I read the news today oh boy - four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire (The Beatles)

My very first purchase upon reaching London for our latest trip to the country with a meaningful cultural context (hello Arsenal, Carry On..films, Stratford Westfield Mall) was what, do you suppose?

Of course! The Guardian.

Boy oh boy, do I miss a proper paper when I'm outside the U.K.

Our San Francisco stop over meant I could read the New York Times a couple of, erm, times. I was underwhelmed. Okay, if pushed, it may have whelmed me slightly in the American sport coverage. But it's no Guardian!

The Guardian is, undoubtedly, the finest collection of daily writing to be found on the planet. And I love my daily dose. 

To continue the literary theme of this post - I'm nearly finished Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle (currently being advertised as a TV show that is based on this novel).

The brilliant premise is what hooked me enough to buy a copy - what if the Germans and Japanese had won WW2? Yikes!

It took a while for it to grab hold (and sort out who was who) but now I'm reading it every chance I can get. I'm up to page 220 (out of 249) and so far, no sign of actually meeting the man in that high castle (who, in a great twist, wrote a controversial novel about how America/ Britain/ Russia won WW2).

I can't actually see how they could make two seasons of TV out of this material but that's American TV for you. Apparently it's a really good show.

Anyway - off to finish those remaining pages...