Elspeth Thompson (1961–2010)

One of my impulse buys from the library sale, I thought it would be a fun source of inspiration for new weekend activities.

As it turns out, the author and I are apparently on the same page when it comes to ways of enjoying a weekend: most of the things she recommends or suggests are things we already do, to some extent. Except learning to play the ukulele - er, no thanks, I'll pass on that one. Still, MT and I are guilty of the weekly Sunday shop; something both he and I dread, and even though we take advantage of farmer's markets, there's just always something on the list that can't be gotten without a supermarket trip. (We're not quite ready to trust online grocery shopping yet, either.)

There are a lot of good ideas here, helpfully broken down by season and all-year-round activities. While the ideas are universal to all, the main drawback is that the book is entirely UK-centric, providing liberal lists of UK sources and the author's anecdotes about great places to stay or things to do in the UK. The debate about how worthwhile it is to go to France to stock up on alcohol seems a particularly moot one to someone living in Australia (or anywhere else that isn't Europe for that matter).

Frankly, it's not a book I'd say is worth buying in the shops, but if your library has it, or like me, you find it for a buck at the library sale, it's not a bad source for ways to mix your weekend up a bit.… (mehr)