No pink DMs in the post this morning, but instead another parcel from a certain friend in Canada.

I’ve been reading James Bow’s “Rosemary and Time” series (as they were then) and “Unwritten Books” as they are now for quite a few years, so it’s such a thrill to see them in print. I can only begin to imagine how James feels about the whole thing. It’s fun reading - not only because they’re great stories, but because it’s interesting to see how much they’ve changed in the process of editing.

Cheers to James for sending it over and for absolutely making my weekend. Best of luck with this one and you already know I’m looking forward to the next!

I’d recommend them to you if you’ve not started on Rosemary and Peter already. The latest is “Fathom Five" and the first in the series is “The Unwritten Girl".

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for things pink - as a small girl I always wanted to grow up and buy a pink Beetle car (and I’ll do it one of these days), so when I came across this auction on ebay I couldn’t believe my luck. What else can say “I’m a girl and I can kick your butt” better than a pink pair of Doc Martens?

So I’ve spent the week ogling these “only worn once” boots, thinking that they’re a size too big, but would be great with a thick pair of socks. I reckoned they’d probably go for about forty quid.

Was I mistaken - a whopping £56.00 plus £8 postage!

I didn’t buy them for that, but some poor mad soul did. Instead, I’m awaiting my brand new pair of pink DMs from an online retailer for slightly less cash.

Ebay. Commerce gone mad.

People who list 80’s shoes on Ebay as ‘vintage’ should be shot.

As a child of the 70s, what does that make me? Antique?

Just back from London, and I’ve got to say that ‘Equus’ was amazing. Totally amazing. It’s not often we get to go to the West End to see something, but this has reminded both of us about why exactly we should make this a regular thing.

I’d read the play as an undergraduate but I’d forgotten about the humour in it. I suppose it gets pushed to the side a bit with all of the disturbing psychological issues of Alan and the queries of what Dysart actually does to young minds. Richard Griffiths was every bit as good as we expected, with beautiful dry humour delivered to perfect effect in sharp contrast to Dysart’s growing unease. I’ve not seen him on stage before, but having done so now, I can declare myself a huge fan.

As for Dan Radcliffe, he was somewhat of a surprise. He looked absolutely shattered by the end of the performance (not sure how he would manage an evening show on top of the matinee!) and he was obviously putting everything he had into it (and no, I don’t mean the nudity there!). Some elements of Alan Strang he really got, and it was a good performance that was very gripping in places. Other parts, not so much. He never fell out of role, but the emotional depth of the character wasn’t always as rounded as it could have been. Then again, he’s still only 17 and it’s more than a bit of a challenging role. He did himself credit.

I loved the set - a series of black boxes that the actors moved around as the action went on to form the stage, as well as the fact that it revolved when Alan was riding at night, faster and faster to build up the sensation of movement and the climax of the moment. Very, very simple, but incredibly effective. However, the horses were absolutely the real stars. I can see exactly why they selected dancers for the roles and it really paid off - the movements all helped the suspension of disbelief - and iron hoofs and heads easily became ‘real’.

The story, as always, is deeply disturbing, but it was so well done. Would I see it again? Like a shot. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen anything as good on stage. Even my hubby was blown away.

As for the ‘Harry Potter Naked!’ headlines… well, yes he was. He’s a braver person than I am, but it’s just such a shame that the press focused on that one scene when the rest of the production was so good. Typical!

A friend of mine in Edinburgh delightedly shoved me in the direction of Book Mooch this weekend, and I’ve got to say I’m absolutely thrilled by it. You should all join up, at once!

You list all of the books that you’d be prepared to part with (and that’s tough. Parting with books is a real tug on the heart strings!), and for every 10 books you list, you get a point. Every time someone requests a book you have and you post it off to them, you get more points. Then (and this is the fun bit), you can mooch books off other people for free by using your points! So now I’m shipping two off to the US on Tuesday and I’ve got a couple of books I’ve been thinking about reading for a while heading my way from Denmark and somewhere in the UK.

Best of all, if I don’t like them, I can just relist them and mooch some more. It’s like a huge lending library, but with parcels through the post to look forward to! An excellent idea!

Your friendly builder saying:

“We’ll be back on Tuesday at 8am, love. Don’t worry about getting up ‘cos we’ll be coming in through the roof.”

That I always start the school holidays off by being ill?

This time, I’ve got a nicely dramatic Ear, Nose and Throat thingy going on. My sinuses and ears are clogged, which is a GREAT excuse for not picking things up after the kids, because then my balance goes to pieces and I fall over without any alcohol being added! And I’ve got a nastry dry tickly cough with a voice that’s been fading in and out of existence for a week. It doesn’t look like it’s shifting, so it might be time to head down to the docs. I just want this to go - much too much to be doing for me to be sitting here feeling sorry for myself.

Next half term’s always a bad one. It’s the final push up until all of the kids take their exams - so it’s extra classes every night after school (some nights have 3 x 1 hour sessions after school - I am NOT looking forward to doing those!) and the final mopping up of errant coursework from the skivers. It’s a slog. But all worth it when the results come out… at least I hope it will be!

Meanwhile, it’s chocolate eggs all round. They’re medicinal. Honest. Chocolate always makes you feel better, right?