Hi there!

Although this is mainly a fic journal, I do use the dorsetgirl identity to post comments in a variety of places, so if you've arrived here from a non-fandom location, welcome!

This journal contains the occasional rant or rambling about life in general, but most of it is fic, some of which is of an explicit nature. Please do not read on unless you're comfortable with that.

Someone on my LJ friendslist posted a list of all the books she'd read during 2012, and it occurred to me that I can't remember most of the books I've read this year. I know they include the Millennium trilogy, a couple of Alex Riders, several of Robert Muchamore's Cherub and Henderson's Boys series, all seven Harry Potters, Pratchett's Wintersmith and Maskerade, half a dozen random supermarket novels, Stranded by Emily Barr, Room by Emma O'Donoghue, a couple of Sophie Hannah's books, the Hunger Games trilogy and the four "Boy Soldier" books by Andy McNab. Most of these weren't the first reading.

So anyway, I thought I'd start a list for 2013, beginning with the books I finished and started today. Titles with an asterisk are ones I haven't read before. These are going to be in a minority, as I don't get round to going to the library very often and it's difficult to justify spending loads of money on new books. I'm also trying to get rid of stuff rather than adding to it, so I'm reluctant to go to the charity shop because I'll end up coming out with a bagful and there's simply no room for another pile.

We're now in April, and I keep forgetting to update this list. I've got a feeling there's at least half a dozen books I've read over the past month or two that I've completely forgotten to add to the list.

(1) *Half of the Human Race - Anthony Quinn

(2) The Crystal Singer - Anne McCaffrey

(3) The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson

(4) Daughters-in-Law - Joanna Trollope

(5) The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kit - Bill Bryson

(6) Waterproof - Chris Crowther

(7) The Latchkey Kid - Helen Forrester

(8) Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson

(9) Water Under the Bridge - Chris Crowther

(10) *The Beach Café - Lucy Diamond

(11) Once in a Lifetime - Cathy Kelly

(12) Dialogues of the Dead - Reginald Hills

(13) *Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

(14) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

(15) Girl on Fire - Suzanne Collins

(16) Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

(17) Woman to Woman - Cathy Kelly

(18) ~A Deniable Death - Gerald Seymour

(19) Still Waters - Chris Crowther

(20) Snakehead (Alex Rider) - Anthony Horowitz

(21) *Any Way You Want Me - Lucy Diamond

(22) *The Soldier's Wife - Joanna Trollope

(23) *An Inspector Calls - J.B.Priestley

(24) Timescape - Gregory Benford

(25) The Recruit (Cherub) - Robert Muchamore

(26) The House Husband - Owen Whittaker

(27) Fever - A Story From a Devon Churchyard - Liz Shakespeare

(28) *Scorched Earth (Henderson’s Boys) - Robert Muchamore

(29) The Making of the English Landscape - W.G.Hoskins

(30) *The Unlikely Pilgimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

(31) *The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

(32) The Turning of the Tide - Liz Shakespeare

(33) Mad Dogs - Robert Muchamore

(34) *Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella

(35) Divine Madness - Robert Muchamore

(36) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K.Rowling

(37) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K.Rowling

(38) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K.Rowling

(39) *Good Husband Material - Trisha Ashley

(40) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K.Rowling

(41) The Beach Café - Lucy Diamond

(42) Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Boy Soldier - Andy McNab and Robert Rigby

Payback - (Boy Soldier 2) - Andy McNab and Robert Rigby

Avenger (Boy Soldier 3) - Andy McNab and Robert Rigby

Meltdown (Boy Soldier 4) - Andy McNab and Robert Rigby

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Wishing everybody a wonderful 2013!

Overall I have pretty good memories of 2012, what with the Olympics and all, and the Jubilee, and I very much hope that 2013 will be as enjoyable and will bring to you and yours everything you want it to.

I've got my new year offerings outside as usual; I have no idea where this custom came from, or who actually knows about it or follows it, but I was taught by my grandmother always to put a coin, a piece of bread and a piece of coal outside on New Year's Eve so that throughout the coming year you will always have enough money, food and fuel.

