(Yeah, when am I not busy?)After a nice quiet weekend, life has reverted to its usual whirl of activity (but it's ok, it's in a good way). Last week of term, so work has been the usual madhouse, of course, and it's turning into quite a social week as well.
On Monday night I dropped round to visit my ESOL student. I haven't seen her for a couple of months, because we didn't have any lessons during Ramadan (because at this time of year sunset falls right at the time we'd normally be having a lesson, and feeding her family after their fast is understandably a higher priority than English lessons), and since then she's been busy with Eid parties and visitors. So I dropped round for a cup of tea and a chat, to make sure she got a bit of English speaking practice, even if we didn't have time for a formal lesson.
Last night was meetup night, but MrPloppy and I also wanted to go to the UC in the City lecture on Research in Mathematics (once a maths geek, always a maths geek, even if my academic interests lean more towards linguistics and psychology these days), so I used my organiser privileges to change the meetup time to 7.30. The lecture was fascinating - a lovely mix of mathematical history and glimpses into the seriously exciting research going on now.
Unfortunately the meetup wasn't so exciting. Just me, MrPloppy, and MarcieNZ there. Which isn't to denigrate MrPloppy or MarcieNZ's conversational abilities - we had a great chat and the meetup was most enjoyable - but it would have been nice to see a few more people there. I'll have to put a bit more effort into re-inspiring the local bookcrossers again.
Oh well, at least MarcieNZ and I were able to do a bit of book-swapping. She took Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler, Mean Season by Heather Cochran, Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson, Lucy Talk by Fiona Walker, and Bookends by Jane Green to read and distribute to her fellow musicians at The Bog, and in return I grabbed Getting It by Jane Blanchard to read (yeah, I'm still feeling like reading light and fluffy stuff, so I can't be 100% well yet), and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy for the OBCZ.
Went out for lunch with Jenny today. Just to the Chinese place just off campus, but at least it was off campus, so made for a pleasant break in the day. We've been talking about escaping for lunch for ages, so it was nice to finally do it. Now I've just got to catch up with all the other people I keep saying "we must have lunch sometime" to...
Tomorrow night my lace class starts again, after the school holidays. I missed the last couple of classes of last term, what with being unwell and then being away, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. Luckily it's pretty much a work at your own pace sort of class, so I will be able to catch up.
Then on Saturday we've got a visitor coming. This is the big news: it's Fuzzle! For those who don't remember her (which will be pretty much everyone, seeing as she's been gone for seven or eight years - longer than I've been a bookcrosser, anyway), she used to be our flatmate, and was Ming and Saffy's original owner. She left the cats with us when she went overseas, supposedly for "a year or so"... yeah, I think she underestimated that one :-) Anyway, we got an email from her totally out of the blue the other day, saying she was coming home and asking if she could stay with us for a while when she gets to Christchurch. It'll be great to see her again - I wonder if Saffy will still recognise her?
Oh, and apparently Mum & Stepfather are going to be in Christchurch for a few days too. Don't know if we'll see them though, because it sounds like they'll be in meetings most of the time.
It's been a while, so time for a catch update (good thing Steve changed his mind about the links!):
- Fury by Colin Forbes - this one's pretty impressive: I released it in a fish and chip shop in Christchurch, and a year and a half later it turned up in the Netherlands!
- Wake Up and Dream by Pat Mesiti - my first catch from our new OBCZ. Good to know it's working!
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - was out there for a year too, but didn't travel quite so far :-)
- Shoo Cat by Ian Bone - one of my cat-themed anniversary releases finally caught
- Beloved by Toni Morrison - a second-generation catch
- Smugglers' Moon by Sylvia Thorpe - a very quick anonymous finder catch
- The Kingsford Mark by Victor Canning - and a slightly slower anonymous finder catch
- A Perfect Family by Penny Jordan - and another quick one
- Bookends by Liz Curtis Higgs - caught by a long-time local bookcrosser (who I don't think we've ever met - maybe I should make contact)
- A Grue of Ice by Geoffrey Jenkins - the normal reason for using release bags is in case it rains, but this journal entry shows another advantage: if you release a book on a bridge and someone comes along and chucks it in the river, it'll float (yeah, I know Skyring figured that one out ages ago :-))
- Moon Over Water by Debbie Macomber - the finder wasn't overly impressed with the book, but at least they journalled it
- A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer - one of the many catches from my trip down to Alexandra. I think my catch rate for that trip must be getting close to 50%.
- Life (and Death) in a Small City Garden by Philippa Swan - another one from Alexandra
- Early Spring by Tove Ditlevsen - another one...
- The Mallen Streak by Catherine Cookson - and another one...
- The Famous Five and the Blue Bear Mystery by Claude Voilier - and another one...
- The Famous Five and the Stately Homes Gang by Claude Voilier - and another one!
- Squadron Scramble by Robert Jackson - sometimes it's the oddest books that get journalled. From memory, this one was in pretty rough condition, so I thought its chances of getting picked up were low. But weirdly, it's often the oldest tattiest books that seem to have the best chance of getting caught.
- Mixed Magic by Diana Wynne Jones - another catch from the OBCZ, on its way to Australia
- Death in Springtime by Magdalen Nabb - just when you thought you'd seen the last of them, it's another catch from Alexandra
- The Famous Five and the Knights' Treasure by Claude Voilier - and another one...
- Joe and the Gladiator by Catherine Cookson - and another one...
- Wild Mountain Thyme by Rosamunde Pilcher - and another one! (And the finder "got" my themed release, too :-))
I should go down to Alexandra more often! (Though at this rate, I reckon the entire population must have caught one of my books by now :-))
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