Book News:
Much to my surprise, A Dangerous Man briefly found itself at No 25 in the Amazon UK charts, so that was nice. In addition, The Hit List gained a 5-star review at Goodreads, so many thanks for that, Chris - much appreciated.
On the sales front, there's 25% off all my Untreed Reads titles until the end of the year, so shop early shop often, and start your New Year with a bang. As it were.
Only one meditation this week as I slowly slowly get back into the habit again, and here it is:
Meditation 475
Sometimes the best victory
and the one
you remember
is simply to outlive
the one
you hate.
Life News:
A bit of an up-and-down week really. We've had a lot of nice outings, including visiting The Egyptian Book of the Dead exhibition at the British Museum, which is well worth it especially if you're into death rituals and bodies, as I am. We also enjoyed seeing the Lewis chessmen, which are wonderful - much smaller than I thought they'd be (silly me, eh) but absolutely exquisite.
We've also visited Wakehurst Place in the fog, where the gardens were interesting but ... um ... foggy and we probably need to go back when we can actually see things. And today, we've had a lovely time at Savill Garden, which I love and which is just as beautiful in winter, with some amazing winter displays and trails, as it is in the summer. The shop's good too and I've finally managed to buy some decent new soapdishes, which I've been looking for for ages, and a nice big happy mug too. So I can aim to be happier in 2011, ho ho.
On the way back we popped into a garden centre to look for candles, and I managed to smash one of the displays and cut myself with glass whilst doing so. Good for me, eh. The staff were lovely though and I didn't have to pay for the chaos I caused, for which I am hugely grateful - it was probably the look of total shock and the blood dripping from the finger that brought out their compassionate side. Anyway, I've calmed down now, thank the Lord, and next time I want to look at anything breakable, I will get K to lift it up for me.
Meanwhile, I've also had another physio session and the frozen shoulder is definitely on the mend, though it makes itself known every now and then. And I've bought a really lovely winter coat in the sales at Debenhams, with which I am hugely happy.
This week's drama has been the Crisis of the Missing Glasses. I attempted to watch the Rolf Harris (I have a soft spot for dear old Rolf) art show last night and realised I couldn't find my tv watching/driving glasses anywhere. Cue frantic searching of the flat, weeping and sobbing (the latter two being mine, naturally). And cue recording of Rolf. I felt really stupid and assumed I'd somehow lost them in Guildford yesterday whilst meandering round the sales. So this morning I spend 45 minutes ringing round shops I can remember being in to see if they had found them. Everyone was really lovely but sadly no glasses. I then did some more weeping and rang the optician's to make an emergency appointment to get replacements. Bearing in mind you never know how long they're going to take and I do take a while choosing new ones anyway, I decided to chance it as it's only a short trip to Godalming and take the car in myself rather than make K wait around while I faffed about. I got in the car and there the buggers were!!! What joy and bliss abounding!!! You can't imagine the relief ... especially as I've just saved myself c£300 replacement costs, double hurrahs and put out the bunting.
Anyway, K has now made me put my phone number in both my reading and my "missing" glasses cases so if they do genuinely go astray at some point then I have a better chance of getting them back. And, when I rang the optician to cancel the appointment, they were hugely pleased that their long-distance customer service skills were as top-notch as ever, gawd bless 'em. How I love a happy ending.
As a result of all that, K and I have also had a discussion about how much of a stressed-out drama queen I'm becoming - though as he freely admits that when he first met me I was stressed-out and hugely unhappy way back then, then perhaps it's not as much of a shock to him as I always assume it is when I get myself in a state now. But I do think I'm getting much worse as I get older - is it my hormones?? Or perhaps the general lack of the sort of hopeful attitude I had twenty years ago that I most definitely don't have now? I'm sure I used to assume in my twenties that things would improve no matter how bad they were, whereas nowadays I just assume they'll probably get worse and I get very angry and frustrated about it. Lordy, what a delight I am to be with indeed ... Anyway, as a result of all this deep thought, I've bought myself an anger management book and a set of bible reading notes to start in January to see if that helps. I should also do more meditation too, I think, as I'm not really very committed to it these days, particularly as my church life went downhill earlier in the year. I'm wondering about going back to the gym too, maybe, as in the old old days beyond recall I used to get rid of a hell of a lot of steam there which helped with the aggression levels, but let's not get too over-enthusiastic. Bloody Rome wasn't built in a bloody day, eh. And I don't want to set myself up for too much personal failure before the year has even begun - there's plenty of time for that yet!