When I was little I was given a shiny sixpence to put out, along with a piece of sliced white and a lump of coal from the scuttle. Nowadays I put out a pound or two pound coin, a chunk of the newest, freshest bread we have in the house, and a piece of coal I picked up on Winterton beach in Norfolk about ten years ago for precisely this purpose. Prior to that I used to put out a piece of wood along with the money and bread.

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Briefly, I posted on an ASD forum asking for ideas on how to get my oldest to get up and actually go to school. People have been very kind and helpful, but a line in one of the replies stopped me in my tracks.

I'm far too tired to reply to people properly over there at the moment, so I'm just posting this extract here for some input from people whose university experience or knowledge is more recent than my own.

...things are completely different at university with regards to how you can manage your time and sleep schedules. Especially after freshman year, you can set up things so that you can sleep during the hours you prefer, and take classes during the times that are best for you.

Really? Does anyone know if it's actually possible in the UK? I can't even begin to see how that would work.

Went to see Skyfall this afternoon, for middle son's birthday treat (he's 16 today). I really enjoyed it; I didn't bother when the rest of the family went to see it about a month ago, because I saw (I think) Quantum of Solace, and never understood a single minute of what was going on. But Skyfall was much more straightforward, and Daniel Craig is quite the sexy beast in it imo. Although I did prefer him with slightly longer hair. It was the first time I'd seen Javier Bardem in anything and I thought he was excellent, if you allow for scenery-chewing being a standard part of Bond villainy.

Anyway, afterwards we went to Frankie & Benny's for a meal, and I ordered a glass of wine for the birthday boy. When it arrived I directed it to him and they asked if he had any ID. (They didn't ask how old he was). I said no, and said I thought teenagers aged 14+ were allowed to drink wine with a meal providing they were with an adult who actually bought it. The waiter then wheeled a manager over who started off by calling me "love", patronising bitch (she was about 25). Anyway, I explained my understanding of the law and she said "No, that's just a loophole. The law says no alcohol at all for under-18s; there is a loophole for 17-year-olds but Frankie & Benny's choose not to go along with it."

When I said in that case they should make it clear on the wine list - because if I'd known I wouldn't have ordered it - she said "It's the law, it doesn't need to be on the wine list."

Anyway, I've now done some googling and as far as I can see, the law states "if you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal." So I was wrong on it being 14, but as he's 16 today it would have been perfectly legal for us to buy him a glass of wine to go with his meal.

So my question to Trading Standards on Monday is going to be "Are they allowed to refuse to sell us wine that we were attempting to buy perfectly legally? And if so, shouldn't they display a notice to that effect?" It was all very polite, but I was a bit upset and shaken after the conversation - I really can't handle conflict face to face - and my son felt very awkward. The manager really tried to make me feel I was doing something dirty and underhand and flat-out illegal.

Anyone got any experience or solid knowledge on this area of the law? When we were on holiday in October we bought a glass of wine each for the (then) 17- and 15-year-olds and no-one asked any questions at all. Of course, as the boys pointed out tonight, that was Norfolk.


ETA:This morning I spoke to some consumer-advice lot listed on the Trading Standards website and asked for clarification on the law. They said "It's a grey area; it's down to the individual business".

To which I replied that I didn't believe for one second that Frankie & Benny's had the right to decide the law in this country. He went back and talked to Trading Standards again and the bottom line is that (a) the law says that 16/17-year-olds may have ONE drink with a meal, if bought by an accompanying responsible adult ...er...

and (b) businesses can choose to refuse to serve people under 21 if they want to, and they are not required to have a sign up about this anywhere.

I finally found a FAQ on FB's website which seems to take an unpleasantly moralistic stance. It says, and I quote exactly:

"Frankie & Benny’s Responsible Drinking Policy

Why can’t a 16 or 17 year old be served alcohol in your restaurants when this is perfectly legal?

We extremely careful when guests utilise the ‘table meal’ aspect of the law to allow a 16 or 17 year old drink alcohol, purchased by an adult, with their meal. Whilst, legally, they can be allowed alcohol, as a company we need to ensure that no-one under 16 could be given alcohol in this manner."

So, they choose not to trust their customers; they choose to assume that their customers will lie to them and show false ID for their children, and they choose to retaliate in advance by lying to their customers about what the law actually says. Nice people.

