nocto

handy animated knots, thanks to the 42nd brighton scouts. (all i wanted to know was what a ’square knot’ was, turns out it’s the same as a reef, and now i’m tying bowlines in anything to hand that resembles rope.) (i think it’s a bit late to get my guide knotter badge revoked but it’s as well to keep my hand in just in case…) (i think that link is to an australian knotter’s badge but mine was british and pretty damned similar)

lots and lots of recipes for breakfast and brunch, handy ideas that are useful for holidays when i can’t be bothered with this three meals a day lark and would rather just start the day with one meal to make it through to evening.

a new year, a new canvas to fill with books. curiously i managed to read exactly the same number of books last year (82) that i read in 2001. it’s not like i’m consistent either as i read tons more (131) in the year in between. even i can’t figure out why i flail around so much in numbers.

i have nowhere near the level of statistics that eric leuliette has on what i read but i’m working on it (apart from having started this record aged 27 rather than five).

updating my post from last august:

• in 2003 i read 43 books i bought in 2003.
• in 2003 i read 9 books i bought in 2002.
• in 2003 i read 3 books i bought in 2001.
• in 2003 i read 0 books i bought in 2000.
• in 2003 i read 27 books i haven’t bought at all.

i’m happy with my resolution not to leave books lying around unread forever too as there are only 7 books out of the 51 i bought in 2003 in the house unread. three of those were acquired in the dying days of the year and don’t count, one is the next volume of one of my favourite series (dialogues of the dead by reginald hill) and will get read very soon and definitely isn’t a candidate for perpetual unreadness and the other three were all bought for group discussions that i managed not to make it to, though i’ve been halfway through one of them (the bone vault by linda fairstein) for six months and really ought to consign it to the ‘never going to be finished pile’ as it’s just not doing it for me.

i haven’t yet decided on a reading resolution for 2004, it’s likely to be either to read more of my own unread books or throw myself headlong into darren’s bookshelves and slurp them up rather than buying more books of my own. oh, and i’m going to keep on top of the new books i buy and not let them turn into lonely unread books.

i’ve already heard ‘twenty oh four’ more times than i ever heard ‘twenty oh three’ and i never heard ‘twenty oh two’, ‘twenty oh one’ or ‘twenty hundred’ at all, except in conversations musing over whether the usage would ever catch on. radio 4 seem to have decided it’s twenty oh four, i’ve no idea if the rest of the bbc or the media in general are doing likewise because i haven’t listened to them yet this year. i like it because this awkward ‘two thousand and…’ thing still makes me feel like i’m living in a world that belongs in science fiction.

happy twentieth birthday to the ftse100, i’d have guessed it was a lot older than that as 1984 was before financial markets entered my consciousness as something i’d even pay vague attention to. apparently it’s the child of the ft30 which began life in 1947.

2004? how did that happen then?