How to comfort a Grammar Nazi

A not-so flamin' June

Well it hasn't been much of a flamin' June, more like one flamin' day of June.. and with less time spent on my new country commute to Reading, it would be great to have some sultry, summer evenings to enjoy, whilst I'm not tearing it up and down to London for five days of the week.

I do love the month of June though, despite the weather this year. Before the longest day, when the nights draw out to 10pm, and there's a sultry hush up and down the street, William Wordsworth's "A Night in June" comes to mind:

The sun has long been set,  
The stars are out by twos and threes,
The little birds are piping yet  
Among the bushes and trees;
There’s a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes,
And a far-off wind that rushes,
And a sound of water that gushes,
And the cuckoo’s sovereign cry
Fills all the hollow of the sky.  
Who would “go parading”
In London, “and masquerading,"
On such a night of June
With that beautiful soft half-moon,
And all these innocent blisses?
On such a night as this is!

Ducklings on the River Test

It was time for another amazing Ploughman's lunch at the Mayfly and we saw these cute little ducklings floating by. See if you can spot the trout...!

Falling For You by Jill Mansell

This was a new author for me so I didn't know what to expect. I presumed a light hearted chick lit read with a nice, easy going story - and that's exactly what I got - plus a generous helping of familiarity (the author lived and worked in Bristol and the story was set in Bath, where I was born), along with some fantastic storytelling and great plot twists. I guess that's what separates good writers from great writers... the ability to take life and make amazing books out of it, conveying a whole range of everyday emotions with such beautiful writing.

I am a big fan of village story telling. It's fascinating what goes on behind closed doors and you can always have a close knit cast who weave in and out of each other's lives. Falling For You does just that. Maddy is single and the one chap she wants, she can't have. Sound familiar? Of course! But as the story develops you find out why, the history behind the two families and the reasons for the hatred. Mansell charts Life's ups and downs for this brilliant set of characters and it's all so believable.