Angelic Paranoia

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What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
Murder at the Mayfair Hotel by CJ Archer. My mum recently sent me a link to get 19 free books of historical murder mysteries. Which is right up my street depending on the time period. So of course I downloaded them all and this was the first on my ebook reader. And it was dull. The main character had her family die and was taken in by estranged relatives who were rich and owned (and lived in) a hotel. And someone was murdered. And I just didn't care about any of the characters. I finished it, but I'm not sure why because I didn't care whodunnit even after I found out who did it.

Murder at Merisham Lodge by Celina Grace. This starts a pair of characters in service. Although there are murders, most of their time is taken up by work. It did have interesting characters, but there just wasn't enough of the murder mystery. I finished it because I wanted to know whodunnit.

A Precarious Homecoming by DS Lang. This was very much not my thing. For some reason I got two and a bit chapters in, someone was killed and all I wanted to do was to not read it any more. It's set in America which I'm not that interested in and I hated all the characters.

What I'm Currently Reading
Unruly by David Mitchell. I needed something different after those three and I've had this sitting around for a while after it was 99p. I am enjoying it - it's really interesting and I'm learning a lot, especially about the pre-William the Conqueror Kings. And I quite like his asides about learning history in the 1980s because it's not that dissimilar to my experience of learning it.

What I'm Reading Next
Displeasure Island by Alice Bell. I read the first book in this series a while ago and added it to my Kobo wishlist to remind me to check again later if the library has the ebook version yet. And then it was 99p, so I bought it. I am looking forward to a bit of fiction that I know I'll enjoy!

I've Never Seen Star Wars: Running on a treadmill

I say running because that's the sort of thing you do on a treadmill, but I didn't actually make it that far.

I went to my local independent sports shop, looking for a new pair of running shoes. I tried some on, walked around in them and when I found a pair, they offered for me to go on the treadmill they had.

Not only had I never been on a treadmill before, I'd never seen one in real life. But I've seen lots of people running on them in videos, so it must be easy. Turns out it wasn't.

I turned it on, it started, at a walking pace, and I struggled to walk. I constantly felt like I was going to fall off, even though I was right at the front (and the whole thing is surprisingly long). I had to hold on and could only really manage to walk properly for about two steps. There didn't seem to be much point in going up to a running speed.

When I got off I still felt like I was moving. It was unpleasant all round. Unexpectedly so. 0/10 never doing that again.

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
A Fatal Flaw by Faith Martin, A Fatal Secret by Faith Martin, A Fatal Truth by Faith Martin, A Fatal Affair by Faith Martin, A Fatal Night by Faith Martin, A Fatal End by Faith Martin. In other words, I finished the series. I solved the problem of too many other people also reading these books and borrowed a few at once - I was getting through each of them in two or three days.

And I am really missing the series now it's gone. I don't know if I'll read any of her others yet, as it's the characters and the setting that I enjoyed and the others have different characters and different settings. But I also felt that there were a lot of things that get followed up in the next book and then don't get resolved. And although it was clear how it was going to end it still managed to be unsatisfactory. Not enough that it spoiled my enjoyment of the series as a whole, but enough to make it annoyed when I finished the last one.

What I'm Currently Reading
Make It So by Patrick Stewart. It is good, I'm just still dealing with the book hangover from the Faith Martin series and so I'm struggling to get excited about it.

What I'm Reading Next
I can't contemplate that yet. Although I did put a hold on an interesting library book. There are only 36 people waiting per copy! So it's definitely not going to be the book I'm reading next.

Running

Back in April a friend asked me if morris dancing made me fitter and I had no idea. But I knew a way to find out.

Some time before I started dancing, I don't remember when, I tried Couch to 5k. I thought running 60 seconds might kill me, but was impressed that 90 seconds of walking was enough to recover to do another 60 seconds of running. So I might have carried on except that I did this in the middle of hayfever season. By the time I got home I was a mess and was never doing that again.

So back in April, I tried it again. This time I was surprised that 60 seconds of running was so short - I could have carried on. And since the terribly weather this year meant that hayfever season started late, I set out to complete Couch to 5k this time, aiming to end with a parkrun at the end of summer.

I skipped to week 2 and found that 90 seconds was too much running... I couldn't do three runs a week because you were supposed to do low impact exercise on your rest days and dancing on concrete in clogs was very much not low impact. But I managed to finish in mid August. Except that the program doesn't get you to running 5km, it gets you running for 30 minutes. Which only got me about 4km.

