Thriller of the Year

Wonderful news today! The lovely Lisa Glass, author of the dark and supremely gripping Prince Rupert's Teardrop, has chosen A Dangerous Man as her Thriller of the Year on the Vulpes Libris Book Blog site, and you can find her comments here. You'll need to scroll down just a little as Lisa is 2nd in the Picks List. Many thanks indeed, Lisa - I'm more than grateful! Michael is quite chuffed too - and will be happy to give you a special discount of his services at any time. Naturally. The choice is yours ...

Meanwhile, last night's strange dream involved me learning how to swim. Something I've never been able to do - like whistling or climbing a tree. Anyway, my first attempt went pretty well, but I think I was overconfident the second time around as I couldn't seem to make any headway. Hmm, why does that sound so much like my life? Ah well.

Today, Lord H and I have visited The London Wetland Centre and have finally got round to joining The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. It was great to potter around, and we managed to see pochards, shovellers (I really love shovellers - well, I know what it's like to have a big beak ...), teal, gadwall, nine herons all in a row (which seems very Christmassy, weirdly), long-tailed tits, a woodpecker and a flurry of parakeets. Highlights of the day included (a) a man wandering out of the Ladies' loos looking utterly confused, presumably at the strange lack of urinals; (b) two old ladies asking us what a great crested grebe was, and we were actually able to tell them; (c) explaining what parakeets were to a young family who asked us; and (d) pointing out a woodpecker to a woman desperate to see one. Lordy, but we must really look like experts by now. In one day alone, we have educated the young and enlightened the old. Our job here is done, Carruthers ...

On the way back, I nipped into Waitrose to get a paper and food for tonight. Not to mention food for tomorrow. While Lord H popped into Halfords to get a headlight bulb for my car which is distinctly one-eyed at the moment. As I trundled round the aisles, I bumped into the vicar who promises that tomorrow's 1662 service will be a cracker. So I hope it lives up to the fanfare - we shall see! He was also impressed by my binoculars and thought it a great way to spot bargains before anyone else does. Now there's a thought. Taking binoculars to the shops could be the next Godalming trend, you know. You heard it here first.

Tonight, we shall be glued to Strictly Come Dancing and trying to work out who'll be next for the chop. I hope dear old John Sergeant manages another week, though I fear the worst. And I'm most looking forward to seeing what Cherie does. She rocks.

Today's nice things:

1. A Dangerous Man being Thriller of the Year
2. A day out with the birds
3. TV.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - which contains a Thriller of the Year book, you know!...