Oh dear.
Nic went to buy a new dogflap. There she was, in Pets at home, clutching our new dogflap.
Then her card was declined because her payments had gone out. Oops.
We are still dogflapless.
Cowbridge library was officially opened today, with a bunch of councillors and the chain gang there to cut or to watch the ribbon. It was quite nice because one of the local primary schools sang a couple of songs and lots of people were there looking around. Nice to have something upbeat happen.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Drafty dog flap
The dog has broken her dog flap, and with the temperatures minus something we have a serious draft coming into the kitchen. I think I will have to lock it for now and she will have to just ask to go out for tonight.
Tomorrow I will have a trip to Pets at home to buy another one.
Life just doesn't get much more exciting does it?
Actually it does, but this week is very peaceful with not much happening, so I should be able to catch up with some chores.
That's the theory.
First Dagger in the Library book is Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upton.
The central character is the novelist Josephine Tey, who wrote plays and a series of crime novels during the 20s and 30s. She is probably best remembered for a book called 'The Daughter of Time' which was one of the early promoters of the innocence of Richard III. Her detective hero is laid up in hospital and starts doing an investigation into Richard III while there.
There are a few problems with using a real person as a fictitious character is that the fiction can clash with the facts. Josephine Tey was a pen name for instance.
I am enjoying the novel, but the coincidences are starting to pile up in an alarming way, however I will refrain from judgement till I finish.
Sadly I found out today that the winner of the Dagger for last year, Ariana Franklin, has died. It was a pen name for Diana Norman, and she had written 4 novels in the series which were very different and I really liked them. I am sorry she has died, only in her 70s. The rest of the judges and I are all glad that we gave her the award last year.
Tomorrow I will have a trip to Pets at home to buy another one.
Life just doesn't get much more exciting does it?
Actually it does, but this week is very peaceful with not much happening, so I should be able to catch up with some chores.
That's the theory.
First Dagger in the Library book is Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upton.
The central character is the novelist Josephine Tey, who wrote plays and a series of crime novels during the 20s and 30s. She is probably best remembered for a book called 'The Daughter of Time' which was one of the early promoters of the innocence of Richard III. Her detective hero is laid up in hospital and starts doing an investigation into Richard III while there.
There are a few problems with using a real person as a fictitious character is that the fiction can clash with the facts. Josephine Tey was a pen name for instance.
I am enjoying the novel, but the coincidences are starting to pile up in an alarming way, however I will refrain from judgement till I finish.
Sadly I found out today that the winner of the Dagger for last year, Ariana Franklin, has died. It was a pen name for Diana Norman, and she had written 4 novels in the series which were very different and I really liked them. I am sorry she has died, only in her 70s. The rest of the judges and I are all glad that we gave her the award last year.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Oh dear - internet shopping
Last night I sat down to order 2 batteries for the dog's flashing collar because I couldn't get them locally. Fine. I did that.
Wrote my blog, did Scrabble, read blogs.
The went onto the Oxfam online shop and spend ages and ordered 4 coats. I hasten to say that I won't keep them all, but shopping online is very seductive. You can waste so much time so easily!
Ooops.
Wrote my blog, did Scrabble, read blogs.
The went onto the Oxfam online shop and spend ages and ordered 4 coats. I hasten to say that I won't keep them all, but shopping online is very seductive. You can waste so much time so easily!
Ooops.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Busy week in summary
Book club on Tuesday - excellent.
King's Speech in the cinema on Wednesday - excellent.
Night in front of the tv on Thursday - much appreciated as work was also busy last week
Concert on Friday - very good, better than expected. It was the Welsh National Opera orchestra doing Bartok Piano Concerto no 3, Bach Brandenburg no 3, Beethoven Symphony no 7 and a piece by Kurtag (can't remember the name). The problem with the WNO orchestra is that they are used to playing second fiddle (pardon the pun) to the singers, and not taking centre stage so the quality can be variable. However their new conductor is good, and it was an interesting programme which was generally well done. The Kurtag had the piano and the timps centre stage, and all the rest of the orchestra spread round the hall, which was interesting, though we weren't sitting in the best place. Marred by someone's mobile phone going off during the pause between two movements - very quiet bit. The conductor waited until it had been turned off before he set off again!
Saturday - nice coffee in Cowbridge followed by chilly watching of Nic having a jumping lesson, we were filming so she could watch Five's jumping afterwards. Kate came later and we all went off to watch Black Swan in the cinema. I was very disappointed with it, I was bored and kept wanting the suspense to get going. I thought it was poorly plotted, poorly acted and found Natalie Portman's character completely unconvincing - no ballerina who could dance the Swan Queen could possibly be such a wet wimpy object. However after Kate, Brian and I sat round and had a really nice chat. Lovely.
