Dr Who Exhibition, Train Drama and Disappointment

24 March 202324 March 2023 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

So, last weekend, myself and the boy went through to Edinburgh to see the Dr Who exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. It started poorly when I slept in and we missed our 8am train. We got the 8.30am train into Glasgow. Now, we can stay on that train and it goes straight to Edinburgh. However, if we get off at Queen Street Station in Glasgow and go to the upper level to catch the Edinburgh train, it takes less time to get there….at least 15-20 minutes. Also, it has a tea trolley. So, we got off at Queen Street, go up to the upper level only to find that there was a huge queue for the Edinburgh train. The Scotland ruby team were playing at Murrayfield Rugby Ground in Edinburgh and this was people going through…very early. It was 9.30am and the kick-off wasn’t until 12.30pm (it only takes around an hour to get to Edinburgh from Glasgow by train). So, rather than waiting in the massive queue, the boy and I turned tail, bought some pastries and drinks at a little kiosk and then went back down to the lower level to catch the next train to Edinburgh.

I had booked us in to the exhibition for 10.30am and the next train got us into Edinburgh Waverley for around 10.35am, so we were late. We looked for a taxi, couldn’t find one so had to hike it up the hill into the Old Town. It’s not a long walk, but it’s up a steep hill/stairs. We finally arrived at nearly 11am. We still got in and it was a good exhibition. Me and the boy are Dr Who fans, so it was great to see all the props and costumes.

Anyway, we both enjoyed the exhibition and it was worth going to see. It only took us around half an hour to walk around (we’re not lurkers!) and then we had a look at the other exhibits in the museum. It’s been years since I was there and they had a great exhibition about clothing. Of course, I forgot to take pics!

So anyway, how are you? Hope you’re all good. Are you wondering what the ‘disappointment’ bit of the headline? Well, it’s all to do with Carnival Row. I loved the first series, but the second series wasn’t as good and the ending….all I can say was it was very disappointing. Sigh.

Currently watching: there’s actually not much on tv right now that I’m excited about. I did enjoy Prime’s Daisy Jones and the Six. Of course, it ended on a cliff-hanger. So, now I’m wondering what the hell happened. No doubt, there will be a second series. It’s the story of a 70s rock band and, boy, does it have you glued to it. The story is superb (of course it is, it is based on a book of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid (who also wrote The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). The cast are great, but I have to note that Sam Claflin is fab in it and very sexy. Yes, I do have a bit of a thing for him! The music is also great and there’s a soundtrack which you can get on vinyl! yay!!

In case you missed my last post, Loch Ness is now up for pre-order. Here’s the blurb:

When farm girl Esther Abercrombie is offered a job as an assistant to the famous cryptozoologist, Dr Thaddeus Dwell, little does she know the dangers that are to come.

Dr Dwell is on the hunt for the legendary Loch Ness Monster and he doesn’t care whether he gets it alive or dead. With his dwarf assistant, Cassius Ironblood, and a big game hunter, Charles Warrington, he wants to capture it and slice it up…all in the name of science, notoriety and greed.

But Esther can’t let this happen. Joining forces with the mysterious Duncan, they work together to thwart Dwell’s evil plans and save the monster from extinction. Along the way, she uncovers Duncan’s startling secret and finds herself falling madly in love.

Set in late 1800s Scotland, this fantasy novel takes our heroine on a wild adventure from her humble beginnings in rural Ayrshire through the wilds of Loch Ness and on to the high society of Victorian Edinburgh.

Steam level = sweet

Action level = packed full of danger, adventure and thrills

PREORDER:

https://books2read.com/u/bpyPVq/

Right, that’s enough for now. Till next time.

Dawn xxxtv

A broken hand, Dusting is out and Apple Pie

4 October 2018 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

Hello everyone, how are you all? Hope you are all well and had a good day today. I had the best day I’ve had this week, but more on that in a minute. Do you like the image above? Well, I happened to be scrolling through a free image site and stumbled across some lovely stone images. As the descendent of a stonemason (true), I really love carved stone. So, to celebrate the art of stonemasonry, today’s blog is dedicated to beautiful things carved in stone.