Happy New Year, in any case, to all.
Anne Brooke
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Showing posts with label museums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label museums. Show all posts
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Hadrian city, UK
Lord H and I have spent a wonderful day up in London visiting The British Museum and enjoying the wonderful and sparky Hadrian exhibition. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, but do book a ticket. However, both Lord H and I are now worried about our ear lobes - as we have the same diagonal mark on them that Hadrian had, which is apparently a sign of heart disease. Oh goody, another medical worry - just what we need, eh!... Anyway, I'm actually halfway through the exhibition book, as Lord H kindly bought it for me a couple of weeks ago, but I also bought the gift-book small version while I was there. Finished that on the train. I do love Hadrian. As you can tell. What an interesting chap and of course so wonderful Greek in his ideas. In oh so many ways.
Whilst at the Museum, we also paid our respects to Cromwell's death mask, admired the Elgin (sorry - Parthenon now ...) Marbles, gasped at the mummies, and wandered round the Living and Dying exhibition, and also the Japanese galleries. All great fun. I was particularly taken with the vast shawl of pills (which is really the only way to describe it) in the Living and Dying section, which told us that each person is on average prescribed about 14,000 pills in a lifetime. Goodness, it's amazing we survive at all really - though Lord H did remind me that I'm taking his ration too, so it saves him the effort. Dammit, he's probably right - shake me and I'll rattle.
Strangely, on this Hadrian-obsessed day, I've finished Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian. Some fascinating facts for sure, but I don't really think it works as a novel. It's too constrained by the amount of its research to have any life of its own. Which is a shame, as it could have been brilliant. But it's not. Plus, it's very, very French - they do have a particular style of writing in a philosophical bent which I don't think any other nation does (though feel free to prove me wrong!). Perhaps it would be better in the original French indeed? The poetry would come out more then. Anyway, it's an interesting lesson of how you can get so consumed by your novelistic research that you are totally unable to write the book. That's my opinion at least.
Tonight, I'm getting my glad rags on for Strictly Come Dancing, and I'm videoing the plethora of Medieval programmes there also appear to be on. I'm a sucker for anything Medieval really.
Time since The Gifting submission: 4 months
Today's nice things:
1. The Hadrian exhibition
2. Seeing Cromwell's death mask
3. TV.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Whilst at the Museum, we also paid our respects to Cromwell's death mask, admired the Elgin (sorry - Parthenon now ...) Marbles, gasped at the mummies, and wandered round the Living and Dying exhibition, and also the Japanese galleries. All great fun. I was particularly taken with the vast shawl of pills (which is really the only way to describe it) in the Living and Dying section, which told us that each person is on average prescribed about 14,000 pills in a lifetime. Goodness, it's amazing we survive at all really - though Lord H did remind me that I'm taking his ration too, so it saves him the effort. Dammit, he's probably right - shake me and I'll rattle.
Strangely, on this Hadrian-obsessed day, I've finished Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoirs of Hadrian. Some fascinating facts for sure, but I don't really think it works as a novel. It's too constrained by the amount of its research to have any life of its own. Which is a shame, as it could have been brilliant. But it's not. Plus, it's very, very French - they do have a particular style of writing in a philosophical bent which I don't think any other nation does (though feel free to prove me wrong!). Perhaps it would be better in the original French indeed? The poetry would come out more then. Anyway, it's an interesting lesson of how you can get so consumed by your novelistic research that you are totally unable to write the book. That's my opinion at least.
Tonight, I'm getting my glad rags on for Strictly Come Dancing, and I'm videoing the plethora of Medieval programmes there also appear to be on. I'm a sucker for anything Medieval really.
