OMG, Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! is on BBC R7

Periodically BBC turn Pratchett's work into a radio play, and Radio 7 (online) does sci-fi, fantasy and mystery plays regularly.
This week it's Guards! Guards!
Bastiges have of course put it only on iPlayer (vs podcasts) so you can only listen to it live.
Also, Episode 1 has only 1 day left online.
Quick, listen fast!

Thankfulness thing 11 - Terry Pratchett

Today I'm thankful for Terry Pratchett.
I resisted reading his books for years, suspicious of anything that other folk insist I must read, are you mad? what do you mean you haven't read him? he's brilliant! and so on.  I'm just stubborn that way.
I caved a couple of years ago, after picking up one of Robert's copies, after hearing him laughing out loud while reading - re-reading even - some favourites. At the depths of a depressive period, I could see it was funny, and well-written, even if it didn't make me laugh. But I've laughed plenty since, and admired the tautness, and often the anger, of his best books (Thud! Going Postal and The Night Watch are my favourites, as well as the Tiffany Aching stories).
Knowing that his Alzheimer's must inevitably eventually affect his writing makes his new books all the more bittersweet.

A January miscellany

Robert and I spent the week after Coronation recovering from the collective Coronation cold. Thank goodness I now get sick days.

We're beginning to doubt the wisdom of winter Coronation: last year Robert caught the flu from little Typhoid Maria Clara (along with Vitus himself), and this year we both came down with colds. Maybe being more selective about winter events is in order.

This week I'm counting down the days til St. Ethelburga's, mainly because I'd promised myself I'd finish the German 16th c. gown. I spent a big chunk of Sunday adding a hem - a strip of linen-ish fabric that pulls the exterior skirt to the lining. Fiddly.  It looks 100 times better hemmed though.

The hooks and eyes are done; I found some petersham ribbon that will serve as lacing (can't find the cord I'd plied); I've wrestled a passable headdress together with old veils and headbands, and some hairpieces. You can't actually see the hair when the headdress is over it, but it gives the snood-substitute the right shape.

I'm still not happy with the hat; despite careful measuring I've made it too small  and too rigid by far, even with a bit of reshaping (v 1.1). All I can do is perch it on one side, pin like crazy, and pray it doesn't fall off. I think I'll have to redo the brim entirely (v 1.2) at a later time.

Hat 2.0 that I'm knitting won't be ready for awhile yet.

So now it's down to a test fitting tomorrow, to decide how much of the bust band to reshape so it'll pin, or hook and eye, into the bodice.

I've decided I'm not a very good 16th c clothier. I find the number of pieces required for an outfit to be daunting and discouraging, and it seems to be a lot of work for the returns, at least compared to things I can make more easily. I'll finish the pieces I have outstanding, but I don't think I'll choose to do more.

Harley the puss continues to charm and entertain us. We've discovered she watches TV; I think it's movement that catches her eye. She's really enjoyed David Attenborough's bird of paradise programme, and this evening she watched a good chunk of the documentary about leopards very intently. Long tails of monkeys (and cats) were a great hit.

Unfortunately today she's barfed a few times (a first), is off her food (unheard of!), and is generally very subdued. I think she's headed to the V-E-T tomorrow.

We had a very splendid session of fabric stamping on the weekend; edith_hedingham , armillary , exmoor_cat , Katherine and Ozbeg came to ours, and we finished decorating the lengths of calico that Vitus donated to the shire with diapered patterns. They'll hide the modern walls at the site for Coronet, and I think they'll add a lot to the look and feel of the site.