With the ‘Bibliophiles’ Book Club looming this evening, I was keen to finish the book I should have read last week, so I have been reading all day.
The blue skies and little bit of sunshine beckoned, but no – I was true to my task. And I was glad of it too. The book in question was ‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart – a tale of a Glasgow family ruined by alcoholism, and Shuggie’s struggle with his gender, over a ten-year period. Brilliant stuff, but I was exhausted after I’d read it. It’s quite harrowing to read and, of course, I ended up reading it all in one sitting, more or less.
John tinkered in the garage for a while this afternoon, trying to bolt bits together on the car, and I was pleased to be able to offer him a hand for a few minutes. My job? Hold onto a nut into which John was screwing a bolt. Really difficult and technical stuff…..
This evening, I logged into Zoom for our ‘Bibliophiles’ chat about the book and I was pleased to find that everyone else had the same thoughts about it as me. We all found it beautifully written but harrowing. In fact, a couple of us nearly stopped reading it early on because it is so raw in its depiction of Glasgow life in the 1980s.
Other than that, we’ve just swanned about the house, doing nothing much at all today. Some days are like that, aren’t they? You just need a day of ‘doing nothing’ to recharge the batteries.
The moon is shining as bright as day again tonight – this time without a cloud in the sky. Stunning to look at, and stunning to see the stars out. We really haven’t had enough nights like this, this year. I have resisted the temptation to photograph it again though – my pictures are always a bit blurry on the phone, and don’t do it justice. Apparently, there was a face among the cloud in last night’s photo. Did you see it?
My COVID report today is not dissimilar to previous ones. There’s a lot of it about and people are still dying with it. Today: 31,914 people tested positive for the virus; 40 people were reported as having died with it in the community; 18 people have died in hospitals since last Thursday. Admissions to hospitals are going up, too, with an increase of just under 7% increase in the last week. 948 people admitted today.
keep your wits about you everyone. God bless.