Oh, I also saw it implied somewhere that the law has recently been changed from 14 with a meal to 16 with a meal, so I was kind of right. And how does it teach teenagers "responsible drinking" if you make it impossible for parents to take them out for a sensible drink, in company, with a meal? My idea of "responsible drinking" for teenagers does not include drinking at home!

ETA2: I realised afterwards that part of the problem is that I grew up in a completely different era, ie before alcopops. In those days, the test for the seller was not "have I seen sufficient ID?" but "can I convincingly claim that I believed this person was 18?" (Or 16, in this particular case). It never crossed my mind that they might have "a policy" and it never crossed my mind they might ask for ID.

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I'm feeling quite unjustifiably proud of myself right now. A language comm I follow had a "What is this language" post - the OP had listened to a clip many times and tried to categorise the sounds, but had failed to identify the language. So - without looking at the comments, obviously - I followed the link and listened to the thirty-second clip (once). Within five seconds I was going, "That's Norwegian."

Of course, being me, within ten seconds I was saying "But how can I know that?" Given that I don't speak Norwegian, I don't know any Norwegians, etc, etc. I don't know, is the simple answer. All I can say is that it was practically instant, and then I followed it up with some possibly spurious "reasoning":

(1) "It sounds kind of dark and Northern". Impressively scientific, yeah?

(2) "It's not Swedish". I've watched the Millennium films several times, so while I couldn't do the sounds myself, I remember enough to know that it sounded quite different to me.

(3) "It's probably not Icelandic". Because I was very struck to see how like Old English Icelandic looks and so I'm guessing I would be able to pick out the occasional word, which I couldn't here.

(4) "It's probably not Danish". On no grounds at all other than I'm assuming Danish sounds a bit Germanish.

Also, I remembered my OH, who is good at doing accents, reporting to me about five years ago what a customer had just said to him. The customer, an English speaker, was himself reporting what a Norwegian had said to him that day, in English with a Norwegian accent. A bit of a long trail, but for me it was the confirming factor.

So yeah, either I'm brilliant or I'm subconsciously remembering how Norwegian sounded when I visited the place for one week over twenty years ago, during which time no-one ever addressed me in Norwegian. In which case I'm - brilliant.

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I was very pleased to read that Richard O'Dwyer is not being extradited after all. This is obviously very good news. But then I read that the deal is he must "travel to the US and pay compensation".

Er, don't they have internet banking in the US? Why can't he just pay from here?

It seems to me that this is just a trick to get him there under false pretences and then they're going to arrest him. Then he'll be put in jail for sixty years for upsetting some Hollywood arsehole. This is not about justice - this is about the US trying to control the rest of the world and I am fed up with it.

My sons' school has recently moved over to the "three-year GCSE". However, they quickly worked out that there's a reason GCSEs are normally done in two years - that's all it takes.

So they had to cast around for something to fill in the time in between all those two-year courses dragged out over three years, and they came up with a thing called the Arts Award. This isn't a major problem for the youngest, who's the only one involved, but I am extremely grateful the oldest ("Art is rubbish, English Literature is all lies") and the middle one ("I don't see the point of music, it's just a noise") were too old to be dragged into it.

Anyway, part of this time-filler is that they have to research and write about "An Arts Hero". My little hero has chosen to focus on Notch, creator of Minecraft.

This strikes me as distinctly subversive and thus I approve whole-heartedly. (I admit it, I think "The Arts" is a load of rubbish too. I like some films, I read a lot, I like some pictures, I don't mind watching people dance, but "The Arts"? I've never really understood what that is, and if it's Damien Hirst you can keep it.)

For those who don't know, Minecraft also has the benefit of allowing players to design and build remarkably sophisticated circuits based on "redstone". My kids are all fully conversant with "AND gates" and the like from this, and the oldest explained the whole logic-gates thing to his 'A' level Computing class based on Minecraft (which they all know) after the teacher had failed to get the concept across.

Yay, apparently we're getting Kaiser Chiefs as support to Green Day next Summer! I am so looking forward to it, provided Billie's better by then of course *crosses everything*

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Thank God.

Those saying "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime" have no compassion and no understanding whatsoever of the autistic mind.

Even as the parent of an autistic child myself, I find it difficult to imagine the hell that Gary and his mother have been through for the past ten years, but in my mind there is no doubt that he has served those ten years and that should be taken into consideration in any future trial.