Vermilion Sands
An occasional journal
Red or Dead
Oct 26th 2018
Another lurid sunset.
A cold-suffering Admin1 is playing Red Dead Redemption II and reading Dead Lions by Mick Herron, in which a motley crew of disgraced MI5 agents stumble on a possible nest of Soviet sleeper agents. Our heroes are a mostly obnoxious bunch, but the writing is so sharp and funny that you end up rooting for them anyway; a really superb read.
Balls!
Oct 23rd 2018
Admins 1&2′s new dining table which converts to a snooker table. Thank you St Gemmas. Game on!
Admin1 is rereading Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson. Admin2 is reading The Hit by Nadia Dalbueno.
Khofi ya tsiku: Malawi Pamwamba which was pamwamba (top).
Flour Pour
Oct 21st 2018
Ghosts of utensils on kitchen worktop after cake-making.
Admin2 is reading The Seagull by Ann Cleeves.
We scored 12 on the GWQ; thanks everybody.
Cloud of the Day: Breaking Wave
Oct 20th 2018
Admin1 is rereading Enigma by Robert Harris. Admin2 is reading The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths.
Halo Everybody
Oct 17th 2018
Admin2 is reading The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson; what an utterly miserable book.
Coffee of the day: Columbia Fincas las Mercedes la Isla.
Flaming Hell
Oct 16th 2018
Dramatic skies tonight. Here’s one we saw earlier:
Admin1 is rewatching Vera and reading Day of the Dead by Mark Roberts, which was gratuitously gruesome.
Diversity Dancing
Oct 14th 2018
A solarised image from yesterday’s bash.
Admin2 is reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.
We scored 10.5 on the GWQ, thx everybody.
All the Colours
Oct 13th 2018
One of a fabulous selection of iridescent clouds today, all dressed up for the diversity dinner.
Admin1 is reading The Moth Catcher by Anne Cleeves. Admin2 is reading Wild Chamber by Christopher Fowler, a London book that was possibly too wackily humorous for the horrible (albeit imaginary) crimes and misdemeanours it portrayed.
The Last of Summer
Oct 10th 2018
All the leaves are brown but the sky is blue. At 23.7°C, our warmest October day since 2011, and warm enough to produce swarms of varicoloured ladybirds.
Admin1 is reading The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. Admin2 is reading The Lady Killer by Masako Togawa; an intriguing story of a serial seducer and suspected serial killer, written and set in 1960s Tokyo clubland.
Giant Ice Pops
Oct 8th 2018
A delicious artwork by Senga Nengudi in the Henry Moore Institute.
Admin1 is reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, which was … mindbending. Admin2 has been reading Daydreamer by Ian McEwan. What a day for a daydreaming boy.
All the Family
Oct 6th 2018
With this lot on our team we managed to score 11 on the GWQ. Thx Gui, Lee, Bi & Fi, C, G & D.
Admin1 is reading Transcription by Kate Atkinson; finely written, but I wasn’t convinced by the denouement. Admin 2 is reading America City by Chris Beckett, a fabulous book about the power of publicity to change for the worse an America changed for the worse by climate change, and topical in the week of Hurricane Michael.
Teleman…
Oct 4th 2018
…at the Brudenell Social Club. Terrific!
We love this band — try this — but by the time we found out they were playing here the tickets were sold out. Gez put out feelers and today some fans from the Netherlands arrived with spare tickets. We got there just in time and enjoyed every minute. Thanks Gez, thanks Doyles, sorry people who tried to get in touch and thanks Teleman for a great show.
Admin1 is reading The Nightwalker by Sebastian Fitzek, a very stupid book. Admin2 is reading The American by Nadia Dalbueno.
Cloud of the Day: Flying saucer
Oct 2nd 2018
This alien craft rolled in shortly after a cloud shaped like Donald Trump’s head, which had gone before we had time to photograph it (unlike the real DT alas).
This year we have already had more sun than in the whole of last year: 1,405.416kWh.
Cloud of the Day: Cumulus fractus
Sep 30th 2018
Looks a bit like Europe minus UK…
Admin2 is reading The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves.
We watched Innocent and scored 9 on the GWQ.
In the Air Tonight
Sep 28th 2018
Our new toy tool: a drone with a movie camera, bought to look at the solar panels to see if they need a clean (and definitely not to have fun with). It’s pretty difficult to control in small spaces, but Admin1 is slowly improving with practice. This is the highest we’ve taken it so far.
Admin1 is rereading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.
Coffee of the day: Costa Rica Montanas del Diamante Tarrazu; smooth and citric.
Nightfall
Sep 25th 2018
Creepy clouds.
Admin2 is reading Love Is Blind by William Boyd (thx Admin1); adventures of a consumptive piano tuner who escapes his scary Scottish family.
Cloud of the Day: Praecipitatio
Sep 23rd 2018
Rain that doesn’t reach the ground, and a rainbow that doesn’t reach the sky.
Admin2 is reading The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer; two mediaeval plague victims have the chance to save their souls by living for one day in each of the next six centuries.
We are watching Unforgotten.
We scored 7 on the GWQ.
Weather of the Day: Rain
Sep 21st 2018
Hot on the heels of Storm Ali comes Storm Bronagh. We had 21.6mm of rain today.
Admin1 is rereading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.
Love Conkers All
Sep 18th 2018
Admin1 is reading Unleashed by Peter Laws. Admin2 is reading The Few by Nadia Dalbuono.