Time since The Gifting submission: 4 months
Today's nice things:
1. The Hadrian exhibition
2. Seeing Cromwell's death mask
3. TV.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Monday, May 07, 2007
Aeroplanes, firemen and shopping hell
Lord H and I decided today that we've lived in Surrey for over thirteen years now, so we really had to do the Brooklands Motor Museum one day, and it might as well be today. We do quite like vintage cars but, as Lord H says, once you've seen the basic three shapes you've probably seen them all. However, it was a good day to do it as they were having a display of emergency vehicles as well - so lots of firemen and policemen wandering round looking cute. Bliss. I was desperate to ask the former how big their hoses were and the latter if I could feel their truncheons, but Lord H thought that the resulting court case would probably be too humiliating and we would be forced to leave the country, so I decided against it. Sigh. But, my goodness, the uniformed services are getting younger ...
We also had a look round the aeroplanes - from WWII planes to modern planes, plus a display on the bouncing bomb of Dambusters fame. So that was interesting. Also interesting was seeing inside the Sultan of Oman's VC10. Goodness me, but the rich people have really nice on-board bathrooms. And sofas, huge seats, bedrooms and carpets. Bliss. Even the servants' area was high-class. Brooklands also have Concorde, but we didn't buy a ticket to go inside as, daaahlings, we've already done that tour in New York, and Brooklands just doesn't have the same style. Don't y'know.
By then, we'd probably drained the motor museum excitements pretty dry, for us - though I do understand that if you're a real fan you'll probably want to spend all day there. Two hours is more than enough for this tourist. So we popped into the nearly Marks & Spencer afterwards, as I felt the need to reclaim my womanhood by shopping. And it worked! I bought three t-shirts in their 3-for-the-price-of-2 deal (or was it a 6-for-the-price-of-20? I really can't remember and I'm no good with figures ...), and then went on to buy a rather snazzy pair of black trousers and a cream & gold posh t-shirt - which looked surprisingly good on. Hey, I almost looked elegant. Ye gods, it can't last.
We should have gone home at that point, but we decided to stock up on domestic shopping in Tesco. Groan. Bad mistake. Never shop in a large Tesco on a Bank Holiday is my advice. It was hell, and Lord H lost the will to live halfway through (I could tell - I am a Wife and I therefore have telepathic rights to his brain ...) so I had to rationalise the list, pay and leave before he imploded. Never mind, I can catch up on the things we didn't get during the week, with a bit of luck.
The rest of the day has been spent typing up more to The Gifting - and I'm now at over 117,000 words. Hurrah! And tonight we'll probably watch yesterday's video of "Kingdom" and then "New Tricks". Lovely.
Oh, and I have to say I had a really lovely reply to my honest updating email from Jonathan - one of the university gang, currently in Taiwan. It's the first real reply I've had back and I found it very touching - so thanks, Jonathan, for that. I very much appreciated it. And good to know your updates too. Heck, maybe there is some kind of hope for us all - you never know. But why do we never talk properly when we all actually meet up? Maybe we're just too scared. Lordy Lordy, but people are a constant mystery indeed. No matter how long you've known them.
My blog title also reminds me - this month's fireman is Karl, who is from West Yorkshire and loves fitness and travel. And he's holding a very large hammer. Quite cute too. I do like the dark-haired ones ...
Today's nice things:
1. Firemen
2. M&S shopping
3. Jonathan's email.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.pinkchampagneandapplejuice.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
We also had a look round the aeroplanes - from WWII planes to modern planes, plus a display on the bouncing bomb of Dambusters fame. So that was interesting. Also interesting was seeing inside the Sultan of Oman's VC10. Goodness me, but the rich people have really nice on-board bathrooms. And sofas, huge seats, bedrooms and carpets. Bliss. Even the servants' area was high-class. Brooklands also have Concorde, but we didn't buy a ticket to go inside as, daaahlings, we've already done that tour in New York, and Brooklands just doesn't have the same style. Don't y'know.
By then, we'd probably drained the motor museum excitements pretty dry, for us - though I do understand that if you're a real fan you'll probably want to spend all day there. Two hours is more than enough for this tourist. So we popped into the nearly Marks & Spencer afterwards, as I felt the need to reclaim my womanhood by shopping. And it worked! I bought three t-shirts in their 3-for-the-price-of-2 deal (or was it a 6-for-the-price-of-20? I really can't remember and I'm no good with figures ...), and then went on to buy a rather snazzy pair of black trousers and a cream & gold posh t-shirt - which looked surprisingly good on. Hey, I almost looked elegant. Ye gods, it can't last.
