Dorset by Dr Andrew Norman in the National Trust shop.*
It focuses on the Famous Five books and their setting in Dorset, especially the Swanage and Corfe Castle area, with lots of detailed information about the region in Enid's time and before. However, the most interesting fact for me is that Brownsea Island features as Whispering Island in Five Have a Mystery to Solve. Definitely one for my bookshelf!

*The pictures and text behind the book in the photo are from another source about Enid Blyton and are just there to make up the picture.

the Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes should NOT be made into a movie!

the Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes should NOT be made into a movie! Not that I think anyone is planning to at the moment. But if they are, it should be made into a television drama serial instead, so we can sit back and enjoy every emotional romantic moment and precious detail all over again, (with a box of man-size tissues) rather than squash it into an hour an a half.
The Daily Telegraph calls it 'An utterly absorbing and blissfully romantic read', and I would totally agree.
It is the story of two women, Ellie, a reporter in 2003, who is in love with an unobtainable married man, and Jennifer, in 1960, married to an eminent businessman, but who has a secret lover.
Jojo draws the characters and their time so well, rather in the style of Daphne du Maurier. I can see Jennifer as an elegant woman, trapped in the conventions of the lingering post war period, when all women could do in her situation was to literally keep calm and carry on, that is, of course, until they have to make a choice and risk having the scandal of their failed marriage spread all over the papers.
Ellie is a modern woman with her own job and flat, but the choices for her have not got any easier over the years. The Last Letter is the thing that binds these two women together towards a dramatic conclusion.

I've only read one of her other books and that was The Ship of Brides. I lent it to someone going on a trip to Australia and never got it back, so they must have loved it as much as me!
Have you read any of Jojo's books?

PS It is interesting how there is more than one cover design for her books. I wonder why?

I've been watching the London Olympics!

Way back in 1976, a girl at work told me that she was going to take the next two weeks off to watch the Montreal Olympics. I thought that she was mad. . .
But as I write, I'm waiting for the Closing Ceremony, and I'm rather sad that this wonderful fortnight is over.
It was so compulsive: I even watched Nicola Adams win her gold medal at boxing, something I wouldn't normally do, but amazingly, she was the first woman to win that gold medal and she was British!
Earlier in the Games, Clare Balding did a report on women in the Olympics. I'd always taken it for granted that women could compete against men equally, and I was amazed that the heroine of my childhood, Mary Rand, who got a gold for long jump in the 1964 Games, was the first British female to win one in a field and track event.
Of course, I didn't see every event, but I did get tickets for the Dressage at Greenwich Park, as you can see. I learnt quite a lot about it as I watched, and joined in the celebrations when Team GB won their section.
All the 2012 volunteers were fantastic, greeting us when we arrived, and sending us on our way at the end, not to mention answering any questions cheerfully.
The great thing about having the Olympics in Britain is that everyone has been talking about it from that fantastic Opening Ceremony onwards. It's been rather like Christmas without all the shopping and presents.
What has been your favourite London 2012 moment?

The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick is a really good read.

I was lucky enough to buy The Cornish House at the RNA Conference at Penrith and get it signed by Liz Fenwick and I've really enjoyed reading it.
The characters are drawn so well:  Maddie who has been widowed and is bringing up her stepdaughter, Hannah, has a guilty secret which kept me guessing until nearly the end. Hannah, having lost her father who died and her mother who walked out, is understandably the teenager from hell, and I wondered if Liz actually knew such a girl, but I hope not! Then there is the gorgeous Mark who Maddie is not sure about, and the charming Gunnar for love interest, not to mention her new Cornish friend, Tamsin, urging her on to make the right decisions. Of course, there is the house itself which belonged to Maddie's aunt, and the secret that it hides until Maddie and Hannah discover the answer. All in all it is a fabulous summer read, or indeed for any time of the year.
What is your favourite book about Cornwall?