Codeine fuelled thoughts

Dear gods, my blog's been boring since I went back to having a day job.

This isn't *just* about the day job sucking up all the time and energy I have, leaving me a mindless blob by the end of the day. It's because the day job occupies a vast proportion of my waking hours, and thus a vast proportion of the interesting things that happen to me and in front of me which I might witter on about for the amusement and edification of my friends -- and We Don't Talk About The Day Job On The Internet.

I've always had a policy of not identifying the day job on the intarwebs, back before people started hitting the headlines for getting sacked because they said rude things about their job online. It's not impossible to work it out, either current or previous, but I generally do not identify it in public. This is mostly because I think it is both the appropriate and the safe behaviour, but right now I also have a contractual obligation not to share the minutia of my day at work with the world at large. (I would point out that I am in Firm Agreement with that obligation, given the Data Protection Act implications of my daily routine.)

Which doesn't really leave a lot to talk about, apart from what I've read this week and squeeing about the last episode of Doctor Who. Especially when the only writing I've done of late is my book log...

Of course, I have a garden again after some time without one, so there may be garden porn in your future, Dear Reader. At least as soon as I get the hang of the camera I'm now using. In the meantime, I would observe that privet hedges seem to have got more time-consuming than the last time I was responsible for one, [mumble] years ago. Fortunately there is joint responsibility for this one, and I'm perfectly willing to delegate the job of cutting it. :-)

LJ being predictable, or, return of the link hijacking

LJ is hijacking outbound links for profit again. In a more competent manner, and it appears without hijacking the revenue of people who have already put their own affiliate codes in, but still a massive breach of privacy and security. See http://antumbral.dreamwidth.org/164338.html for the gory details and how to opt out at least in part.

book log -- Agatha Christie -- Peril At End House (abridged audiobook)

Read by Hugh Fraser
ISBN 978-0230747371 (also 978-1405088626)

Abridged by Kati Nicholl, 3 CD set, running time approx 3 hours

Poirot has retired, and is taking his leisure in a seaside town, determined not to take on any new cases. But when a pretty young woman by the nickname of Nick tells him about a series of near-fatal accidents that have befallen her, he cannot resist temptation. The accidents are clearly not accidents, and the young lady must be protected. He is determined to unmask the killer before one of the accidents proves fatal. Alas, the killer strikes again -- but strikes down Nick's cousin, who had the misfortune to be wearing Nick's distinctive wrap. Now Poirot'spersonal pride is at stake, and there is still Nick to protect...

Red herrings and side plots abound, but Poirot gets there in the end. It's a beautifully constructed book, with the answer right in front of the reader from early in the book, concealed by some artful misdirection. The audiobook is read by Hugh Fraser. who plays Hastings in the tv series. Fraser is generally a good reader, but I found his portrayal of Poirot rather off-putting. He uses a very strong accent that in comparison with Suchet's performance sounds like an overplayed stereotype. Of course, part of the problem here is that Suchet *is* Poirot for me, and anything else would sound wrong -- and my subconscious attention is drawn to it because Hastings sounds right.

In spite of which, I enjoyed this 3 CD set a lot. The story has been abridged well, and I enjoy listening to Hugh Fraser. I happened to pick this up in The Works for four pounds, and think that it was superb value for money at that price. List price is 13 pounds, although the online shops are listing it for less. I might think twice about paying full price for others in the series because of my issue with Fraser's portrayal of Poirot, but I wouldn't have considered it a waste of money. One minor point with the cheap version offered in The Works -- it's a very simple case with only one spindle for the 3 CDs, so you have to lift the first discs out to get at the later discs, with an additional risk of scratching one eventually. It's also available in download.

at Play.com
at the Book Depository