We should have gone home at that point, but we decided to stock up on domestic shopping in Tesco. Groan. Bad mistake. Never shop in a large Tesco on a Bank Holiday is my advice. It was hell, and Lord H lost the will to live halfway through (I could tell - I am a Wife and I therefore have telepathic rights to his brain ...) so I had to rationalise the list, pay and leave before he imploded. Never mind, I can catch up on the things we didn't get during the week, with a bit of luck.
The rest of the day has been spent typing up more to The Gifting - and I'm now at over 117,000 words. Hurrah! And tonight we'll probably watch yesterday's video of "Kingdom" and then "New Tricks". Lovely.
Oh, and I have to say I had a really lovely reply to my honest updating email from Jonathan - one of the university gang, currently in Taiwan. It's the first real reply I've had back and I found it very touching - so thanks, Jonathan, for that. I very much appreciated it. And good to know your updates too. Heck, maybe there is some kind of hope for us all - you never know. But why do we never talk properly when we all actually meet up? Maybe we're just too scared. Lordy Lordy, but people are a constant mystery indeed. No matter how long you've known them.
My blog title also reminds me - this month's fireman is Karl, who is from West Yorkshire and loves fitness and travel. And he's holding a very large hammer. Quite cute too. I do like the dark-haired ones ...
Today's nice things:
1. Firemen
2. M&S shopping
3. Jonathan's email.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.pinkchampagneandapplejuice.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Working museums, rabbit women and husband hints
As threatened, I popped into Guildford today with Lord H to face the irritating Nationwide people - but even though I had to queue for twenty minutes to see a real person, I have to say that the real person I saw was utterly charming, efficient and sorted me out (or mostly) in no time. If only I'd done that rather than attempt to call yesterday, I could have saved myself all that angst. I shall remember for next time: never use the phone; just go see a person. Always the best way.
And talking of angst, this will make you laugh: Lord H and I did go to the theatre yesterday in the end as we thought we needed a night out. The play was fine, and Stephanie Beacham was utterly wonderful. As ever. But, oh misery, the rows in front of us seemed to be filled with people from St Peter's who saw us in the interval and leapt upon us with apparent cries of joy. Damn it. We were having a nice night out up to that point. Still, I can do politeness and charm when faced with the enemy (though Lord H fell silent, as is his wont), and I chit-chatted for Britain. We then managed to escape to the lower bar, but they caught us up and started attempting to have an in-depth conversation about our desertion of the church in the middle of the theatre. Not the best place, I feel, and I was quite angry (though thought it best not to show it too much) - all the more so as I knew it was making Lord H feel twitchy. However, I managed to keep it light, though when the lay reader started saying once more how difficult the new guy, Paul, is, I spoke up at last and said that actually he'd been extremely lovely, real and humane to me the one time I'd spoken to him whereas our last guy (whom the lay reader always praises - in my opinion needlessly - to the skies) was a complete loser when it came to relating to the pew-fodder, had blanked me when I'd asked for help (twice) and I'd felt so strongly about it that I hadn't bothered signing his leaving card and had been very glad when he'd finally gone. That took the wind out of her sails somewhat. And when the lay reader's husband said he hoped that we wouldn't lose touch just because we weren't coming to church any more, I replied by saying that church friends were exactly that - church friends - and in my experience rarely lasted (except on a very few honourable cases) outside the bounds of the churchyard. Which may well mean that any attempted career move of mine into the Diplomatic Service will probably not last long, but at least no-one can say they don't know where I stand.
Funny how we didn't see them after the play ended though - they were probably running to the hills by then ...
Anyway, back to today. Post the Nationwide, we stared in great joy at the Guildford Morris Men (and Women) and Jack o' Lanterns for a while - how I loved those wonderful flower hats the Morris Men were wearing to welcome in the month of May and how much Lord H and I secretly long to do the dances and wave around sticks and handerchiefs, but I fear we would never live down the shame if we ever gave into it. Though Lord H would look nice in those hats - no! Stop it, stop it now!
