THIS AND THAT

My latest read is a book by Lee Childs called A Wanted Man which was published last year. I’ve only just started it but already I feel the excitement that precedes a good read. Lee Childs is a local man, coming from Coventry in the UK. Coventry is roughly about 20 miles from my home so I think of Lee as local man made good.  The fact that he now lives in the US is irrelevant. New York Times described the book as “Smart, breathless... more ingenious than other Reacher books” ... hence my excitement.

Another thing that excites me is the release of new traffic clampdowns when police are expected to focus on:

• Driving too close to the vehicle in front
•  Failure to give way at junctions
• Overtaking and pushing into a queue of traffic (oh the times I see that!) 
•  Being in the wrong lane and pushing into a queue at a roundabout (that happens ALL the time)
• Needles hogging in middle or outside lanes
• Inappropriate speed
•  Wheel spins, handbrake turns and other careless manoeuvres

It would make my day to see those culprits picked up and dealt with. Perhaps if they were all arrested there would be more room in the car parks. Although, having said that, I was lucky enough to have an entire floor in the local car park all to myself. As Joe would say, they must have seen me coming and kept out of the way!

The other day I received an unusual email from a gentleman trying to trace my WI institute. Apparently his mother recently died and amongst her possessions he found a nicely bound recipe book with recipes from members of, yes, MY WI. He asked if we would like it. I didn’t even wait to ask the President... I just said yes. Well, you never know, it might be valuable.

The guy got my name from a blog I once edited for the WI. The blog is no longer in existence but apparently Google still had it ‘on file’. Strange, because when I Google’d it out of curiosity I was ‘told’ it no longer existed. I wasn’t even given details of a post prior to the discontinuation yet the guy said he saw the last one dated April 2013. Isn’t that amazing? But I’m getting away from the point.

The man used to live in my area so whilst writing he tossed in a few names that we might know. The plan now is to have a slot at the next committee meeting so that I can throw the names at the members and see if they remember anything. There was only one name I knew but I’m not sure if she was one of our members or one of the other WIs.

Isn’t it strange what we get in our inbox?

Finally, a bit about bites...

This year I’ve had my fair share of insect bites. Strangely enough they all seemed to come in awkward places like the crook of the arm or leg, thereby reducing the healing time. Whenever I moved the bite disappeared inside the fold of flesh which had the effect of continual scratching. And that, as we all know, is not recommended. I’m thinking of putting arrows on my skin to indicate where the insect should bite. Someone told me that only those with an excess amount of sugar in their blood get bitten; if that's true and considering I don't take sugar or eat many sugary foods, does it mean I'm depriving insects of their daily ration, or is it because they're so desperate for the sweet stuff they'll eat anything?