Sunday, March 28, 2010

Venetian tale, little locos and dust.

1. A lot of train journey means a lot of reading time. I picked up Michelle Lovric's The Undrowned Child on my way out of the house, and I'm glad I did. It's set in Venice, and it's the story of a bookish girl who must fulfil a prophecy to save the city from a watery fate -- with some salty-tongued, curry-loving mermaids to help her.

2. We go up to Alexandra Palace for a model train show. Among the grittily realistic industrial layouts and nostalgic rural idylls, was found Smallbrook Studio's lofty locos in Yellow Submarine colours. They look as if they've chuffed out of a Heath Robinson illustration, but a chat to the maker revealed that they were inspired by another illustrator, Rowland Emett.

3. We dig in with Stardust -- a romantic fantasy film based on a novel by Neil Gaiman in which the heart of a falling star is pursued by... well pretty much everyone. I particularly love Mark Williams' performance as a goat turned into an innkeeper.

Book treasure, worn and speaker.

1. Finding treasure in the Oxfam bookshop. I only popped in to look for a card. 2. Bettany doesn't wear makeup out and about, but noneth...