We have then spent a wonderful day at the Amberley Working Museum (http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk) which was great. Lots of fascinating old shops/businesses to look at - and it even made the concrete exhibition really interesting too, which was quite a feat. We took a ride on the old train - twice - and admired all the old kitchen utensils which our mothers used to have. Lord H got quite emotional over the top loader washing machine and attached mangle, which apparently was the same version that he fell off when he was five, thus giving him a (to me) almost invisible scar on his head, though he swears it's there and it's just my eyes which are wrong. We also wandered round the old buses they have there, and he was delighted to find a poster for the Royal Blue Coach Company, which his father used to work for. Hmm, is Lord H actually 150 years old and is just kept youthful by a life of accountancy and marital ease? The family will have to be consulted, I feel ...
We were also much amused by the electricity exhibition (hands-on stuff with plugs and creating static electricity - we loved it!!) which had an old advert for electricity which said "Don't kill your wife with work - make electricity do it instead." Ah, more innocent times indeed ... And naturally, there was a display about the Great Godalming Electricity Disaster, which comes up at all these kind of things. Our home town (if you don't know this already) was the first town in the UK to install electric street lights in 1881, instead of the old gas ones, and therefore the first town to have any kind of public electricity installation at all. This would have been wonderful and would have guaranteed Godalming a place in the history books forever, but unfortunately the town council decided in 1884 that electricity would never catch on, so turned it off and reinstalled all the old gas lights again. Sigh. Oh the shame of it all ...
It's nearly as bad as the Godalming Rabbit Woman - another true story, I'm afraid: she was around in the late 1700s/early 1800s, I think from memory, and was famed across the country for giving birth to rabbits. People came from all over the place to see her with her "rabbit children" - even royalty made the trip at one point. Gullible fools! And I think she was also invited to the Palace. However, after a few years someone found her stealing young rabbits from neighbouring farmers and so the scam was uncovered. Surprise! And more sighing - no wonder the countryside has a peculiar reputation.
Anyway, enough strangeness. Tonight, it's "Doctor Who" on TV, and I think there's a film on later, so I shall slump in front of that and be couch fodder. Hurrah.
Oh, and I've also just finished Kathy Lette's "How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints)" - have to say I was rather disappointed with it, especially as I've heard her speak and she's an incredibly charming, bright and sassy woman. I loved her. But the book - to my mind - isn't really a novel at all; it's more of the notes for a novel, or perhaps more accurately the notes to a screenplay. It would certainly make a good film. And it has a nice, sharp "feelgood" ending - though frankly the plot falls apart here. Because surely they'd know it wasn't human blood. We do have forensics these days ... (You'll know what I mean if you've read it!). Also Hannah was very poorly drawn, though Cassie was great. But the speed of the thing was very, very distancing, and I never felt close to any of the characters. You'd need actors to bring out the heart of it. Which takes me back to my film thoughts ...
Today's nice things:
1. The nice Nationwide woman
2. Amberley Working Museum
3. TV.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.pinkchampagneandapplejuice.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
And talking of angst, this will make you laugh: Lord H and I did go to the theatre yesterday in the end as we thought we needed a night out. The play was fine, and Stephanie Beacham was utterly wonderful. As ever. But, oh misery, the rows in front of us seemed to be filled with people from St Peter's who saw us in the interval and leapt upon us with apparent cries of joy. Damn it. We were having a nice night out up to that point. Still, I can do politeness and charm when faced with the enemy (though Lord H fell silent, as is his wont), and I chit-chatted for Britain. We then managed to escape to the lower bar, but they caught us up and started attempting to have an in-depth conversation about our desertion of the church in the middle of the theatre. Not the best place, I feel, and I was quite angry (though thought it best not to show it too much) - all the more so as I knew it was making Lord H feel twitchy. However, I managed to keep it light, though when the lay reader started saying once more how difficult the new guy, Paul, is, I spoke up at last and said that actually he'd been extremely lovely, real and humane to me the one time I'd spoken to him whereas our last guy (whom the lay reader always praises - in my opinion needlessly - to the skies) was a complete loser when it came to relating to the pew-fodder, had blanked me when I'd asked for help (twice) and I'd felt so strongly about it that I hadn't bothered signing his leaving card and had been very glad when he'd finally gone. That took the wind out of her sails somewhat. And when the lay reader's husband said he hoped that we wouldn't lose touch just because we weren't coming to church any more, I replied by saying that church friends were exactly that - church friends - and in my experience rarely lasted (except on a very few honourable cases) outside the bounds of the churchyard. Which may well mean that any attempted career move of mine into the Diplomatic Service will probably not last long, but at least no-one can say they don't know where I stand.