Right, why was today the best day this week? It’s because I am no longer in pain. And why is that? Because my right hand is not broken (as I thought it might be on Tuesday – aka extreme pain day – or even yesterday – aka very painful day) and is recovering quickly. Here’s what happened – I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night in extreme pain from the back of my right hand. I had no idea what I had done to it. I had not bashed it or hurt it that day. So, I got up on Tuesday in extreme pain (thank God for painkillers), got the kids to school and spent the day binge watching Grace & Frankie on Netflix (love that show, so funny) and debating whether or not to go to the hospital for an x-ray.

Any of you who have been following this blog for a while will know that I have spent a lot of time up at our local hospital over the last few years what with my husband’s illness and an extremely accident prone daughter (my son, who is 10, has been up there for the Minor Injuries Unit twice; my daughter, who is 13, has been up there about ten times). Anyway, I was reluctant to go, but I eventually relented and went yesterday. One examination and an x-ray later and it’s not broken. Phew. However the nurse did ask how it happened and here’s what’s weird – the only time I hurt it was last week when a tin of beans (or something similar) fell on it from the cupboard. That was extremely painful and the air was blue with expletives. Anyway, it hurt for a while and then the pain went away. Then I went to Pilates on Monday and it felt sore, but only when I put some weight on it. Afterwards, there was no pain…until the middle of the night. I can only think I have ‘reopened’ (for want of a better word) the injury. The nurse thought that might be it too. She said when the can hit my hand I had essentially tenderised my hand. Ew, the thought of that.

Anyway, it stopped any kind of writing for two days. Today is the first day without any real pain and that has been good.

The hand injury has also stopped me from doing much else this week apart from watching telly. It’s also taught me how much I use my right hand. I was seriously slowed down and it was driving me nuts, especially as I couldn’t write.

However, thanks to me setting things up…Dusting Down Alcudia is now available on Amazon here in both paperback, ebook and large print. If you haven’t already get your free character book from here. Right, enough of the sales speak.

Regarding writing, I am still studying how to be an indie publisher, how to promote and market my books, and anything else I find useful. Currently reading Joanna Penn’s How to Make a Living From Your Writing, which will be swiftly followed by her Business for Authors. I can’t tell you how valuable I find Joanna’s books and her website, The Creative Penn. If you are a wannabe writer for both traditionally published or indie published fiction and non fiction, I would really recommend her books and website. I’m not telling you this to earn money, this is my actual opinion.

I’ve been making apple pie recently. A friend in the village I live in gave me a big bag of apples from their apple tree and I made a huge pot of pie filling. I made two apple pies – one for us and one for my friend (well it’s actually her and her husband) – and I have enough leftover for another. Yum!

I have also been getting into making sour dough. My starter is started. His name is Fred and I have been feeding him all week. Fred lives on the island of my kitchen in a large Kilner jar. He sits there and bubbles and froths and generally looks happy. I am starting to think of him as a living being, which I suppose he is being all wild yeast. I will give him a couple of more days and then I am going to make sour dough bread. Wish me luck.

Due to aforementioned injury, I have been unable to hold books to read so I am still reading Radclyffe Hall’s biography. I am enjoying it, but I am yearning to get on to another book. Sigh. Maybe tonight I’ll got to bed early and get through a couple more chapters. What books are you all reading at the moment? Do any of you have any recommendations? Please message me.

Okay, I am going to finish up now. It’s 7.38pm GMT and I am about to indulge in a cup of tea and a couple of chocolate digestives. My Dr Who loving son is currently watching older episodes of Dr Who (Christopher Eccleson) – thankfully it’s not that Fred movie again, hate that movie – and I am about to throw him off to watch another Grace & Frankie.

Looking forward to chatting with you again soon. Til next time!

Dawnxxx

Pretend to be a Time Traveller Day

8 December 20176 December 2017 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

DCF 1.0

It’s the stuff of dreams (or nightmares): how would you like to be able to travel through time? Think of the things you would see and the people you could meet!

