Geomag 769 Magnetics Challenge Goal

Whenever we travel to Cornwall, I take a new game and DVDs with us for a rainy day. This year we had a Geomag 769 Magnetics Challenge Goal 96pc set to put in the suitcase.

This summer which comes to an end tomorrow (eek!) has had a good share of rainy days.
While some hale and robust families don't mind camping in the tents in any weather, we prefer to stay at home, bake cookies, watch a good old film and play games.
What do your children enjoy on a rainy day - do they read, watch YouTube or DVDs, draw and colour, play Minecraft and Roblox, build LEGO castles? We tend to do a bit of everything.

Many games these days are educational. Geomag makes toys which encourage STEM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and fun.

Geomag 769 Magnetics Challenge Goal set is a cool toy which helps teach children about magnetic forces, gravity and understand science.

The sturdy box contains several plastic bags with 96 pieces (15 metal balls and 81 elements at the base of the goal mechanism). The main challenge is to build and launch a cannon by using the force of gravity.

This set is suitable for children aged 7+, but younger children could play with it too, with the adult supervision. While there are no sharp edges, the launching of balls must be supervised, when playing with kids under 7.

The illustrated instructions are clear and straight-forward.

Some interesting facts about Geomag:
Geomag products come under a Swiss Made quality guarantee, and are aligned with the most stringent European and international safety standards.
Geomag is entirely produced in Switzerland, and manufactured with the utmost rigor and attention to materials.
Geomag has been recognised as the ideal game to give by the American Scientific magazine, which has conducted research on games that favour the development of children's intelligence.
Geomag lines are winners of numerous awards, with products helping children of all ages develop and train their minds, imagination and curiosity through the science of magnetic construction.

Once you have assembled the cannon, the fun of launching the metal balls begins. Precision, timing and dexterity are the keys to winning.

This creative engineering toy set will make a great gift for any occasion, be it a birthday, Christmas (are you starting to look for ideas for Christmas gifts?) or indeed a toy squirrelled for a rainy day.

Disclosure: We received Geomag set for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.

Photo diary: week 35, project 366

Autumn is rapidly approaching, blink, and August will be gone. It seems like only yesterday we were home-schooling and counting days to the summer holidays. And now we're awaiting the beginning of a new academic year with a sense of trepidation and anxiety.

Our local Whittard of Chelsey shop is closing down, as they cannot pay the exorbitant rent. I'm rather saddened by this. I love this little shop, which is the only shop in Witney, dedicated to tea and coffee. Of course, there is plenty of tea in supermarkets, and you can order online, but it's not the same. I rarely go to Oxford, so that visiting Whittard there is not an option for me.
Marriotts Walk (shopping centre) doesn't give a hoot about empty shops. It is slowly turning into a ghost town.

I collect tea tins/caddies. You can see some of my tea collection on the top shelf in the kitchen (I don't dare to show all the tea I've got, in fact, it's strategically placed all over the kitchen, so that nobody knows how many tins and boxes I have exactly. I should join the Teaholics Anonymous club.

To be fair, quite a few of these tins are empty, or only have a small amount left at the bottom, for reference, like Twinings Royal Weddding tin, or Twinings 90th celebration.

Overall, the weather has been pretty abysmal in the last week, but whenever there was a short sunny spell, we had a walk or ventured to the playground.

We haven't been walking through the flood fields for several days, so not sure when this tree has fallen across the path. The wooden fence of the house next to the fields was creaking ominously when we walked underneath the tree.

Mid-week I posted a review of The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron. It's a family saga set in Manchester in 1922. This is the third book by the author that I've read, and I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing another one by the same author (written under a different name).

It was bucketing all day, and though I had to go out for a quick shopping, I didn't take any photos except for Eddie's latest hair-cut. Here is a photo from our Monday visit to the playground.
This tree looks like it's praying, or asking for mercy. Or maybe dancing?

A quick trip to M&S to get school trousers. While getting some Percy pigs, we saw the shelves are already stacked with Hallowe'en candy, how bizarre is that?! I suppose, we'll soon see Christmas gifts all around as well.
We had a movie night with pizza and a DVD of Hercules with Dwayne Johnson (got it for a pound at Poundland). I was slightly dreading it, but it turned out to be better than I thought.

