Like little fluffy clouds

[dolorosa_12]

This has been an extremely warm and sunny weekend, and I've done my best to take advantage of that. Yesterday Matthias and I walked out to Littleport — a 7.5km walk along the river, dodging cows, with flat fen farmlands extending all directions, bisected by various railway lines. We had a rather mediocre lunch in the sole pub in Littleport, which somewhat confirmed my theory that pubs located next to picturesque bodies of water, with no competition, tend to coast by, sustained by their location alone, and make no effort when it comes to food, drink, or service. In any case, the walk itself was lovely — a 15km trip in total, underneath these gorgeous skies.

I started the morning today with a swim, and will probably spend the rest of the day pottering around the house, catching up on Dreamwidth posts and comments, and generally relaxing.

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I haven't read any books for a week, and I'm in something of a reading slump. I don't like having a huge backlog of unread books building up on my Kindle, so at the moment I have the option of reading Becky Chambers' latest (unappealling at the moment as I find her books a little bit cloying, and I'm not in the mood for that level of sentimentality), and the penultimate Benjamin January book (which I bought late last year, decided I would only read it when I was 'in a really good mood,' and ... never achieved that mental state).

Probably the best way to get back to reading again would be to do a reread of one of my beloved favourite series — either the Pagan Chronicles (which I last reread in 2020) or the Sally Lockhart Mysteries (which I last reread in 2019). Or I suppose I could go through my to-read list and see if any of the books have popped up in the public library.

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I hope you've all been having nice weekends!

Comments

[blackcatofmisery]

That walk sounds amazing, and the photos support it. I'd agree with your opinion about pubs (or any eating place) without competition in an aesthetic area. "Come for the view, stay for the view," rather than trying to contribute to the experience and draw more of a crowd that way instead of "Eat here or starve until you hit the next town."

=^..^=~

[dolorosa_12]

It really was lovely. I only wish we got a bit more variety in terms of landscape around here — it's flat fields and fens as far as the eye can see. But it is nice to walk through.

It's so true about pubs in picturesque locations, isn't it? They're almost invariably disappointing.

[blackcatofmisery]

It sounds very pastoral, but I understand it seeming a bit boring after a while.

[senmut]

Good luck finding the reading bug again!

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you!

[merit]

Beck Chambers is definitely "I'll wait until it is available at the library" sort of read.

[dolorosa_12]

I totally agree.

[chestnut_pod]

Those photos sure brightened my afternoon! Thank you for sharing them; they're beautiful.

Not to be a sourpuss, but Chambers' latest is just whole cups of sugar more saccharine than anything else she's written before, imo, so I think it is likely not the best for breaking a reading slump. I do hope you find something that works, though!

[dolorosa_12]

Thanks for the warning re: Chambers. I'll wait until I'm feeling more enthused about books! I've gone back to reread an old favourite by Patricia A. McKillip, and that seems to be doing the trick.

I'm glad you liked the photos! The landscape around here is pretty samey, but it's lovely to look at.

[svgurl]

Sounds like a nice walk, outside of the disappointing meal, and the pictures are lovely too. Hope you're able to find something to reawaken your interest in reading soon. :D

[dolorosa_12]

It was a great walk, even if the lunch was extremely disappointing, so I'm glad we did it, and on such a lovely day, too.