Yippee

Hurray a female poet laureate and one who can rhyme prayer with Finisterre!

To those, who are getting this post as an email please tell me if it annoys you and I'll take you off the list. I thought it might be a way of keeping in touch better, but it may just clog up your inboxes and irritate you - please say.

Reading Groups

I've always thought that a reading group would be a fun thing to join, and now I've done it and I'm really happy to report that it is exactly what I hoped it would be.

The thing that had stopped me in the past was the lack of knowing anyone else who wanted to do the same thing. I used to mention in passing to friends that I'd like to join a reading group but no one ever said, "So do I, why don't we start one?" or "Do you, I know someone who's a member of one". Then one day I googled reading groups in Southampton and that took me to the library website and they run reading groups. I emailed into the ether and nothing happened and then months later, when I'd forgotten all about it, an email came saying the Library was setting up a new reading group and would I like to go.

Off I went on the agreed date, curious to see who else would be there. We are a fairly electic group, mostly female (do men not read?) but with a shared passion for reading. It has done all that I hoped for me. We've just read our third book, Helen Dunmore's "The Siege" and all 3 have been high quality novels. I haven't liked all of them but being part of the group has made me read all of them to the end and then I am surprised that in the group sessions I have lots to say, even about the books I'm not that keen on.

This book, "The Siege" is my favourite to date. It's historical, set in Leningrad during the German siege of the Second World War and it tells the story of the city through the experiences of a family. It's incredibly evocative and makes you feel what it must have been like (as much as anyone can by reading about something so awful). It also gives a feeling of what living under Stalin was like for Russians and how appalling that was. Despite the bleak setting of the story it is an easy book to read and ultimately uplifting in people's ability to survive the most appalling circumstances.

So we'll discuss it next week and it'll be something new. Can't wait.

Blackbird Success - so far so good

After watching the pair of blackbirds in my garden working a flat out shuttle system to feed their vocal brood, here's proof that they had some success. We've seen two youngsters out of the nest with the female.

The thing that really surprised me was that they come out of the nest when they're very vulnerable, they can flutter and hop but not fly. The youngsters then live mostly on the ground while they continue to develop while the mother continues to feed them.

When I first saw this one hopping about behind the shrubs in my garden I thought he'd left the nest too soon, but having read up on it a bit, it looks as if it's normal. Seems like a high risk strategy to me but luckily we don't have any cats living nearby.

This photo is at about 2 weeks out of the nest. We're still seeing them around a bit but I think they're nearly at the stage when they'll be on their own. It's been great fun watching them and I'll be a bit sad when they're gone!

In praise of Winchester Cathedral

Winchester, original capital of England, depending of course on how you define England. Without doubt capital of Wessex, which during the Viking years became the dominant kingdom in surviving Anglo Saxon England.

Enough of Anglo Saxon political history. Why visit Winchester Cathedral? Not because it's the prettiest from the outside (it's not), not because it recently featured in the Da Vinci Code (although it did), rather because it is full of unexpected gems:

- Temporary scaffolding that is 500 years old. In the Triforium Gallery you get a fantastic view of the Norman structure of the cathedral. They meant to update it to the same style as the Nave but ran out of money, they'd put some wooden supports in, ready to lower the roof...it's still there 500 years later.

- The Winchester Bible, a gem of a medieval illuminated bible

- See Canute (the king who told the waves to go back) - he and several other Anglo Saxon kings and bishops are buried in finally decorated mortuary chests which are now poised on the walls surrounding the high altar. The oldest one dates to around 670 AD.

- The fantastic modern art that the cathedral continues to commission - a Graham Sutherland sculpture in the crypt, modern icons near the site of the shrine of St Swithin, the altar and candlesticks in the Angler's Chapel

The cathedral is a monument to English history and yet it lives and grows as well. Go and see for yourself.

Lima - redeeming its reputation slightly

Whenever you look at guidebooks or talk to people who've been in Peru for a quick visit, they tell you what a horrible city Lima is. I think they're being a bit unfair!

A lot of it stems from the fact, that if you arrive off an international flight, tired and jet lagged, the first thing you see as you leave the airport are some poor and ugly slums. At this point all the warnings about safety and theft reverberate in your head and you feel distinctly nervous.

You spend maybe a day in the city, being whisked round museums in a blur and closing your eyes and hoping you aren't going to die as the traffic rampages round at speed. If you've come to Peru with Inca ruins and mountain wildnernesses in your head, then Lima isn't going to appeal.

But even for the short stay tourist, there are nice things to do and pretty sights to see. In central historic Lima, efforts have been made to smarten things up and the central square is lovely, with the cathedral providing an electic range of religious art and tombs and San Francisco round the corner with an extensive collection of bones!

And if you have more time, walk down the shopping street between the Plaza de Armas and the Plaza San Martin and start to get a feel for daily life. It might be the city and it might be Lima, but it's all part of Peru and if you want to get to know the real country and not just the tourist hotspots it's a good way to start.