the hours of my life I spend on hold don't count, right?

[truepenny]

Today I am notifying everyone and their dog of our change of address. This involves much entanglement in voice-menu systems--including one of the foul new speech-activated systems that I already hate with a fiery vengeance--and, yes, correct, waiting on hold. At least this system has classical music rather than electronic mush. Or ads. The ads are really foul.

So I'm bored. And bitching about it.

Finished The Riddle of the Sands (Erskine Childers) this weekend. V. strange reading experience on a number of levels. I do wonder if that's where Forrester got the inspiration for Hornblower's feat of dead-reckoning in Beat to Quarters.

Comments

[lisajulie.livejournal.com]

The best way to read The Riddle of the Sands is to have a reading copy (mass market paperback just fine) and then have a map-following copy (Dover edition, larger and clearer) in front of you. Thus as you read, you can follow the maps.

Even when I prune my books to the bone, I keep two copies.

Great book, no?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Very dated, but yes. Especially the bits about the Dulcibella.

[lisajulie.livejournal.com]

I come from a sailing family (ocean racing (and placing in the top three), large-lake racing). So this resonated with me.

It is dated, but considering it was written before WWI, somewhat prescient, no?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I actually know practically nothing about sailing, so I read that sort of thing with fascination but no actual knowledge.

And, yes, prescient, but also eerily naïve. Because young men like Carruthers are going to become, in twenty years time, young men like Peter Wimsey. Carruthers and Davies and Childers can see that Germany is a threat, but they cannot imagine the damage the war will actually do.