Newsy catch up

Let me dive right in.

1. It's Edinburgh Festival time (though almost over) and we had family up for the weekend from Yorkshire so have been doing some Festival-y things. Mainly of the free variety, such as catching free shows on the Royal Mile and drinking Bulmers cider while watching Bulmers' own band, the Sun Lovin' Criminals outside the Speigeltent in Princes Street Gardens. But we caught a couple of shows too: a fun kids thing with snuffly pigs and Out of the Blue, an a capella singing group. And then last night Mr T and I went to see Stravinsky's Firebird at the Usher Hall which was wonderful.

2. I've been having a Mills&Boon splurge, which I do perhaps once or twice a year. It's the reading equivalent of eating an entire box of chocolates. I'm now down to the last few chocolates in the second layer of the box and I don't even like coffee-cremes (aka Valentino's Love Child by Lucy Monroe). But I'm going to keep gorging until I'm filled with self-loathing.

3. One of the reasons I know I'm at the end of my category reading jag is that I picked up another book from my TBR pile two nights ago - one that has been sitting there for months and months: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, the first Sookie Stackhouse book. I've resisted reading this series, partly because it's so loved by others; partly because it doesn't seem to have a resolved love story in it (is it going to reach one?). Anyway, now I'm reading it and enjoying it greatly. So much to admire in it. Deceptive simplicity for one thing. There's great restraint in the writing. It feels quite pared down, even at really dramatic moments but it doesn't seem to rob the moment. I'm almost at the end and already feeling quite torn about all Sookie's prospects: Bill and Eric and Sam. Eric is a small part of this book but I know from others' blogs that he assumes much greater significance in later books. If I hadn't known, would I have guessed? There are so many things to enjoy here. I love the scene with Dean the Dog and the Bubba thing is wonderful - a funny yet strangely poignant detail. I love that to Sookie, Bubba's a sort of royalty. Do you advise me to keep reading? There are so many of these books! Also, what about the HBO series? How does it compare? I'm unlikely to watch it, as I watch very little TV but I'm intrigued to know.

4. Being a parent is hard. It makes me wish and wish I was better person. This morning, I couldn't find the boys' shoes and it was late and we had to get the bus and I just shouted at them. It made the little one cry and the big one go all quiet. Sigh. I wish I was one of those calm, even-tempered parents. Later, I came home (not at work today) and searched and searched for their missing shoes. They'd left them in the garden yesterday, having taken them off when they went on the trampoline. I've found three of the shoes in different corners of the garden, hidden in shrubbery. The foxes (we've seen two in our garden) must have found them. One of the straps is a bit chewed. I'll go and have a look for the other one again later.

5. Are you WEIRD? No, not weird, WEIRD. It can give you a very skewered view of the world.