So Strictly's done and gone

But don’t we all have favourites? From brand of coffee to an old jumper, by-passing pop stars, actors, authors and all the other things that vie for our attention. So Bruno is not alone, but perhaps a tad more open in showering tens upon his favourites. I do wish Aleysha would stop wearing posh frocks – the last one with the shooting starburst on the right shoulder almost pushed Len off his chair, and designer frocks were always Tess Daly’s claim to fame.

So Strictly is over for another year. Someone, somewhere, said all the dance couples should dance the same dance, same choreography, to the same music and then the competition would be fair. It would, its true, but it would also be a tad boring by the time the eighth couple had danced. Maybe even by the time the third couple had done the routine, don’t you think? Whatever we think of the faults, the show offers entertainment, humour, and something lovely to watch on a Saturday night.

I picked up Echo in the Bone by Gabaldon at the library yesterday, and already I’m up to page 100. That’s the thing about a good author – you’re way into the story before you start thinking Is this good or Is this bad? I’ve picked up, tried and got bored with two other novels from the same batch of borrowed books. Both American authors, and I can say that because Gabaldon is American too, so it’s not the nationality thing that is the decider.

In the first, The Devlin Files by Christi, I got eagerly into the story, which turned out to be a split-time story loosely connected by a diary written by a female medic in the time of Charles II. Started well, I enjoyed the first half, but the second started to go downhill. New characters came into the plot, the detail overshadowed it, and the ending (yes, I flipped through the pages to discover the end) was no surprise.

The second story featured two sisters in the time of Leonardo da Vinci and the characters didn’t read as early teenage (both under fifteen) medieval females to me. I didn’t even get half-way with that one. But I’m looking forward to reading more Echo tonight.

Why? Because the characterisation is so good, the language is easy and draws the eye and the mind along, and there’s always something happening, even if it is being scared of an enormous sow that lives under the burnt-out house. And the other thing? What happens is believable.

Very important that a character, and what the character does, should be believable, for both the persona created and the setting in which it is taking place. Maybe I could have said that better, but I know what I mean!

The crows no how to keep warm by hugging the chimney stack in this cold, bright weather!