Snowdrops

It’s a bit wonky as I held the phone under the snowdrops to try to capture the lovely centre. Not a success.

It was Book Group 2 today at Shona’s. We discussed Alison’s book too as her meeting was Covid cancelled. I had read her book so long ago and not written anything down but luckily I could still contribute. It was Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangen set in Venice during the flood is 1966. I was gripped by the mental deterioration of the protagonist - it was a gradual process of disintegration and I thought done well. Shona’s book was very different - The Dirt road by James Kelman. I had to admit to giving up even before my threshold of 50
pages. It was so bleak and repetitive and boring yet the others mainly liked it. Thankfully they discussed in depth so I will never need to read it.

This afternoon I received a long apologetic letter from the owner of company we’d booked our Benin trip with. He explained how all the guides were paid off during Covid and the hotels rundown. Some complainants had said they shouldn’t have offered the trip in the circumstances but I agree with the explanation that it was important to support these countries while they recover from Covid. They offer 20% discount on a future trip with them and refunded us £250 each. I think that’s fair.

Apple gave me 3 months free on AppleTV so last night we watched Slow Horses on my new Mac.

I can’t think of the harrowing situation in Turkey/Syria. How can aid not get there quickly?