I then spent some time getting up to 5km and once I could do that, I registered for parkrun. At which point every Saturday was either raining, or lovely weather but I was busy. I finally managed it this weekend. And with a faster time than the 5km I'd done beforehand.

When I originally decided I was going to run I decided that the parkrun I decided that I'd stop running then and maybe go swimming instead. Except that sometime near the end of the Couch to 5k program I thought it would be a shame if I lost that ability to run after spending so much time on it. So now I am going to keep it up, at least until it gets too cold for my asthma.

I still hate running. But it's better with a podcast (especially if it's a funny one). Although the Olympics (on the radio) was a good thing to run too as well. And it is at least free: I already had running shoes, which I wore for morris practice.

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
A Fatal Mistake by Faith Martin. There are 8 books in this series and it turns out my library has all of them as ebooks. They are all now in my wish list in order and I do plan to read my way through them all. I enjoyed this one more than the previous one, now the characters and setting are established.

Nosy Neighbours by Freya Sampson. I've read her two previous books and then discovered she had written another. So I read it and I enjoyed it, but I think I enjoyed her previous books more.

What I'm Currently Reading
A Fatal Flaw by Faith Martin. Book three in the series. All I've really read so far is the murder and the set up of the story. I feel like I know what to expect from these books now and it's not going to be particularly unexpected.

Making It So by Patrick Stewart. I think someone else is reading through the 'Fatal' series before me, so while I was waiting I remembered America had a bank holiday and maybe that would be an occasion for a Kobo sale. It was, and this book was 99p. So far I'm still on his childhood, but it is really interesting because it's proper post-war northern working class.

What I'm Reading Next
A Fatal Secret by Faith Martin. Inevitably I'll be onto book four at some point once I've finished the other two.

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella. This started off interesting, with the main character being burnt out due to the ridiculous amount of work she had to do. And then turns into a story about things that are and have happened in the place she used to go on holiday as a child. All of which were fine. But then there was a romance in it, which I knew would happen as it does in all her books. It's just a shame because the characters and stories are so interesting and the inevitable spoils it a bit.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett. This is a sequel to her first book, which I enjoyed. This one I didn't as much because the people annoyed me. I'm not surprised they were struggling for members if their emails and texts are anything to go by. I do like the epistolary storytelling though.

A Load of Old Balls by James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski. I bought this because it was on offer during the Olympics. And then I was too busy during the Olympics to read because there was sport on all the time. I finally got round to reading it and I really enjoyed it. It was interesting talking about various things that have gone on with sport. I have since forgotten everything in it, though.

What I'm Currently Reading
A Fatal Obsession by Faith Martin. This was a random pick from books I've had around for ages and can't remember why I bought them, but it had something to do with it being 99p. I had been putting this one off since it was the first in a series and that is a slippery slope. I've only just started it, but it's interesting since it's a police murder mystery set in Oxford in the 1960s.

What I'm Reading Next
Whatever I feel like from my unread books on my eBook reader. I can't currently read any of the physical books I need to read as they're currently in the hamster cage propping up platforms while I decide where things should go.

I've Never Seen Star Wars: drive-through

I know, from reading Not Always Right, that drive-throughs are more popular in America, where they have drive-through pharmacies and drive-through banks. Here it's just fast food and coffees. Near me (in what turned out to be a 7 minute drive on quiet roads) I went to a Costa drive-through.

Judging from the car park, I was the only customer. I might have been less confused if there had been someone in front of me. As it was I drove along, noticed a big sign saying what you could buy and drove closer to read it. I then found out that it's not possible to read it from the car and also I'd driven past the speaker where you order things.

I'd already checked the menu in advance, so I just got a hot chocolate. Although that took a while because I struggled to hear the person at the other end because of the traffic (particularly the lorries) going past on the main road parallel to where I was.

I went round to the window where I waited for a while and realised the rain was coming in through my open window. I got my hot chocolate and paid. I had thought it through in advance and moved my stuff from the cup holder - it usually holds my keys (my car has keyless start, but not keyless entry) and the broken off parts of my wing mirror.

I was impressed that the hot chocolate was still slightly too hot to drink when I got home. However, although the cup was recyclable, you had to take it to Costa to recycle. I also couldn't tell if they had any vegan cakes and it was too much effort to ask. So all in all, it would have been a much better experience to have gone in to the place, rather than go to the drive through.

I'll give it a score of 2/10.