Woke up yesterday morning to sad news that Chadwick Boseman died. We're big fans of Marvel movies, and he was great as The Black Panther. Remember that scene from Avengers Infinity War, where he shouts Wakanda Forever! He was so young, and an iconic superhero.

On the way into town I noticed the clouds were arranged like shelves one over the other.

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The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron

"That's the point, my dear. You've got to work. You're a surplus girl."
"A what?"
"A surplus girl. That's what they're being called. With so many of our young men having lost their lives in the war, there's now a generation of girls with no men to marry them...
I didn't mean to give offence. My point is that surplus girls face a lifetime of fending for themselves."

The Surplus Girls by Polly Heron is a family saga set in Manchester, 1922.

It's the third book by the author which I've read this year (Polly Heron is a nom de plume of Susanna Bavin). The theme of the women's rights or lack thereof runs through her gripping stories.

The Surplus Girls is not a historical romance where a heroine from an impoverished background just has to flutter her eyelashes to catch a Duke or Earl and live happily ever after.
Heron's protagonists are real women, who live in poverty, and struggle every day to feed their family and make ends meet.

In Belinda Layton, the author has created a remarkable character. Her story is compelling, dark and devastating, but also full of exciting surprises and twists.

Belinda Layton is the eponymous surplus girl. She is one of thousands of young women who are left to fend for themselves after the death of their fiancés and husbands in the first world war.
Her beloved Ben is killed in action, and Belinda is "adopted" by her fiancé's mother and grandmother. Auntie Enid and Grandma Beattie dote on her and love her dearly, but they also put an immense pressure on her to stay in mourning for Ben.
Four years after his death, she is still in full mourning, and doesn't even dare to wear a white collar, or any colourful detail on her black outfit. She knows her family wouldn't approve or understand her desire to wear some colour.

Her own parents live in extreme poverty. The father is a total wastrel who cannot keep a job, and blames everyone else for his miserable existence. The mother is a slave to the family, and those children who have jobs, have to contribute to the family's budget (spent by father on drink and better food for himself).
They all expect Belinda to give part of her wage to them, even if she doesn't live with them any longer. They don't care about her, all they want is her meagre factory wages. There's no gratitude on their behalf, they take Belinda for granted. After all, she is not married, and thus has to give money to her parents.
They are so poor, that there's always a fear they would end up in the workhouse.

After four years of mourning, Belinda is ready to embrace the future without her fiancé. On her old teacher's advice, she decides to join a secretarial class, to try to better herself. That decision is not met with approval from her family, "I don't mean you no ill, lass, you know that," she is being told, "but this is where you belong. You can't climb out of your life. Everyone has their rightful place".

When Belinda joins the secretarial class, her world expands. While doing an unpaid job at the book shop to gain experience, she meets the shop owner's nephew Richard Carson. Belinda is smitten, her feelings and emotions are re-awakened. She had never considered the possibility of another relationship, but having met Richard, "she felt alive in a way she hadn't in years".

Working in the book shop, she also encounters Carson's cousin, Gabriel Linkworth. She doesn't trust him at first, as her loyalties lie with Richard. As time goes, she gradually learns to like and respect him. Gabriel is another victim of the war. Trapped inside a burning building in France, he is the only survivor. He loses his memory, not just the immediate past, but his entire life, his name, everything.

Belinda tries to understand her own feelings and figure out what she really wants.
Will she be able to find happiness after all the loss and devastation?

Heron's writing never falters, when creating an authentic, believable past. The class division, and the rigid rungs of social standing, with the inverted snobbery from the poorest who despise anyone who want to better themselves, reads true to life.
For example, when Belinda tries to persuade her family to allow her to apply for a new job, Grandma Beattie says, "Save your thanks for when we dry your tears after you've been knocked back from getting above yourself".

It's not just Belinda who's trying to follow her dreams. There are several sub-plots running along the main story, like the story of two sisters - Miss Hesketh and Miss Patience - who find themselves at the mercy of their half-brother who inherits the house which belonged to their late mother and wants to move in into his newly acquired abode without a second thought about the sisters. To survive, they start the secretarial school.
Their story is as engrossing as Belinda's.

I was glad to see the mention of Mary Brewer, a lady journalist who writes for Vera's Voice under the name of Fay Randall. Her story is told in The Poor Relation (<-- click on the link for the review). Seeing her name in another book was like meeting an old friend.

