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Books

Completed

1. Darker than Night (Owl Goingback)
2. Kairos (Jenny Erpenbeck)
3. Afterthoughts, or Some Pistachios Won't Open (Richard Ayoade)
4. On This Holy Island (Oliver Smith)
5. The Imposs!ble Fortune (Richard Osman)
6. The Let Them Theory (Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins)
7. The Light Years (Elizabeth Jane Howard)
8. The Heart of the Matter (Graham Greene)
9. The Intimacy Defecit (Ed Shaw)
10. Wish You Were Dead (Peter James)
11. The Tenth Man (Graham Greene)
12. Stop Them Dead (Peter James)
13. The Four Agreements (Don Miguel Ruiz)
14. The Wolf in Winter (John Connolly)
15. Little Sister (Gytha Lodge)
16. Happier (Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D.)
17. The Vegetarian (Han Kang)

In Progress

52 ways to walk (Annabel Streets)
Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)

Planning to Read

The Earl and the Pharaoh (The Countess of Carnarvon)
They Thought I Was Dead: Sandy's Story (Peter James)
Agatha Raisin: Hiss and Hers (M.C. Beaton)
Praying for Sleep (Jeffery Deaver)

Films

1. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
2. Daehongsu (The Great Flood) (Byung-woo Kim, 2025)
3. Saltburn (Emerald Fennell, 2023)
4. About a Boy (Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz, 2002)
5. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Hettie MacDonald, 2023)
6. Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986)
7. Borat (Larry Charles, 2006)

Seen for the first time: 3
Rewatched: 4

This was my Easter Sunday spent in South Africa; we started off travelling to the Kruger National Park. I was a bit bummed first thing, a bit silly really. I was halfway through signing the visitor book, and the guy who had greeted us to the place walked in, and I wanted to say a proper goodbye to him. I only said a few words to him, turned back to finish what I'd been doing, looked up again, and he'd gone.

Dad and I even went looking for him, but couldn't find him. I got over the little disappointment later with the safari, including sundowners in the middle of the park. I remember meeting a couple from America who were there with their granddaughter, who was really fussy about what she ate, and they were at the same table as us for dinner. We had to sleep under mosquito nets that night.

Here's a shot of our guides getting sundowners ready.



Since we were in a safari park, I ought to add an animal shot:

( Elephant picCollapse )

1. Do you like the look of your country's currency (bills and coins)?

I like how it looks myself; I'm used to it, lots of pictures on coins of different shapes, nicely-decorated paper money; most of it still has the late Queen on it, but I don't mind that.

2. Regardless of their actual value, do you like bills or coins better?

Notes (as we call them) have the advantage that they're lighter, but I prefer to have coins just in that sometimes it can be difficult to break a larger note; I like to have a collection of small change, but just not too much as to stuff my wallet.

3. What is your favorite foreign currency? And why?

I quite like the South African rand, pictures of different animals (the "big five") on the images; its probably proof that the UK's currency can change to images of animals and not prove to be a disaster.

4. Do you collect coins or bills? Elaborate.

I used to in the past; somewhere I think I still have a plastic bank full of old currency, and lots of foreign coins; I couldn't say exactly where though.

5. Do you think human society could make do completely without money? Explain.

I think probably yes; if we just traded with other things that others needed, and what we had too much of or didn't want, we could probably skip the need to have money entirely; maybe society would get fairer.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another book that I picked up because I'd read good things about it. It starts with a character called Yeong-hye announcing that she's become vegetarian, apparently because of a bizarre dream she had. I don't really know much about South Korean culture, and whether there are more taboos about vegetarianism, which might explain some of the reactions that she gets.

At first, I thought the book was going to be a satire about human behaviour, but as it went on, it evolved into something more, more of a drama about the characters, told in three distinct chapters.

The narrative style changes with each chapter, so the first is all in first person, told from the point of view of Yeong-hye's unnamed husband. The second chapter switches to third person, and focuses on Yeong-hye's brother-in-law, who is also an artist (her husband doesn't appear again in the book). The narrative then switches from past to present tense for the final, harrowing chapter, which I won't spoil much, but involves the most extreme response to Yeong-hye's lifestyle choice.

