The joy of books…

can be seen in this delightful video.

And how about organizing the bookcase.

There’s nothing quite like reading a real book!  

Merry Christmas…

and a Happy New Year…Flighty xx

Remembrance Day 2011

Eating for England

When I was a growing lad my mum would often say to me that I could eat for England, especially when I was tucking into a second helping of one of my favourite puddings.

On my bookshelf is a copy of Eating for England by Nigel Slater which is all about the food that we find in shops and kitchens such as custard, Dairylea, PG Tips, Marmite (which I don’t like) and many others.

Just as many of the delights mentioned can be termed comfort food I feel that this book is comfort reading.  It’s at this time of year when it’s often dull and wet that I sofa fly with a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits to read it for a while.  That both cheers me up and takes me down memory lane.

Mmm it’s…

Chocolate Week, which started today and continues through to next Sunday.

I don’t eat much chocolate except for an occasional packet of dark chocolate digestives or a dark KitKat every now and then.

I tend to do so more often during the winter months when I’m sofa flying with a good book and a cup of tea.

A Flightbuff favourite

A superb photo of a classic aeroplane silhouetted against the setting sun.

Keep it simple!

I don’t mind cooking but I do keep it simple! I’m not a foodie, don’t have much sense of taste and as it’s just me I see little point in faffing around for ages only to eat it in a matter of minutes.

It’s not surprising then that I have little interest in nearly all the numerous TV cookery programmes, even Nigella Lawson’s.

There one exception as I do usually watch Nigel Slater, as much as anything because he’s a cook, not a chef, and is also a keen gardener.

He has a new series, Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking, which starts Friday on BBC1 at 7.30pm. I see that this week he’s doing rhubarb with caramel sauce which I like the sound of.

Chicory is also mentioned which is something that I grew this year for the wonderful blue flowers rather than for eating.

Perhaps next year I’ll do both!

The Resnick novels

I’m a lifelong book buff and have always enjoyed reading British crime fiction.

Earlier this year I reread Now’s the Time: The Complete Resnick Short Stories by John Harvey following which I decided that over the coming months I will reread all eleven of the Resnick novels.

I’ve just started the first, Lonely Hearts, and as a cat lover and potato grower these opening sentences of chapter two made me smile…It was several moments before Resnick realised that one of the cats was sitting on his head. The radio was tuned to Four and a woman’s voice was trying to tell him something about the price of Maris Piper potatoes.

Once I’ve finished rereading the first few books I’ll then do a what do I think of them now post.

Meantime happy reading!

Just to say…

that I’ve not forgotten this blog despite having not posted here for over three months!

I’m hoping to resume with regular posts, probably every Tuesday, starting next week.

I’ll be writing about TV programmes of note that aren’t about gardening or wildlife, including Grand Designs which starts a new series on Wednesday Channel 4 at 9.00 pm.

There’ll be some book reviews as well, mostly on crime novels, as I’ll be doing less plotting and more sofa flying as we head into autumn.

Have a good weekend!

Carlie’s Diary

I’ve always enjoyed pet’s blogs and it’s a delight to have recently come across Carlie’s Diary.  As you can see she’s a smart cocker spaniel dog who likes to blog!

She’s now a sofa flyer here rather than a lawn lounger over on Flighty’s plot, where I guess she’d be just as happy.

I’m a big softie at heart, especially when it comes to little softies with such soulful eyes, so look forward to reading all about her exploits.