Funny how we didn't see them after the play ended though - they were probably running to the hills by then ...
Anyway, back to today. Post the Nationwide, we stared in great joy at the Guildford Morris Men (and Women) and Jack o' Lanterns for a while - how I loved those wonderful flower hats the Morris Men were wearing to welcome in the month of May and how much Lord H and I secretly long to do the dances and wave around sticks and handerchiefs, but I fear we would never live down the shame if we ever gave into it. Though Lord H would look nice in those hats - no! Stop it, stop it now!
We have then spent a wonderful day at the Amberley Working Museum (http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk) which was great. Lots of fascinating old shops/businesses to look at - and it even made the concrete exhibition really interesting too, which was quite a feat. We took a ride on the old train - twice - and admired all the old kitchen utensils which our mothers used to have. Lord H got quite emotional over the top loader washing machine and attached mangle, which apparently was the same version that he fell off when he was five, thus giving him a (to me) almost invisible scar on his head, though he swears it's there and it's just my eyes which are wrong. We also wandered round the old buses they have there, and he was delighted to find a poster for the Royal Blue Coach Company, which his father used to work for. Hmm, is Lord H actually 150 years old and is just kept youthful by a life of accountancy and marital ease? The family will have to be consulted, I feel ...
We were also much amused by the electricity exhibition (hands-on stuff with plugs and creating static electricity - we loved it!!) which had an old advert for electricity which said "Don't kill your wife with work - make electricity do it instead." Ah, more innocent times indeed ... And naturally, there was a display about the Great Godalming Electricity Disaster, which comes up at all these kind of things. Our home town (if you don't know this already) was the first town in the UK to install electric street lights in 1881, instead of the old gas ones, and therefore the first town to have any kind of public electricity installation at all. This would have been wonderful and would have guaranteed Godalming a place in the history books forever, but unfortunately the town council decided in 1884 that electricity would never catch on, so turned it off and reinstalled all the old gas lights again. Sigh. Oh the shame of it all ...
It's nearly as bad as the Godalming Rabbit Woman - another true story, I'm afraid: she was around in the late 1700s/early 1800s, I think from memory, and was famed across the country for giving birth to rabbits. People came from all over the place to see her with her "rabbit children" - even royalty made the trip at one point. Gullible fools! And I think she was also invited to the Palace. However, after a few years someone found her stealing young rabbits from neighbouring farmers and so the scam was uncovered. Surprise! And more sighing - no wonder the countryside has a peculiar reputation.
Anyway, enough strangeness. Tonight, it's "Doctor Who" on TV, and I think there's a film on later, so I shall slump in front of that and be couch fodder. Hurrah.
Oh, and I've also just finished Kathy Lette's "How to Kill your Husband (and other handy household hints)" - have to say I was rather disappointed with it, especially as I've heard her speak and she's an incredibly charming, bright and sassy woman. I loved her. But the book - to my mind - isn't really a novel at all; it's more of the notes for a novel, or perhaps more accurately the notes to a screenplay. It would certainly make a good film. And it has a nice, sharp "feelgood" ending - though frankly the plot falls apart here. Because surely they'd know it wasn't human blood. We do have forensics these days ... (You'll know what I mean if you've read it!). Also Hannah was very poorly drawn, though Cassie was great. But the speed of the thing was very, very distancing, and I never felt close to any of the characters. You'd need actors to bring out the heart of it. Which takes me back to my film thoughts ...
Today's nice things:
1. The nice Nationwide woman
2. Amberley Working Museum
3. TV.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.pinkchampagneandapplejuice.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)