Eyup my gorgeous weeknoters. How are you? It’s Friday, and that can only mean yet another overly long rambling weeknote from yours truly.
WHO IS THIS PERSON?
I’m Dave Graham, slightly lapsed book tempter (@dakegra on the socials), stationery geek, lover of movies, music, and good whisky. UX guy. Easily distractible with a hot beverage and cake. Owned by two cats.
Reading
Still reading Joe Abercrombie's The Devils, but got distracted by other shiny things, including...
Home Before Dark, by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir. Thanks to the wonderful Karen Sullivan for keeping me topped up with utterly superb translated fiction. This one is fantastic, about a woman investigating the disappearance of her sister ten years earlier. Gripping stuff.
I also restarted my Audible subscription thanks to a 'please come back have three months cheap' email at 3am this morning. Immediately jumped on and bought Ned Boulting's new book, The Accidental Tour-ist: (Final) dispatches from the road. Big fan of Ned's writing, and this year, sadly, is his last as a commentator on the Tour de France for ITV. Sad times.
Watching
Daughter is back home from uni, so we're doing a re(re) watch of The Rookie. I loved the earlier series, and it drifts off occasionally into Extremely Silly, but enjoying it. Daughter is very annoyed that season 7 is only being released at an episode a week on NowTV, and is not impressed when I tell her that's how we used to watch stuff back in the day.
I also was delighted to discover that Amazon has got Northern Exposure on Prime. I loved that show when it first came out (an episode a week, hmm) and have started watching it again. Had a crush on Janine Turner at the time, as did most of us, I suspect.
Also wanted to be Chris, or have a radio show like his. Though it'd have to be called Dave In The Morning, I guess. I also recall one episode (spoilers) where Chris built a trebuchet to fling a coffin into a lake (having previously used it to fling a piano into the same lake), and immediately thought that's the way I want to go out. Possibly with the coffin on fire. Various people over the years have suggested that might not be
sensible
practical
legal
Bah, and indeed humbug, I say.
Listening
Other than the audiobook of The Accidental Tour-ist, I've not listened to much music this week. Open to suggestions! I'll pick some and report back.
The Consumed
The kids done good for Father's Day and got me a bottle of The Heart Cut #10 White Peak Wire Works whisky.
OK, technically I bought it for myself and suggested that they give it to me, but the thought (or cash) was there. Looking forward to opening it. I love what White Peak Distillery are doing (the Caduro cask strength is spectacularly good, especially for a young whisky), and The Heart Cut are putting out some fabulous indie bottles. Will report back on this one.
Photos
It was Amber's 8th birthday yesterday. She was very happy about it and had a play in the park with her ball. She's a very smiley labrador! Best dog.
Other things
Eldest child has bought himself a Fujifilm X-M5 and got a Viltrox 28mm f/4.5 pancake lens to go with it. Took it to Barcelona last week on holiday and got some fabulous photos. I now have camera envy (despite owning several lovely Sony cameras myself). Maybe I just need a new lens...
Right, that's enough of that. Looks like it's going to be a warm weekend here, so remember to stay hydrated, don't forget the sunscreen, and lose yourself in a good book.
And as ever, be excellent to each other.
D x
Happy birthday, Amber! 😍
Nice tone, Dave. Lovely stuff.