The Surplus Girls is the first book in a new series of family sagas. I can't wait to read the next book.

Many thanks to the author for my copy of the book!

The Second Mrs Thistlewood by Dionne Haynes #BlogTour

"From this day forward, I will strive for happiness. It may take a while to find the future I deserve, but while I work towards it, I will be courageous".

The Second Mrs Thistlewood by Dionne Haynes is a historical novel, set in Regency England.
Some of the events in the book are inspired by true events. Arthur Thistlewood was a radical activist and conspirator in the Cato Street Conspiracy, who was executed for treason.

His second wife was Susan Wilkinson, the main protagonist of the novel.

Arthur is well educated and has great aspirations of overthrowing the constitution and "improving the lives of the many who are far less fortunate than ourselves".

Susan says about their union, "I'm smart of mind and share Arthur's political views, and I do my best to encourage him in the fight against tyranny."

Arthur is a violent bully, who beats his wife, but she finds excuses for him, when confiding in to her mother:
"He's a retired soldier. Violence is an inevitable part of his character. The important thing is that he keeps it for the battlefield."

Arthur's son Julian is another victim of domestic violence. "For several years, we have supported each other against Arthur's volatile moods. My heart will fracture when he goes away to school". Susan is very fond of her stepson, but also hopes that it would be easier for her to leave Arthur when Julian is away.

While Arthur is plotting a revolution, Susan is plotting her escape from the abusive relationship.
"I deserve a better life than this. No matter how long it takes, I'll find a way to set myself free".

Susan is befriended by a new neighbour, Beckey, who invites her to attend her musical evenings and encourages her to sing. Their little music group is so good, that they are even invited to sing at Princess Charlotte's wedding. Susan is ecstatic, "I'm a butterfly spreading its wings for the first time, realising its true potential and venturing towards its destiny".

She values her friendship with Beckey and a young French widow Anne.
"How fortunate I am to have Beckey as a neighbour and the greatest of friends. She has offered me kindness, educated me about true suffering, given me the gift of music and song, and now opened a door to an opportunity of a lifetime".

Music, books and food provide the much needed escapism for Susan. While browsing in one of the London book shops, she encounters a charming stranger. He kindly buys a book for her, which she couldn't afford. That accidental meeting gives her a glimpse of hope. William happens to be a Bow Street Runner, and knows about the revolutionary plans of Susan's husband.

"Thoughts tumble and collide, and it's difficult to make sense of them. I am bound to Arthur by law and unable to leave him without his permission - unless he commits adultery."

Susan dreads bedtime and her husband's rough sexual advances. He is a rapist and an adulterer, who also forces himself on the servant. To keep her position, the servant appears to be willing, but she's just another victim of a male-dominant society.

"As Arthur's campaign plans become more violent, so too does his treatment of me. I cannot bear to look at him and shudder at his slightest touch. The marriage vows that were once so dear to me are a gaol sentence now".

As Susan's relationship with William progresses, we watch with a feeling of impending doom, whether she would be swept by the dark powers alongside the person who she wants to betray.

I found myself in two minds about the main protagonist. On one hand, you feel terribly sorry for her lot and root for her escape, but at what cost?

Arthur is a brutal man, who must be stopped, but the traitor's death is the most gruesome way to go, and Susan knows what would await her husband if he is caught:
"If Arthur's found guilty at trial, my actions will have contributed to condemning him to a traitor's death. I too will have blood on my hands. But I recall the dread of sharing his bed, the beatings, the violations of my body, and his fingers pressing against my neck... I did what I had to do. It was his life, or mine"

The theme of food is a constant thread throughout the book. Susan's relationship with food is a substitute of love and affection she's missing in life. It is a comfort food in its true sense of the word.
Food to her is not a mere sustenance, it is a source of solace.

"I tidy away the breakfast dishes and lick marmalade from a spoon. The tandy syrup coats my tongue with delicious sticky residue, and my taste buds tingle beneath the intense flavour of orange"

"Crisp, firm chocolate biscuits fail to lighten my mood. Nevertheless, I help myself to a third, seeking comfort from the rich taste of a quality cocoa".

"Fresh strawberry ice cream calms my fevered mind. As each cold spoonful slithers down my throat, I feel a delightful cooling sensation behind my breastbone".

Susan's story is dark and rather shocking. We see Regency London through her eyes. It's a real page-turner that will keep you guessing until the end.