Sunday was more restful, and today was back to work.
King's Speech in the cinema on Wednesday - excellent.
Night in front of the tv on Thursday - much appreciated as work was also busy last week
Concert on Friday - very good, better than expected. It was the Welsh National Opera orchestra doing Bartok Piano Concerto no 3, Bach Brandenburg no 3, Beethoven Symphony no 7 and a piece by Kurtag (can't remember the name). The problem with the WNO orchestra is that they are used to playing second fiddle (pardon the pun) to the singers, and not taking centre stage so the quality can be variable. However their new conductor is good, and it was an interesting programme which was generally well done. The Kurtag had the piano and the timps centre stage, and all the rest of the orchestra spread round the hall, which was interesting, though we weren't sitting in the best place. Marred by someone's mobile phone going off during the pause between two movements - very quiet bit. The conductor waited until it had been turned off before he set off again!
Saturday - nice coffee in Cowbridge followed by chilly watching of Nic having a jumping lesson, we were filming so she could watch Five's jumping afterwards. Kate came later and we all went off to watch Black Swan in the cinema. I was very disappointed with it, I was bored and kept wanting the suspense to get going. I thought it was poorly plotted, poorly acted and found Natalie Portman's character completely unconvincing - no ballerina who could dance the Swan Queen could possibly be such a wet wimpy object. However after Kate, Brian and I sat round and had a really nice chat. Lovely.
Sunday was more restful, and today was back to work.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
King's speech
We went to see the King's Speech yesterday.
It is a really good film. I was gripped right from the beginning, and you were so fully behind George VI with the stammer and the agony of having to make speeches, or try to.
The story is a really human one, and it is surprising that it wasn't better known beforee.
I recommend it unreservedly.
It is part of manic week.
At work we have the self issue machines going live on Monday and there is lots to do for that, we are trying to put together a semi tender for ebooks in 6 weeks instead of 6 months, plus the rest of the day job.
At home I had bookclub on Tuesday, we went to the cinema last night, tonight (thankfully) I am at home, though B is out with the family for a meal, tomorrow we go to a concert and Saturday we are going to see Black Swan!!! Why all in one week?
It is a really good film. I was gripped right from the beginning, and you were so fully behind George VI with the stammer and the agony of having to make speeches, or try to.
The story is a really human one, and it is surprising that it wasn't better known beforee.
I recommend it unreservedly.
It is part of manic week.
At work we have the self issue machines going live on Monday and there is lots to do for that, we are trying to put together a semi tender for ebooks in 6 weeks instead of 6 months, plus the rest of the day job.
At home I had bookclub on Tuesday, we went to the cinema last night, tonight (thankfully) I am at home, though B is out with the family for a meal, tomorrow we go to a concert and Saturday we are going to see Black Swan!!! Why all in one week?
Monday, January 17, 2011
E Books
I have been to a meeting in Swansea having presentations from E book suppliers today. We had 3 from different companies, all offering something a bit different, all geared to libraries, but.....
One is a library book supplier who has decided to go down the ebook route as well, so they know the library scene in the UK extremely well, and are owned by a wholesaler so have a great deal of access to stock, but they are new on the scene.
One is the main supplier in Europe and the USA and Canada - Overdrive. The didn't send someone to do a proper presentation, but sent someone who was supposed to facilitate an online presentationn. However as Swansea were having connectivity problems (which in itself is entertaining and ironic as we are discussing things to download from the internet) we got a slide show which wasn't even customised for the UK and 3 of the 36 slides were showing us some big van only available in the USA. Plus they gave no costings at all. We were very underwhelmed by them and think they assume we will use them because they are the main provider at the moment. Hmm.
The third was Ebsco who are very well known for serials, non fiction and reference ebooks, but not for popular fiction and non fiction. Although they sent 2 people, and they are keen enough to have paid for lunch (always a good sign) they just don't have the stock coverage at the moment so are really out of the running.
Unfortunately this was delayed from December because of snow and we are now a month behind, and need to get it all sorted before the end of February.
This means we need to find out how many of the 22 Welsh local authorities want to join a Consortium purchase of ebooks. We need to put a formal questionnaire out to the 2 suppliers, get the answers and costs back, make a decision and go for it, all in 6 weeks.
Eek.
As though I didn't have enough to do, as I am Chair of the Consortium for book purchases I have ended up leading on this now, although I thought I was just chairing the meeting.
Double eek.
Plus we go live with our first self service kiosks next Monday and we don't have all the information to get them working properly yet
Triple eek.
I know sound like a mouse so will finish there and run and find a hole in the skirting board to hide in.
