Mmmmmm...shiny!

I've got my lovely new Pratchett book!

I went down to work from the uni at lunchtime and walked straight into goods-in to see if it was there yet. I then hassled poor New Chris (our new goods-in lad) to look through the EDN's to see if it was in one of the TBS boxes that were sitting in a pile.

It was! Chris was then very lovely and unpacked me a copy and I grinned all the way back up to the uni knowing I had it to read while I ate my Thursday SubWay.

It is gonna annoy a few people though.

The other two Tiffany Aching books have been published as "children's DiscWorld". They've come out in the spring and have been slightly smaller and thinner than the usual DiscWorld novel that comes out in the autumn.

Big Chris hasn't read them for this reason. Even when he's been complaining that Pratchett hasn't done a Witches book for ages and I mention them, he's been dismissive.

Well this one has been published as one of the "adult" ones. It's the big format, it's been published in the autumn, and it's a Witches one.

I know we've had a few other customers too who've been very dismissive of the "kids" DiscWorld books, looks like they'll be buying them now!

(Oh, and I'm about a third of the way through and it's heavy on the witches, especially Granny Weatherwax).

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Oh yeah, my early night on Tuesday? 3am...

Last night I went to bed at 8, woke up at 2am...

I have another sodding bladder infection so I'm very grouchy and am rather tired. This is another reason that getting Wintersmith early was A Good Thing.

Phew

Things here are a bit hectic this week.

I've been meaning to post about the other stuff I did during my week off, the fact that Phil got asked about the Female Booker Prize, Campbelli and her mad travelling and the fact that slugs keep appearing in my kitchen sink.

But I'm just too tired.

Partly this is due to the fact that I'm working at the university branch at the moment. Jayne had her daughter Elinor two weeks early on the 10th Sept (and she popped in today and Elinor is so adorable) and so Deb needed someone to act as a duty manager there, so Bod asked me to do it. It's not fantastically hard work there yet, the horribly busy bit starts next week, but the fact I have the extra responsibility made me very stressed last week. I've just been horribly worried that I'm going to do something horribly wrong, but so far everythings been ok so I feel like a wally for worrying so much.

Last night I was in bed before 9, that's how tired I was. Tonight I'm aiming to watch a programme about Stephen Fry and his manic depression and then toddle off to bed about 10ish, which is a sort of an early night I guess.

Anthony is working the 5-1 shift this week, which means I don't have him to snuggle up to and chill with, but the cats are trying their best to relax me. When I came in tonight I could hear Esme giving me her little "Hello" meow, but couldn't see her anywhere. I looked behind the sofa and in the dresser, but no Esme. Then all of a sudden the throw on the sofa started moving and I realised that she'd burrowed underneath it and gone to sleep all cosy and hidden. Luckily she'd been sensible enough to do it in the middle of the sofa, rather than the end where I throw my bags when I get in, or I'm sure it wouldn't have been "Hello" meows that I'd have heard!

Tomorrow is pay-day, which is always good. Also, Wintersmith should be turning up this week so I'll have a lovely new Pratchett book to read.

Oooh...the good thing about working at the uni...NO WEEKENDS!

Holiday week (1)

For once I only had 7 days off in a row (I'm usually clever and manage 9) but since only 4 of those counted as holiday days I'm lucky there!

We started the week with a list of things that we wanted to get done.

1) Blind up in living-room.

2) Curtain poles up in back bedroom and new spare bedroom (which is currently the library until that moves downstairs).

3) Cut back hedge.

4) Take the three unwanted mattresses to the tip.

5) Move library downstairs.

6) Put up curtains in dining room/new library.

7) Clean all the ground floor windows.

8) Collect Anthony's old bed from his house and put into new spare bedroom.

9) Buy new pillows, duvet and bedlinen for spare bed.

10) Choose paint colours for rooms. (These all have to be passed by the landlady too).

11) Collect fish tank.