Okay so no-one can yet time travel, but that hasn’t stopped the Koala Wallop online community from setting up Pretend to be a Time Traveller Day. Started in 2007, the day was set up and its basic premise is for people to have fun pretending to be a time traveller, either from the past or future. Dress up, meet up with likeminded friends and have fun.

And here’s my favourite time traveller…

Snow, rubbish Christmas telly and Terry Pratchett’s new book

28 December 2015 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

Hellooooo! How’s things? Hope you are all well and enjoying the festive season. Have you had a nice time? I hope so. I am currently nursing an upper respiratory infection (a head cold and sore throat in other words) and am feeling a bit bleurgh! Luckily it’s only come on me the last couple of days. Apparently it’s making hubby’s life miserable because I am snoring worse than normal! Hope he doesn’t get this bug. It was the girl who brought it in, I’ve got it, the boy is sneezing and I’m hoping hubby doesn’t get it cos he has his last chemo this week. Hurrah!! If he has a cold it could delay it. The poor soul has been pretty unwell over the past few weeks with the build up of the chemo in his system. He’s been spending a lot of time in bed, it’s a real shame. One more to go plus two weeks of chemo tablets and that will be him. This year has been a bit shit, but I feel we’re coming to the end of it (I hope). Here’s to a better 2016!! Hubby deserves it. Am so thankful he’s still here with us because we nearly lost him a couple of times, but he pulled through. Yup, 2016 should be so much better!!

In case you are wondering, I’m putting in ‘winter wonderland’ type pics because I feel we should always have snow at Christmas (thanks to Charles Dickens for this!! Apparently when he was a child, we went through a mini ice age and Christmas was always snowy so he wrote about snowy Christmases and now we all feel it should be snowy). Anyway, it’s not snowy here in Scotland. It’s been raining and very windy lately, although the last couple of days have been calm and dry. I am, however, still missing the snow (I feel a bit peeved we don’t have it – feels more Christmassy somehow)…hence the pics.

Still trying to tot up our Christmas movies. We’ve not been watching a lot of Christmassy tv because basically the tv has been rubbish this year. As hubby quite correctly pointed out – Why are we paying our TV licence to the BBC when all they have mainly been showing is repeats of shows from when we were kids!?! And it’s not just been them! Other channels have been regurgitating tv shows from Christmas past too! And films. Yesterday we watched The Great Escape for instance…how many times has that been on British telly since the 70s??? The only thing new I’ve been watching is Dickensian, which I’ve only seen the first episode of. I love Dickens and this looks promising. I hope it’s good. Also watched the very last Downton Abbey…well I had to find out if Lady Edith got her happy ending. Seems like all the characters did. Hubby thinks Downton is rubbish and that it was all tied up too nicely, but I love a happy ending and I love Downton, so it was thumbs up from me. Even Daisy looks like she’ll finally get some romance. I know it was a cheesy finale, but it made me happy. I now feel all the characters will have a happy ending, which is the Disney-type ending they all needed!

I’ve been taking it a bit easier these last few days so there’s not much to tell. My mother put on her usual massive spread for Christmas Day – it was great. She did the full thing and there was at least five courses. My favourite was the home-made soup – my mum makes the most amazing soup. I have tried to emulate her, but can’t quite get it right. It’s like ambrosia. I love it. When I was in my early 20s and still living at home, I lived on her soup for a whole winter. She would ask what I wanted for dinner and I always asked for her soup…it’s that good. Thanks mum!! It was a great spread…especially the soup!

Haven’t been doing too much over the last couple of days except try and bring down the mountain of dirty washing that suddenly appeared two days before Christmas (when the kids were told to tidy their rooms…ahem!). Nearly at the end of that. Plus am spending a lot of time reading. Hubby got me the new Terry Pratchett book The Shepherd’s Crown (I love Terry Pratchett), so will start that as soon as I have finished Eat my Globe by Simon Majumdar. He’s a lover of food (aren’t we all?) and decided to travel the world trying out different foods. It’s a great read. He comes a lot of dishes he loves and a few he thinks are disgusting and meets lots of really interesting people along the way. Am nearly at the end of it, but have really enjoyed it.

