Sunday, January 14, 2007

Success, Chinoiserie opulence and good triangle.

1. Seeing other bloggers making it into print. Anonymous Lawyer now has a book out -- and the publishers have considered me influential enough to merit a review copy (I think that's why they sent it -- I was a bit afraid to ask why they thought I should have one in case they thought they'd made a mistake and decided not to let me have it). I used to read Anonymous Lawyer way back when -- it's the darker side of Ally McBeal without all the fantasy and love interest.

2. Showing people round my new flat and hearing them ohh and ahh over things that I haven't thought of as beautiful yet. In particular, our deep red hall elicits a lot of comments. One of the first things Katie and I said to each other as we walked in, we said: 'That'll have to go.' But when three people say they love its Chinoiserie opulence in less than 24 hours, it makes you wonder...

3. Supermarket cheese is a bit hit and miss -- sometimes it's jolly good; sometimes it's yuck. But I like the satisfaction of finding I have bought a good piece -- in this case a long triangle of gooey soft Somerset brie.

Goldfinches, meeting and mackerel.

1. Goldfinches, painted like they're going to war, crowd the bird feeders. 2. We meet my cousin's partner for the first time, and it...