One is a library book supplier who has decided to go down the ebook route as well, so they know the library scene in the UK extremely well, and are owned by a wholesaler so have a great deal of access to stock, but they are new on the scene.
One is the main supplier in Europe and the USA and Canada - Overdrive. The didn't send someone to do a proper presentation, but sent someone who was supposed to facilitate an online presentationn. However as Swansea were having connectivity problems (which in itself is entertaining and ironic as we are discussing things to download from the internet) we got a slide show which wasn't even customised for the UK and 3 of the 36 slides were showing us some big van only available in the USA. Plus they gave no costings at all. We were very underwhelmed by them and think they assume we will use them because they are the main provider at the moment. Hmm.
The third was Ebsco who are very well known for serials, non fiction and reference ebooks, but not for popular fiction and non fiction. Although they sent 2 people, and they are keen enough to have paid for lunch (always a good sign) they just don't have the stock coverage at the moment so are really out of the running.
Unfortunately this was delayed from December because of snow and we are now a month behind, and need to get it all sorted before the end of February.
This means we need to find out how many of the 22 Welsh local authorities want to join a Consortium purchase of ebooks. We need to put a formal questionnaire out to the 2 suppliers, get the answers and costs back, make a decision and go for it, all in 6 weeks.
Eek.
As though I didn't have enough to do, as I am Chair of the Consortium for book purchases I have ended up leading on this now, although I thought I was just chairing the meeting.
Double eek.
Plus we go live with our first self service kiosks next Monday and we don't have all the information to get them working properly yet
Triple eek.
I know sound like a mouse so will finish there and run and find a hole in the skirting board to hide in.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Stravinsky and Shostakovich
We went to a fantastic concert last night in St Davids Hall in Cardiff. It was the Philharmonia with Esa-Pekka Salonenn conducting, and they did Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin, Shostakovich's 2nd Piano concerto, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
Both the Bartok and the Stravinsky created riots in the audiences on their first performances. Both take huge orchestras, and the Stravinsky uses 2 sets of timpani, 9 french horns, etc etc - the orchestra is enormous! Going to see an orchestra is a very different experience to listening to the cd. The sound is very different live to recorded - sometimes it is better recorded because the balance is adjusted by the engineers to be near perfect, whereas in the concert hall it is often dependent on where you sit, and the skill of the conductor in balancing the orchestra so that the audience hears clearly. I have been to concerts where you know that the recorded version on the radio will sound very different from what you experience in the hall, and actually better than what you are hearing.
Last night however was flawless. Esa-Pekka deserves his reputation as a conductor. There is a trend towards speed in music these days, and there are lots of recordings which must be minutes shorter than earlier versions of the same pieces. I listened to a bit of Tchaikovsky ballet music the other day and turned off in sheer annoyed frustration - no dancer in the world could dance at the speed they were playing! You get this so often now and it destroys the music.
Music needs to be allowed space to say what it has to say - the spaces between the notes are as essential as the notes themselves. The second movement of the Shostakovich is slow and they gave it all the space it needed so that it was relaxed but not at any time losing tension and sagging. Brian was very impressed by his conducting - and as B has conducted the Shostakovich he knows it extremely well because Esa-Pekka was always there when he needed to be, in charge at all times, but also left the musicians to themselves when they were doing solos and so on.
It was magic.
Both the Bartok and the Stravinsky created riots in the audiences on their first performances. Both take huge orchestras, and the Stravinsky uses 2 sets of timpani, 9 french horns, etc etc - the orchestra is enormous! Going to see an orchestra is a very different experience to listening to the cd. The sound is very different live to recorded - sometimes it is better recorded because the balance is adjusted by the engineers to be near perfect, whereas in the concert hall it is often dependent on where you sit, and the skill of the conductor in balancing the orchestra so that the audience hears clearly. I have been to concerts where you know that the recorded version on the radio will sound very different from what you experience in the hall, and actually better than what you are hearing.
Last night however was flawless. Esa-Pekka deserves his reputation as a conductor. There is a trend towards speed in music these days, and there are lots of recordings which must be minutes shorter than earlier versions of the same pieces. I listened to a bit of Tchaikovsky ballet music the other day and turned off in sheer annoyed frustration - no dancer in the world could dance at the speed they were playing! You get this so often now and it destroys the music.
Music needs to be allowed space to say what it has to say - the spaces between the notes are as essential as the notes themselves. The second movement of the Shostakovich is slow and they gave it all the space it needed so that it was relaxed but not at any time losing tension and sagging. Brian was very impressed by his conducting - and as B has conducted the Shostakovich he knows it extremely well because Esa-Pekka was always there when he needed to be, in charge at all times, but also left the musicians to themselves when they were doing solos and so on.
It was magic.
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