12) Move all Yeti's rubbish to front room.

13) Move computer boxes to spare room cupboard.

14) Fix door to back hallway.

15) Defrost fridgefreezer, move it to front room so the Yeti can take it away, and replace with Phil's fridge.

16) Buy curtains for upstairs and front room.

17) Buy blind for living room.

We managed 10 of those things (2,3,4,6,7,12,13,14,15,16) and managed to buy a duvet for the new bed, but no pillows yet.

My garden feels so much bigger now. Wednesday Alf came round and between then they took about 2 foot off the height of the hedge which has increased the amount of light amazingly. They did manage to piss off my Asian neighbours though, as the old guy (the one who hit Foley) came out into the garden to watch them, and ended up throwing branches back over the fence. Don't really care if we pissed them off though, after all it's their hedge and they should have been cutting it back too. Angela noticed it straight away as it also means her garden gets lots more light which is brilliant.

Wednesday was also the day that the mattresses went. Alf brought his trailer and they went off along with all the bits of hedge to some nice tip somewhere. We nearly cleared out a load of the wood from the garage too, but the gates in the back lane got locked after the first trip out (and I have no key) so we've left that for another time.

The curtain poles were bought and measured up on Sunday while I was at work. Then when I was waiting for the Yeti to arrive on Tuesday to take his stuff away I spotted some nice curtains on Bid-Up.tv and bought those for £9.99. We've just put up one of each in each of the rooms upstairs as we don't need more than that up there and they look gorgeous. (I really have to get a new battery pack for my camera so I can take pictures).

The front room now seems so much bigger since the Yeti has taken his junk away. The horrible unit is still there, but I'm planning to start dismantling it this afternoon and then the bits should be easily disposed of. Then we can move the bookcases downstairs and start making that room really cosy.

Yes, I intended to post about my holiday week tonight, but I got caught up in my struggle to get my new paladin character to level 40 (time for a free horse) tonight.

This also meant that after I'd had Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on, the tv got left on during part of How To Find A Husband. Now I like that Sally girl, but it's not my kind of show at all.

I'm glad I left it on though, as she was holding a dating night in a laundrette in Notting Hill and when she mentioned Notting Hill I looked at the tv just in time to spot Mark's bookshop! This has meant that I've had to leave the programme on just in case he turns up, although I'm sure he'd have mentioned it.

I promise to blog about my relaxing week off tomorrow...honest.

Book

I've just read the best book I've read for ages. The only bad thing about it is the fact it's not published til January so I have to wait til then to start recommending it to customers.

It's called "Growing Up Again" by Catriona McCloud.

Janie Lawson's life hasn't turned out quite the way she'd hoped.
Nearly forty, she's in a marriage that's frozen over with a mother-in-law she despises. Before Janie can take the final step towards divorce, though, her fate is taken out of her hands. Janie wakes up in her old bedroom and finds it just as it was in her teens. But it isn't until Janie looks in the mirror, to be confronted by her fifteen-year-old self sporting the most diabolical 80s perm, that the reality of her situation sinks in. She's been swept back in time to 1981 and all the signs suggest that it's a one way trip. But there's an upside - Janie has the chance to make her life turn out the way she wanted it. She's determined to help her parents, make her fortune and do some good in the world, starting with saving Lady Diana Spencer from her fate. But pretty soon Janie realises that even second time around, nothing is guaranteed...

This doesn't even begin to cover how good the book is. The fact she remembers everything is perfect, and there's no worrying about exactly what will happen when she changes things. Sure, there's a little grief at the fact that William and Harry might not get born, but other than that she's single-minded in the pursuit of her goals. I love the postcards she gets, the fact she uses her 40 year old adult self's sarcasm on her teachers and the way she spends most of the book trying to remember her hamster's name!

I actually had to set my phone alarm so I wasn't late back off my lunch cos I was so engrossed in this.

And no...I won't lend you the proof cos I'm worried I wouldn't get it back!