Family Business

Been all rather "familial" this weekend.  We were off to see the mother in law to deliver birthday pressies, then popped in to see my cousin and his family where we arranged to meet up fish and chips next week.  Today it was Church with chocolate cake so they could share in the "Wedding experience" (it was the same sponge recipe by the same chef but with a different icing due to herself being pressed for time) and  a trip to the art gallery to mooch over Picasso's.  Next days off will be spent in a slumped heap snoring methinks!

Reading and murder

One of the joys of commuting is that you get more time to read.  Recently I've filled the time with some detective stories.  Anthony Horowitz's "The House of Silk" (a new Sherlock Holmes novel) is quite good.  Of course, the literary style isn't quite Conan Doyle but it is pretty faithful to the ethos and the spirit of the originals.  And I've also been flipping through a little freebie from the points on my Waterstone's card which has proved to be rather good.  James Runcie's "Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death".  A clerical detective is a rare thing these days and great fun for those of us who enjoy the clerical world.  Shades of the Anglican Father Brown are there but I am slightly aware of the fact that he is obviously modelled in part on the author's father the late Archbishop Robert Runcie (Military Cross with the Scots Guards, Cambridge setting etc).  Nonetheless, if you enjoy Marple on a Sunday evening, this will be well to your taste.