Meetings City, books and the thrill of shopping

Ah, a day of meeting pain and shopping beckons, groan. Let’s start with this morning’s meditation:

Meditation 104

What with
regular offerings,
Sabbath offerings,

first day of the month
offerings, not to mention
those of the Festival

of the Unleavened Bread
and Harvest,
it’s a really tough time

to be a lamb.


This morning, I attempted to finish typing up the minutes from last week, in order to be prepared for the last-minute (ho ho) meeting I was drafted in to take the notes for at lunchtime. Mind you, I didn’t understand a word of what was going on, so I hope I can produce something out of the pit of confusion … Honestly, it’s all go here at the educational coal-face. You’d never think we were now in the vacation period. Still, the joy of finishing at 5pm kept me going through it all. In the meantime, my throat feels like two stretches of barbed wire being rubbed together and the only thing that has made me feel good all day is the gorgeous hot chocolate from Starbucks that I succumbed to later in the afternoon. Temporary bliss indeed. The boss isn’t too well either and neither is the dean, so my advice is don’t pop into the office if you were planning it. ‘Unclean, unclean,’ we cry …

Nonetheless, I had the shopping to face after work, so am full of the joys of Tesco right now (double ho ho). I also made a brave try at getting Easter presents for all and sundry, but am not entirely sure I’m in control of that particular effort. Ah well.

I didn’t think much of Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, which I’ve read for the upcoming University Book Group, I must say. It's really one of the dullest and most muddled books I’ve ever read, though it did have two or three very good lines. Which is about all that can be said for it really. I hated the characters, I hated the plot and I hated the writing. Sigh. However, still on the book front, I see that the ongoing good review of A Dangerous Man yesterday has meant that two more people have added it to their To Be Read lists at Goodreads, so that's encouraging for sure.

Today’s nice things:

1. Poetry
2. 5pm finishes
3. Getting home
4. A surge in popularity for A Dangerous Man, hurrah.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - hanging on in there somehow