Vermilion Sands
An occasional journal
The Tree’s Knees
May 10th 2018
Admin1 is reading What Remains by Tim Weaver (readable but overlong and rather implausible, and still full of TW’s authorial tic of ending each chapter with a one-line hook). Admin2 is reading 4321 by Paul Auster.
We are watching Mr. Robot season 3.
Flower of the Day: Sundew
May 7th 2018
This is how the sundew blooms; like art nouveau wrought iron railings. Today was an exceptionally warm bank holiday: 29.5 °C.
Admin1 is reading The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths. Admin2 is reading The Dead Tracks by Tim Weaver.
Flower of the Day: Magnolia
May 5th 2018
Admin1 is rewatching Mr. Robot seasons 1 and 2 in preparation for season 3. Season 2 improves much on a rewatch,
We scored 9.5 on the GWQ.
May the Fourth Be with You
May 4th 2018
Mazeltov and hard cheese to gezwecan who came within 2 places of being elected to the council.
Admin1 is reading Deep Freeze by John Sandford. Admin2 is reading The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths: more shanaigans in fifties Brighton with the Coronation, the domestication of TV and gipsy fortune-tellers as sideshows. We watched Career of Evil.
The Garden After…
May 1st 2018
…an April with the coldest, hottest and darkest April days since our records began. Compare the garden on all preceding May Days.
Admin1 is reading The Beige Man by Helene Tursten. Admin2 is reading Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths, a whodunnit set around a pantomime in 1950s Brighton and refreshingly lacking in policemen with unhappy marriages and troubled teenage children and policewomen struggling to solve crimes while coping with babies.
I Hate Rain
Apr 28th 2018
Written on the road and strangely not washed away.
Admin1 is reading Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths. Admin2 is reading The Rift by Nina Allan: a different missing girl story.
We scored 11.5 on the GWQ.
Lovely Weather for Ducks
Apr 27th 2018
Admin2 is reading District VIII by Adam Lebor; a Roma policeman with an estranged wife investigating a possible murder of a Syrian refugee in Budapest. Too boring and sexist to finish.
Meet the New Cat (2 of 2)
Apr 26th 2018
Here’s the shy brother cat which has a slightly lighter coat and a less stripy tail. And here’s a rainbow.
Admin1 is reading The Dead Tracks by Tim Weaver. Admin2 is reading The Mechanical Devil by Kate Ellis.
Meet the New Cat (1 of 2)
Apr 24th 2018
We have had two lovely brother cats since Friday but they have spent the past few days in hiding, only venturing out in the dead of night. They are gradually becoming braver and this chap is quite friendly, but the other spends most of his time squeezed into an inaccessible corner behind the kitchen cupboards. Early days.
Admin1 is reading Holy Ceremony by Harri Nykänen. Admin2 is reading The Silver Pillow by Thomas M Disch.
Critter of the Day: Robin
Apr 22nd 2018
Cooling its claws in the pond waterfall.
Admin2 is reading The Beige Man by Helene Tursten.
We scored 10.5 on the GWQ. Thx Audrey.
Rays of the Day
Apr 21st 2018
These crepuscular rays after a 10kWh day preceded a spectacular midnight thunderstorm. April has been a rollercoaster of a month.
Admin1 is reading The Ninth Grave by Stefan Ahnhem.
Mr Blue Sky
Apr 19th 2018
Warmest April day since our records began and allegedly for the last 70 years: 30.4 °C.
Crowd of the Day: Stop Bombing Syria
Apr 16th 2018
A select few people protesting at short notice.
Admin1 is reading Fall from Grace by Tim Weaver. Admin2 is reading The Pale King by David Foster Wallace, an unfinished novel on the theme of sadness and boredom featuring an exceptionally spotty trainee tax inspector and with numerous bureaucratic footnotes that nonetheless managed to be interesting and amusing. We are watching Below the Surface and we scored 7.5 on the GWQ.
Cauliflower Cheese
Apr 14th 2018
The sun is shining on our supper on a horrible war day. Hottest day this year, though: 19.0°C.
Admin1 is reading The Fourth Monkey by JD Barker (terrible). Admin2 is reading The Body Library by Jeff Noon; weird postmodern bollox. We watched Cardinal and are now watching Collateral.
Jay of the Day
Apr 10th 2018
Yay and Hooray! Admin2 has been stalking this bird unsuccessfully for ages but Admin1 photographed it through a rainy window on our most dismal April day ever (0.42kWh).
Admin1 is reading Silenced by Kristina Olsson. Admin2 is reading The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths.
Weather of the Day: Fog
Apr 9th 2018
Admin1 is reading Victim Without a Face by Stefan Ahnhem. Admin2 is reading The Night Ferry by Lotte and Soren Hammer.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Blue Skies
Apr 5th 2018
A sunny day after a sleety night. And a square balloon to publicise a new shop.
Admin1 is reading The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths. Admin2 is reading The Chosen Ones by Scarlett Thomas which was magic.
Corona
Apr 3rd 2018
Sun behind clouds reflected in puddle. It rained today, but not like yesterday.
Admin2 is reading Holy Ceremony by Harri Nykanen; another story of long-delayed school revenge killings and very interesting until it was hastily wrapped up at the end.
April Showers
Apr 2nd 2018
Non-stop sleet and rain. Over 21mm (which is nearly twice what we got in the whole of April 2017) and a top temp of 6.0 °C (which is less than half our lowest daytime temp in April 2017, and indeed our lowest ever recorded April temp). Roll on summer.
Admin1 is reading The Night Ferry by Lotte and Soren Hammer.
Happy Birthday Gez
Mar 31st 2018
Happy birthday, Easter and Passover to the best woman in the world.
Admin2 is reading The Ninth Grave by Stefan Ahnhem: a tricky problem for the maritally challenged father of a rebellious teenager Fabian Risk: three serial killers in two countries with the Israelis pulling some strings (careful now).
We scored an appalling 6 on the GWQ.