The Children's Book: A.S. Byatt

A hefty family saga- with a huge cast- covering the years between 1895 and 1918. Also a cultural and social history of the period. The pivotal character is a fictional version of the children's writer E. Nesbit.  Very enjoyable and immersive- and awesome in its logistics-  though I can't help thinking that most of what Byatt is doing here has been done before. 

Briefly

The lady at Tescos is lovely. She calls me "my sweet" and suggests I combine the spuds and cream I'm buying and make Dauphinoise Potatoes.

Dot can't bring herself to destroy the sympathy cards, so she sends them home with Ailz.  I'm happy to feed them through the shredder.

SAD

I tell Ailz I think I've got SAD and mean it as a joke, because what could be sillier than getting SAD in July? but she says other people have been saying the same thing and- what is SAD, after all, but a quasi-scientific term for being pissed off by the weather? Apparently we've just had the wettest June since records began.