We also have a few family board games to play…can’t wait to get into my Terry Pratchett The Witches boardgame!! (she says shivering with excitement!)

Right, on that note, I’m off to make some lunch. Got a pork pie in the fridge that has my name on it. Til next time!

Dawn xxx

PS If someone was to ask me what the theme song for this Christmas was I would have to say the Dr Who theme tune. The boy is obsessed with Dr Who and got more Dr Who stuff for Christmas. If we don’t hear the theme tune from one of the many toys, he’s humming it or singing it or him and his friend from across the road are yelling it at the tops of their voices. Sigh. On that note, thought the Dr Who Christmas special this year was rather weak…the series is not as good as it used to be even with the excellent Peter Capaldi in the lead role. The storylines are often way to complicated for kids (the boy will now only watch a maximum of 15 minutes of an episode, but sits through hours of previous series – he’s a big fan of the Matt Smith storylines, but also loves the earlier seasons). However, I can’t say that for the Christmas Day version. I will continue watching, however, because I love Dr Who too!

Dr Who and Hotel Transylvania 2…just a normal day in our household!

22 November 2015 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

We went to see Hotel Transylvania 2 yesterday and it was great. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the first one and was pleased the second one was as good. We were there as part of the boy’s birthday. He turned eight last week and his birthday has been dominated by Dr Who (birthday presents, cake toppers, party bags etc) and this film. We took three of his friends from his school class and they all seemed to enjoy it. I was shattered though. They are all lovely kids, but oh do they talk! I think the ears were burned off me with the chatter!

So how have you all been? What’s been happening in your neck of the woods? I’ve been really busy again this week – it’s been mad. The previous week was my mum’s birthday and that merged into last week with the boy’s birthday. I made him a cake for his actual birthday and wrapped all his presents. Then on his birthday morning, I made pancakes for breakfast and he told me I was the best mum ever. That made me smile. We had pasta bake for dinner that night (which is one of his favourites – it’s basically Bolognese penne with grated cheese finished off in the oven) and then a few days later I took him, his sister and his friends for a McDonald’s followed by the film. My parents came over to see him on Saturday afternoon and last night, I threw myself in an exhausted heap on to the sofa and drank wine. It was great! I was going to start writing Christmas cards today, but I really can’t be bothered. Next weekend I’ll get it all done.

Next week is my birthday and I am going to spend it doing as little as possible. We are getting a carry out meal for dinner and I will enjoy it with a lovely bottle of wine and a good film on telly. Yes I am a party animal!…not! Yes the simple things are what makes my world tick!

Right on that note, I have a dinner to put on. Til next time!

Dawn xxx (who is 25-and-holding again next week!)

Attack of the stinging notebook

29 January 2015 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

This is not the evil notebook in question, but is here as an illustration.

I’ve been under attack. For the past week, my hands have become increasingly covered in small cuts and quite frankly they are painful (especially in the shower or when I’m cutting up things like tomatoes). It took me a little while to work out what was happening. After all, like most folk I do suffer the odd cut every now and again. However, I’ve suffered five in the last few days. Yes, I’m being attacked by a notebook I use for work. How do I get around it? Do I just ditch the notebook and start with a new one? No, that goes against my green instincts. Do I muss up the pages and make them less knife like (honestly my fingers have been sliced to bits)? Hmmmm. Am thinking this might be the answer…a beaten up, softened notebook can’t possibly sting!

Anyway, apart from the cut fingers, my life has been trundling along nicely thank you very much. Not much has been happening chez moi, but that’s fine with me. I’m not one of those people who needs excitement or drama to feel alive – I get that from laughing with my kids or reading a good book or having a deep conversation with hubby over a glass of wine. I have been watching a lot of telly lately. I should be writing or exercising or doing something around the house, but I have been caught up in reruns of Castle, Rizzoli & Isles and Father Brown. I can’t help myself. I love murder mysteries. It’s a passion of mine! Have also been reading Terry Pratchett’s Thief of Time. Yet another thumbs up to Mr Pratchett for an excellent book. It’s funny and exciting and inventive. I couldn’t put it down nearer the end.

