Sunday 22 January 2017

Sunday

Good morning again.  I haven't peeked out yet and can't be bothered to get out of bed and look but I bet it's not all that warm out!

Mum and I popped into town yesterday morning.  Dad politely declined our invitation to come too, what a surprise!  We wandered around a good charity shop (didn't buy anything though) and then hopped across the road to David's Bookshop to browse the second hand books.  I did rather well there as they were fifty pence each or three for a pound.  I got Akenfield (portrait of an English Village), Evening Class by Maeve Binchey which I haven't read and a cookery book entitled The Green Kitchen, which looked interesting.  Now I am a lady of leisure, I need books, you know.  I know there's the library but it's a small branch and doesn't have much of the sort of book I like.

After that we popped into a very cramped and crowded fabric shop but most of what was on offer was silky, sparkly, sari-type fabric, not what I wanted.  However, right at the back there were some rolls of cotton, reduced to £4.99 a metre, so I got a metre of cream and a metre of white.  It will do brilliantly for the inside of my patchwork shopping bags!

After a coffee in Morrisons and a bit of shopping (bread and apples) we came home again and in the afternoon I snuggled down with The Green Kitchen book.

While in the bookshop, I looked for some Miss Read books but couldn't find any.  I don't know if you know them - wonderful stories about life in Cotswolds villages.  I first 'met' her first book, Village School, just before I went to college for teacher training as it was on the reading list and I was immediately hooked.

As I didn't find any, when I got home I looked on Amazon and found loads second hand but in 'very good' condition.  They're all around the same price, under £3 including p&p.  So now I have five winging their way to me and I am really looking forward to being reacquainted with them.

Today is going to be a quiet day, I think.  Reading, knitting, chatting - bliss.



8 comments:

  1. So glad to see you enjoy the Miss Read books.
    That's my childhood depicted in her books. Not just figuratively but literally, as I lived in the same area, went to the same school as her daughter, and her husband taught at my brother's school.
    I don't often reread books, but make an exception for her Village School and Thrush Green series.

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  2. Oh, wow, how fantastic. That really is your blast from the past.
    I went to a lovely, three class village school in Derbyshire and so much of what she says resonates. Not the stove but when she talks about playtimes I always 'see' that playground in my mind's eye, same for the lobby, the partition, etc.
    They are comfort reading for me.
    J x

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  3. Oh, definitely the stove! And our bottles of milk arranged round it so we had hot milk to drink at the morning break.
    Do you know the Gervase Phinn books? About his experiences as a school teacher in North Yorkshire? If not, you might enjoy them.

    http://www.gervase-phinn.com/gervase_pages/dales_books.htm

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  4. Yes, I do know them and I love them. So funny! I went to a talk he gave once and he was as funny in Real Life as he is in his books.
    J x

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  5. I've read a number of Miss Read books and always enjoy them.

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  6. The 'village school' is a concept everywhwere, as it provides a sound educational background for later on in life.
    My best items (fabrics, clothes..) are usually bought incidentally, and not when I go out with shopping intentions. That's how things are for me.

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  7. I think that's fairly common really - you just see it and have to get it!
    I can't wait for the books to come no, but I am reading Evening Class and enjoying it in a non-demanding way!
    J x

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  8. I really like Evening Class and the Miss Read books. Enjoy!

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