I enjoyed this book; I liked the fact that it kept going in completely unexpected directions, and I found it one that I could get through relatively fast, with only a few times when I had to flick back a few pages. I had to think a little about the end; it seemed very open-ended, and open to interpretation, but I'd expected nothing less.



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I've got more training and learning to get on with today, all for some work tasks I'll be taking on, and then a couple of things on this evening, including an axe-throwing trip.

I'll hopefully get lunch with some of the guys, too, and despite the weather looking quite murky today, I'm going to see how much time I can spend outside. Maybe it will be good for a bit of al fresco dining later.

This will be the second time I've been axe throwing; I hope it goes well.

Here is the 2026 Active April calendar, and I'm going to try once again to be more active this month.



At work, we had morning training course and a lunchtime visit to St. Paul's Cathedral to join a service.

On Strava, I have:
* Logged 4 hours and 22 minutes for Red Bull Spring In Your Step;
* Logged 1 of 10 days for the April Ten Days Active Challenge;
* Made no progress on the April 180 Minute Sweat Challenge (needs one activity of three hours or more);
* Climbed 45m of 2,000m for the April Elevation Chalenge;
* Walked almost 7,958 steps for the April 100K Steps Challenge; and
* Logged 1 hour and 43 minutes of 6 hours and 40 minutes for the April 400-minute x Runna Challenge.

52 ways to walk mentions the mental health benefits of listening to natural sounds while I walk, and trying to listen for birdsong in London today was almost impossible; too much traffic and construction noise (at one point I heard what I thought was an unusual bird sound, and it was just someone laughing raucously). I admit, I also found it difficult to tune in to birdsong when just having my usual angst with sharing the pavement with other people, slow walkers in front of me, and people who aren't looking where they're going, but this evening as I became less obsessive about what other people were up to, I really started to notice the birds as I walked through town, and the effect was quite calming.

Post box topper; picture taken on an Easter Sunday walk with the family; I'd been visiting my sister that day.

I started today by briefly scanning my body, just in my head, to feel what it was telling me. I felt the usual pricks and twinges in my legs, and a small amount of achiness in my back, which felt worse about a week ago, and is now more or less right again.

The day didn't go too bad; lunch with some of the guys at Pilpel, which I didn't realise is a vegetarian cafe; the server felt the need to warn me that my choice of food didn't have falafel in (it's something I could take or leave really, and seems very much like a fad food). I notice that they often rang a bell and cheered; someone suggested it was because they got tipped.

For the photo_scavenger collection prompt, I spotted someone's collection of terracotta/stoneware figures as I took a very small detour on the way home, just along a side path. There is now a new prompt: Cross.



I have managed to switch to the 200k option for the Spring Challenge, so have confirmed myself as having completed it.

On Strava, I have:
* Climbed 1,574m for the March Elevation Challenge (a valiant effort, but I'm not going to complete it now);
* Logged 1 hour and 34 minutes for Red Bull Spring In Your Step; and
* Logged 31 minutes of 1 hour and 30 minutes for a new challenge: Kick-Start your PB: Healthspan Elite.

Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment by Tal Ben-Shahar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A completely blind read for me, but the title stood out, all about self-help and improving personal happiness. The book identifies four types of mindset, which are set out using an analogy relating to burgers, but which can be put simpler as:
1) Hedonism; doing something that is enjoyable at the time, but which ultimately is bad for you;
2) Rat Race; not living for yourself in the present, with a view to saving yourself for future enjoyment;
3) Nihilism; a sort of "all is futile" mindset, usually a self-destructive one; and
4) Happiness, being happy now, and being happy in the future.

This was a quick read for me, and I picked up a bunch of key lessons from reading this, mainly the fact that I shouldn't be seeking a kind of fairy tale-like "happily ever after", as such a thing doesn't exist; life always has good moments, and bad moments. The key message is to try to do things that make you happy; one of the meditations in the final third of the book refers to "happiness boosters" that you can use to aid your own happiness.

The book also suggested lots of practical exercises that I only skimmed over, but which I would like to put in practice, usually writing things down about what makes me happy, or compiling a list of five things that made me happy each day.



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