Purchase Links

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Mrs-Thistlewood-Dionne-Haynes-ebook/dp/B08BCSQ7B7

Author Bio:
Dionne is a retired doctor, living in Plymouth with her husband. She has a passion for history, the great outdoors, good food and life in general. With her medical career now well behind her, she is enjoying a second career as an author.
In 2015, Dionne finished writing her first novel The Provenance of Lilly, but after careful reflection and consideration of some harsh criticism, she decided not to put it into print. Instead, she worked hard at honing her writing skills, and published her debut novel, Running With The Wind, in 2019.
She is currently working on a sequel which will form Book One of The Trelawney Wives series.

Dionne graduated from St George's Hospital Medical School in 1992, and started her medical career in the Royal Air Force. In 1998, she left the militart to have her son, and worked in General Practice and Occupational Medicine. The opportunity to retire came in 2014 and Dionne did not hesitate to take it, relishing the opportunity to delve into history books and begin her writing career.

Although no longer practising medicine, her medical background has some influence in the plotting of her stories.
While keen to maintain historical accuracy in her writing, Dionne creates stories from real events with sparse recorded details, allowing her imagination to take over and tell a tale of what may have occurred.

Social Media Links –

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dionne-Haynes/e/B0813VDWN9

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DionneHaynesUK

Twitter: @DionneHaynes_UK

Instagram: @dionnehaynes.author

This book review is part of the blog tour. 

Many thanks to Dionne Haynes and Rachel’s Random Resources for my ecopy of the book.

Photo diary: week 34, project 366

When I think that it was only last week we were walking barefoot on the Cornish beach, listening to the waves and breathing the salty air, I feel nostalgic. I didn't make my weekly photo post last weekend, as my laptop didn't work. Thankfully, it turned out that it was the adaptor, not the laptop itself. Big relief, but it meant I missed my chance to join in the Project 366 linky.
I did write about our Cornish memories if you fancy seeing what we were up to, while staying in Perranuthnoe.

On Sunday I braved visiting Costa for the first time since the lockdown. Oh boy, I missed their latte. It was lovely with a hot buttered teacake.

My younger niece Sonia asked her followers on Insta, what she should draw next. Eddie wondered if she could draw Baby Yoda, and Sonia has kindly obliged him. We were both impressed. She is a talented girl. It was Sonia who has inspired Eddie to start using art markers.

Eddie and I are big fans of Robin Stevens' Murder Most Unladylike series. The latest, and final, book in the series was published earlier this month, and of course, we had to buy it. Now our MMU collection is complete.
We are still reading book no.5 - Murder and Mistletoe. We'll finish it in a couple of days, and then might have a mini-break from the series and read another author.
We loved the MMU bunting in the local Waterstones.

We escaped the heat wave and the thunderstorms, while staying in Cornwall. I asked a couple of friends to look after my tomatoes, knowing that it would be very hot, while we were away. I was also hoping to return to plenty of ripe fruit, but most of the tomatoes are still pretty much green, especially the bigger variety, Ailsa Craig.
Cherry tomatoes are just beginning to get colour. And they are very sweet.

On the way shopping, Eddie and I popped into one of the charity shops, where we have spotted several figurines of Napoleonic times' characters. I actually did buy a figure of Boney, as my father-in-law collects souvenirs of Napoleon. I also snapped a picture of the remaining figures to ask if he fancied any of them.

I like to use "staged" photos for my book reviews, that is, if I have an actual paperback rather than a Mobi. I wrote my book review for Who Killed Patrick? by Syl Waters for today, which is a cozy crime set in Fuerteventura. Crema Catalana features prominently in the mystery. Alas, I couldn't find any crema for the photo shoot, and placed Pastel de Nata around the book.
Does anyone have a full proof recipe for Crema Catalana? I really fancy some after reading the book.

It was so windy yesterday that the lawn under the apple trees is covered with windfalls. I picked a few and decided to bake an apple tart. I pre-baked the shortcrust pastry, then realised I didn't have any apricot jam to spread over, under the layer of apples. I only had a strawberry jam, which is not ideal for this dessert. How about the Biscoff spread? It actually worked quite well, so that was a good discovery.