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
Grave Expectations by Alice Bell. This was a random choice because it sounded good. And it was. It's about a woman who sees ghosts and solves murder mysteries, although it doesn't go as well as it does in the true crime podcasts she likes. There is a sequel to this, which the library does not have and is not yet cheap enough on Kobo.

Help Me! by Marianne Power. Another random choice. I thought I'd like it and I did so much that I read it in two days. It's non-fiction: the author decides to improve her life by reading and following twelve self-help books in a year. It starts off reasonably, then goes to the woo-woo books and completely off the rails.

What I'm Currently Reading
Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry. A random charity shop fine, it's the autobiography of the first 20 years of his life. He's very wordy: He spends about four pages talking about how much he loves music and how much he wishes he could sing, for example. It's a long book and a bit hard going, but now I'm more than halfway through I'm
determined to finish.

What I'm Reading Next
A Load of Old Balls by James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski. I just went on Kobo to double check a book's title and found this was only £1.99. I've been wanting to read it since the hardback came out (under a different title). It's two of the QI Elves talking about sport, so it should be interesting.

Fic writing and reading

I signed up to [info]unsent-letters-exchange this year. Last year I picked up a pinch hit and enjoyed it, so this year I signed up. But was thinking that I didn't really need to get a story. And then I ended up getting a great Jo Grant story.

Until I See You Again (3234 words) by AstroGirl
Fandom: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: The Doctor & Jo Grant, Jo Grant/Cliff Jones
Characters: Jo Grant, Fourteenth Doctor (Doctor Who)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Friendship, Aging, Reconnecting with old friends, Mentions of Doctor/River
Summary: Jo writes letters. Eventually, the Doctor responds.

I wrote some SJA. For which I re-watched some. It being on the iPlayer now makes it much easier than getting out the DVDs. In fact I re-watched a whole series before I stopped myself - I could have quite easily re-watched the whole thing.

Alien Tales (1097 words) by paranoidangel
Fandom: Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Luke Smith, Clyde Langer
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Aliens
Summary: A selection of texts between Luke and Clyde after he starts at Oxford.

It was a good thing to get my writing again - the last thing I wrote I finished in November. And since then I've signed up for [info]intoabar which I haven't written for since 2013. I only let myself sign up because I've mostly written my [info]unconventionalcourtship fic which is going to be due about the same time. And I'm a bit busy at the moment out dancing most weekends between now and the deadline. I want to say I've thought about which fandoms to put down, but it's going to be Pike meeting someone from Doctor Who or SJA, so that could be a character I know well or not...

My Unconventional Courtship fic took a while because I couldn't decide whether it should end happily ever after (or at least okay for now) or everyone dies. I looked back at previous Unconventional Courtship fics to see how many ended happily.

I've written 9 of them and:

  • 3 are happy
  • 2 are happy but angsty before we get there
  • 2 are unhappy
  • 2 where the relationship doesn't change during the fic

So in summary, anything I write is likely to be angsty.

I wrote a fic two(!) years ago where Harry turns up at Sarah's in the present, using the Big Finish canon where the Doctor dropped him off a few decades in the future. Someone in the comments asked for more and I thought I'd like to write more. And came up with some more. I am finally writing some more. At least I have a first draft for chapter two and a vague idea for what could be chapter two or a sequel depending on how it comes out. But I've missed writing Sarah and Harry.

On a related note, I had a problem with my bandwidth getting out of control, which I solved by making my fic archive private. At some point I should really sort that out since there were definitely some non-bot visitors. I was too stressed to do anything at the time and now I keep forgetting/can't quite muster up the enthusiasm.

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Just Finished Reading
A Girl Called Justice by Elly Griffiths. This is the first book in a series about a girl at boarding school in the 1930s who solves murder mysteries. It was alright, but the school was so awful that I have no desire to read any more books about that school.

Calling the Shots by Sue Barker. This was really interesting because I knew nothing about her beyond winning Roland Garros once. She talks about all the sports she was presenting for at one point and it explained why I thought she presented everything when I was a child: those were all the sports I watched!

A 1930s Childhood by Colin G Maggs. This was a short book. It was interesting, but quite a bit of it was repeated, which made sense because some of it came under multiple chapters. But I don't know that it needed to be repeated.

What I'm Currently Reading
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. I went to my collection of books to read, pulled this one out and then discovered it had a bookmark in it. It's a collection of short stories, so it doesn't matter where I got to. But it would be good to finish it.

What I'm Reading Next
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett. Because I checked my Kobo wishlist and found this one was £1.99. Much as I'm excited to read it, I had just started the book above and really ought to finish it first.