My pleasure! All this er … ‘research’ is helping me with my Spanish ..lol!

I think it may be The Seville Communion. I’m looking forward to this especially as we are both learning Spanish, and I’m getting bored with the online lessons - I’m thinking of buying the book in Spanish in order boost my interest in the language (and I can picture the main character which will be an added bonus!!!).

I finished The Night Thief today and thought it was great. I have listened to all 8 and like you, I’ve become invested in the characters (particularly Maree). Mr A is such a good narrator, I actually forget it’s him - he makes the characters come ‘alive’ imo. Have just started Rock, Paper, Scissors - It’s been a while since I listened to ‘His & Hers’ , but I remember getting to the point where I was absolutely immersed in the story and had no clue how it would end (My guesses were quite wrong). I’m hoping this one will be similarly riveting once I get into it.

Ooh yes …. I’ve lost my screen caps of shirtless Guy ….. but that had also crossed my mind ;)

Thanks Mezz xx Pipe dreams only to go to NZ. Abel Tasman National Park on South Island has some lovely walks apparently but I need to check to see if my ability level would cope with them. (Am very cautious these days). There is also the Tongariro crossing but I think that might be beyond me. :)

Thanks Perry! I wasn't sure how being a grandma was going to be, but it's been fun so far. Fingers crossed this dreaded Covid burns itself out - we've been extremely lucky in Australia. The restrictions are working, but I'd really like to be able to head to South Australia before the baby is one!!. Hope things are OK over your way.

Thanks Fanny!! I've been meaning to revamp our other blog in order to write about our walks in detail. To date I've only written about our day walk around the base of Uluru (Which was a test i.e. if I could walk 15kms, I thought I might be able to tackle a multiday walk). Link: https://mulubinba.typepad.com/mulubinba_moments/2019/10/challenge-two-trial-15km-walk-around-uluru.html I'll definitely look at walking4fun. - Glad you found the period drama white shirt post - I was actually thinking of posting a picture of JT in white shirt for you at the end of this post!! (Nat has one on her blog). and .... yes, a good adaptation of Heyer would be great. The only one I've seen was an dreadful movie based on The Reluctant Widow ... OMG - they changed the story and I seem to remember Carlyon and Elinor had a rather passionate scene together in the drawing room, half way through. The plot disappeared after that and was unrecognisable.

yes - except that I don't ever get the mundane jobs done around the house!!! At least I've cleaned kitchen cupboards and sorted a few things in the lockdown. Hoping all is well with you x

Admit that we don't camp - we stay in pubs or B&Bs so no carrying tents. I love the fact that there are no really poisonous snakes or spiders in the UK. have had a few encounters with stinging nettles though!!

ooh ... I will have to search instragram for that photo. A pity he wasn't planting trees a few years ago when we were plodding through the area!

Thanks Guylty x. The immersion in the countryside is definitely worth the training. That said, there has always been one day in each of these walks where I've had a meltdown and thought I'd never attempt another one. I keep going back for more though. Yes to the 'encounter' of sorts. We found a pub for dinner that was close to our accommodation in London at the beginning of June that year. Lots of people in the pub at the time including a group sitting at a table right in front of us so we couldn't see who else was in the room. When they left I noticed another group of people across the room. There he was, in black shirt, beard (which is why I doubted it was him initially until I saw a pic of Proctor), having a laugh with friends. Totally relaxed.

Thanks for giving me the heads up about "The Lost Kingdom" .... I may not have found it if you hadn't mentioned it on Facebook!

Lol ... thank you :). I hope you have a good one too.

Sorry for late response. Don't worry - I have similar problems keeping up to date with blog reading!! Yes - I'm enjoying The Other Queen for much the same reasons as you. Still listening to it. I love audiowork because I don't seem to be able to sit still for too long. sadly my hip and knee joints don't like sitting either and I take a while to straighten up. I have to keep walking and on the move ..... feel as if I need Dorothy from Wizard of Oz) with Tin Man's oil can to lubricate my knees!!!!