So how have you been? I hope well. Have you been caught up in this mad weather too? It’s snowing outside as I write. It’s lovely, but I hate driving in it. It’s barely lying here, but who knows what it’ll be like this time tomorrow if the snow keeps going. I got caught in a heavy snow shower yesterday whilst walking up through Springburn to get to Stobhill Hospital for work. By the time I got to my destination, I was covered from head to foot in snow, a veritable walking snowman/person. And it chilled me to the bone. I haven’t felt that cold in ages. When I got home later that day, I had to sit at the radiator just to get the heat back into my limbs. Thank God for whomever it was who invented central heating…I salute you sir or ma’am!! Hmm…that might be a quite interesting thing to find out: who invented central heating? Note to self: find out who invented central heating.

Anyway, I am wittering on. The boy is at home today having woken up just before 7am and thrown up in the toilet…twice. He now appears to be perfectly well and is watching Dr Who on Netflix as I write whilst simultaneously playing Minecraft on his tablet. The colour is back in his face, he’s as cheeky as ever and seems back to normal. However, I shall have to keep him off school tomorrow because our school, quite rightly, requests that parents keep sick kids off til at least 48 hours after the sickness stops. Sigh. Bang goes my two days of peace!! Still, I am a self confessed Whovian myself so watching Dr Who isn’t so bad. We’re watching the 11th Doctor save the world from little black cubes. Go Doctor!

Anyway, must dash. Stuff to do. Til next time!

Dawn xx

PS If you want to find out who invented the central heating, click here…lots of great info!

Squirrels, Dr Who and Despicable Me

23 October 2014 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

This little fella was one of three grey squirrels who decided to raid my bird table yesterday. The other two ran off, but this bold one stayed to stare at me. The lure of the seeds and nuts was too strong, I think.

The first pic was taken with the patio door open, this one is through the glass hence the slight ‘film’ on the lefthandside.

Anyway, how are you all? Hope you are hail and hearty! What’s been happening in your lives? I successfully managed to make two hats for my kids from a pattern from Fleece Fun which is a blog by a lady called Angel Hickman Peterson and has lots of great patterns for fleece. Am going to make the matching mitts for them this weekend. Will do pics next time.

So what’s been happening at Nelson Towers? Hmmm…just the usual. My parents visited last Saturday and of course the kids were there for about five minutes before disappearing off to play. I feel sorry for my parents. It’s nearly an hour’s drive to our house from theirs and they only see the kids for all of five minutes at the beginning and then the end of their visit. Still that’s kids for you. I feel it’s better to let them go and play because they get bored and fidgety and whiny anyway. Plus the biscuit plate would be decimated!

Been trawling the website looking for ideas for Christmas makes for my kids. My boy is a huge Dr Who fan (the girl finds it too scary at times) so I’ve been looking for various things to make (for both of them…no Punch without Judy as they say). I’m going to do this Tardis kindle cosy from American Witch cos they want a tablet each for Christmas. I also want to make them an Adipose each from a pattern by Erika Kent. There’s also a good tutorial from Amanda Tepie here. And I’m going to give these a wee try…felt Dr Who plushies by Michelle Coffee (great name) of Deadly Sweet Plushes…I really love her Star Trek plushies so may make them for myself (I know I am a saddo, but they are fab). Plus on a non Dr Who vibe, I am also planning to make them a Minion each from a pattern by Hannah at We Lived Happily Ever After. The next thing I need to see is if anyone’s making anything Monster High or Ever After High (the things my girl is into). I am going to be very busy over the coming weeks!!

Am currently working on a small gift for a couple of friends I’m seeing soon. I won’t say what cos they read this blog. Will put up a pic after I’ve given it to them.

Anyway, I must get on. Got tonnes of stuff to do. Til next time!

Dawn x