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Who Killed Patrick by Syl Waters #BlogTour

Uneasy, that's how I feel. It seems like in the last twenty-four hours my stable life has become unstable. What I thought I knew, I don't. My life feels stripped bare of the assumptions I've made. Now I feel I need to question everything, everyone. I don't know who to trust, what to believe, who's lying, pretending to be something they're not.

Who Killed Patrick? by Syl Waters is the first book in a Mr Bob Murder Mystery. It features the most unusual detective duo - Tarah and Mr Bob. What's so unusual about them, you might ask. Well, Mr Bob is a guinea pig.

We first encounter Tarah, bored with her life and annoyed with her job. She hates being stuck in the office, working for a wage which barely covers the cost of living. She tells herself, "I don't want this anymore. I want something else. I want a life. I want to feel like I'm alive."
On the spur of the moment, she books a one-way ticket to Fuerteventura. And thus her new adventures begin.
She is offered a job, dealing with tourists in the complex of apartments, and she takes on this job with a great enthusiasm. Tarah is happy in her new job, "I'm not sure how or where the days slip by, but effortlessly one sunrise leads to another sunset and another day closes... Life is bliss".

Tarah also has got a new companion. It's a fluffy, tortoiseshell guinea pig called Liliana. Only Liliana is not a she, but a he, and thus the guinea pig becomes known as Mr Bob.

The life of bliss ends abruptly, when one of their guests dies. Patrick's death isn't a straight-forward heart attack, as everyone has presumed at first. The holiday complex is under threat, as the unknown source posts a vicious gossip on the website. Jorge's Place is turning into a potential crime site and that is negatively affecting the reputation.

At the same time Tarah discovers that her guinea pig has a talent for sniffing out trouble. Apparently he has the sixth sense and is able to suspect foul play.

With the help from Mr Bob and Diego the plumber, Tarah turns into a modern-age Miss Marple, conducting an investigation of her own and collecting the clues.

"Solving who killed Patrick is about everyone and our existence here on our lazy, contented, sleeping dinosaur of a perfect isle. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I have to prove what happened to Patrick. The future of our beautiful, happy home depends on it".

Will they be able to solve the crime before it's too late?

If you're looking for a thrilling, exciting summer read, this is the book for you.

There is a whole pleiad of secondary characters, from the local vet who talks to animals in a coochie-coochie coo way that makes you shake your head in disbelief, to a local Lothario who serves the tables in the Italian café.
The guests are a random bunch, including among the others, two businessmen, Patrick and Mick, with their partners, Pauline and Tamika. Patrick and Mick are hoping to do the biggest deal of their career.
Tamika is an influencer, whose Insta channel is property porn. She is a caricature, but portrayed not without a fair amount of observation. Her Insta account is something I would avoid like a plague, but she has thousands of followers, and considers herself a big star.

The pool of suspects is very narrow, and it's not hard to figure out the motive for the murder and who's done it. You will also feel sorry for Patrick, who appears to be very likable.

The plot is very much a cozy mystery, without gore and forensic investigation.

This post is part of the blog tour for Who Killed Patrick?
Many thanks to Syl Waters, Eleftheria and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!

Purchase Links

UK –https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BJ4RPTS/

US -  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BJ4RPTS/


Sign up to Syl Waters newsletter receive a free copy of The Little Book Of Curiously Fascinating Facts about Guinea Pigs - http://www.sylwaters.com/

Author Bio –

Most people know crazy cat ladies are a ‘thing’, but I’m a proud crazy guinea pig lady! I love fun in the sun and plenty of cocktails. My happy place is flip flops. I write stories to keep me company - my characters ensure I’m never lonely and always smiling (when I’m not tearing my hair out!)

Social Media Links –

www.sylwaters.com

Twitter: @waters_syl
Insta: @mrbob.guineapig 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/syl.waters.54


I'm ending my post with a lovely photo of two cute guinea pigs, courtesy of Sarah from MumofThreeWorld blog (check out her post Introducing Henry the guinea pig to find out more).
I regularly read Sarah's blog, and her guinea pigs feature prominently in the weekly photo posts.

This Side of Death by Andrew Barrett #BlogTour (review + giveaway)

"Alex was so far out of control that she was likely to do anything to anybody she came across. She was wild, feral, and the only way to stop was when she reached her

target.

And Eddie was that target."

This Side of Death by Andrew Barrett is the 6th book in the CSI Eddie Collins thriller series (date published - 14 August 2020).
The book reads as a standalone (I haven't read any of the previous books in the series).