Meant to add that Mr M is in 100% agreement with you about the deletion of the tweets. He feels that if you start a conversation, you need to be prepared for potential criticism and to discuss/argue the point. (I'm not so good at this .... I'm more of a retreater)

Yes - as seen in my lack of activity on this blog I've found it hard to maintain enthusiasm and ideas. Was discussing with Mr M yesterday ... when I became part of the fanbase in 2007/8, there was s sense of fun and I guess, excitement at discovering new work. Those of us on IMDb at the time (prior to trolls) were being idiots most of the time - Guy of Gisborne bore the brunt of our jokes. 2008/9 came the dreaded "Do actors need fans?" thread over there. It was a reaction to the publicity articles for Spooks Series 7 and the comments made by Richard Armitage about the fans and the 'weird' presents they gave him. The media articles, we thought, made the fanbase out as an embarrassment to Richard. I wonder if some of those media comments would be tolerated by the fans of 2018? The IMDb posters spoke out, the message from August 2009 was published and the Armitage Protection Fan Forces came down heavily on the IMDb posters for upsetting him. The poster who contacted his agent was bullied to the point of having to terminate her accounts. We were all defending the fans in that thread, ffs!!! I digress ... as you or one of your commenters stated on the blog recently, have we progressed from the early days in terms of APM? I thought I was pushing it by just stating that I found him hard to understand in Berlin Station. This tendency to jump on anything that could be remotely construed as criticism of Richard certainly dampens my enthusiasm to write anything but inane comments. I hope things improve for you in 2019. Being a carer can be so incredibly draining both physically and mentally. I joined this fandom because I discovered Richard Armitage's work at a time when our daughter was going from one mental health crisis to another. His work provided a much needed escape for me. It's not the same for me now - I don't enjoy his most recent work as much as the old. I like the audiowork, but I miss the spark of excitement that new work used to engender. Sending hugs to you at this time!

I must return to it! Other things seem to get in the way of viewing at this time of year!

I have found your tulpa posts really helpful! Will look forward to reading more on your blog if you do decide to revisit the posts.

Yes ... well, I'd been lurking over on one of the forums and became tired of the absolute bias with respect to the reporting on Richard Armitage's work. Only positive reviews of work were ever published, and even mild criticism was jumped on by the two main posters. Even one of the mods, who is a friend, can't be bothered with that Richard Armitage board because the posters are too 'precious' about him. I had forgotten about the APM term you mentioned on "Me + Richard Armitage" ... very apt. As for being ancient .... I know!!! I'm very ambivalent about being a fan of Richard Armitage though. Sometime ago I had forgotten how to have fun in the fandom, and could only think of negative things to write, so took a break.

Hmmm - thanks Yve. I may have to give this more thought before buying the bundle.

Thanks for your thoughts - I'm not familiar with that period of time, although I should be! Will drop by your blog to read your thoughts on the film, now I've actually seen it.

That was a fun screen cap to share, I have to say. I wonder what he was thinking?

I haven't seen Pilgrimage yet - I have the DVD but I just haven't found the time to watch it. We might do so tonight. I still think 'Sparkhouse' is one of my favourite performances of Richard's. I need to watch Berlin Station, Pilgrimage, Sleepwalker and Brain on Fire, but I'm quite sad to see that the promotional pictures for most of these, feature him as the same 'glowering' character. I notice a few fans making the comment that the Berlin Station 'look' (on the DVD) is just like John Proctor. I then looked at pictures of the character in Sleepwalker, and he has a similar expression. I know Richard can play smiling, less angry characters like John Standring - hoping the new work he has done brings out a lighter side. I always worried in the Guy of Gisborne days that he would end up being typecast as non smiling, angry, disaffected characters. Of course, this ability he has of playing these types of characters so well, got him cast as Thorin, Lucas and possibly Proctor.

Hi Yve, Thanks for the heads up about the 'Brain on Fire' DVD. I went to Amazon UK and discovered they would not ship to Australia, but then tried Amazon US, and they accepted my order. Let's hope an entrepreneur decides to do the same with Sleepwalker!! I too am trying to avoid spoilers!

Thank you so much for sharing this with me Servitus!!! I greatly appreciate it. It's sad we may never get to see Sleepwalker - it was one that I was waiting for ..... that, and Urban and the Shed Crew.