Potential triggers: murder, sadistic torture, extreme mental health issues.

Synopsis:

This Side of Death. When the past comes back to hunt you. 

Alex Sheridan believes the only way she can be free of her demons is to kill the men in her life. She has a list, and Crime Scene Investigator Eddie Collins is on it.
Death misses Eddie by inches, and Alex is locked away in Juniper Hill high-security hospital.

Everything is fine for Eddie until one day four years later, when Alex escapes. This time she’s better prepared.

The week that follows ruptures Eddie’s life and shatters the belief he had in his own past, leaving him wondering what really happened, and facing one stark choice: who to kill and who to save.

This Side of Death is the most revealing CSI Eddie Collins novel to date. Prepare to see inside his past and understand what makes him the angriest, most feared, and yet most respected CSI in England.

Review:

Eddie Collins is a CSI, who's supposed to be brilliant at what he's doing. Eddie is a controversial character. He has a talent for rubbing the others up the wrong way. He's constantly angry.
"To Eddie, life was straight-forward. Live it. Get angry. Die."
"Anger was therapeutic and pure; it was the medicine that kept him sane. He suspected it also gave him high blood pressure, but you couldn't have it all."

While his anger and acerbic wit could be explained by the tragedies in his life, it doesn't excuse his obnoxious manner. It's difficult to say, why his colleagues are so tolerant and forgiving.

He's very pessimistic and sarcastic, but sarcastic in a juvenile way. For example, Eddie and his colleague Benson are invited to the superior's office and offered hot drinks. "Coffee, please," Eddie said. "My colleague will have strychnine. Two sugars."
Or he puts a cactus under the buttocks of his colleague who's exercising (doing stretches) in the office. And that's supposed to be funny.

Swearing could be a powerful, emotional tool, but if one is swearing a lot, it becomes tedious. And I'm afraid I found Eddie's style of communication with his colleagues and family tedious.

Alex Sheridan, the manipulative psychopath and sadistic serial killer, is cunning and devious.
"It was hard for her, but she'd done nothing to escape the spiral of decay and self-hatred she found herself in. If anything, she'd propagated it, almost relished being inside this maelstrom..."
She is plagued by the voices in her head, but "she had learnt to accept the voices, to live with them, even to ignore them for the most part..."
"Alex is a very complicated individual. She suffers from psychotic episodes, has violent tendencies brought about by borderline personality disorder".
Her past is tragic, and we get some insights into what has triggered her into becoming a violent sadist, who derives tremendous pleasure in inflicting pain. She is happy to kill anyone on her path to freedom.

Alex is determined to punish Eddie for the past mistakes. And the clock is ticking...


This Side of Death is dark, disturbing, full of menacing moments and gore. The story moves at a cracking pace, and there's a shocker of a twist at the end.

Seeing numerous accolades from book bloggers, I realise that this book and I were not meant for each other. I'm not usually squeamish, when it comes to thrillers, but some of the scenes in this book will make you flinch, and I don't just refer to the savage murders. I also didn't warm up to the main protagonist, whom I found immature and crude.

This Side of Death will appeal to the fans of fast-paced crime thrillers, with a strong forensic element.

Thank you to Andrew Barrett and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
This post is part of the blog tour.

Purchase Links

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Side-Death-comes-Collins-ebook/dp/B08C4MC5J7

US - https://www.amazon.com/This-Side-Death-comes-Collins-ebook/dp/B08C4MC5J7

Author Bio

Andrew Barrett became a CSI in 1996, and finished his first crime thriller, A Long Time Dead in 1997. Two more books completed the SOCO Roger Conniston trilogy.

Andrew still produces authentic crime thrillers with a forensic flavour. He’s known for his lead character, CSI Eddie Collins, and the acerbic way in which he roots out criminals. Eddie’s series is five books and three novellas in length.

Andrew is a proud Yorkshireman and sets all of his novels in Leeds.

You can find out more about him and his writing at www.andrewbarrett.co.uk

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AndrewBarrettUK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewBarrett.author

Exclusive Readers Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BarrettERG/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewbarrettauthor

Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-Barrett/e/B0055888Q0/

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Barrett/e/B0055888Q0/

YouTube: AndrewBarrett on YouTube

Giveaway to Win one of 5 paperback copies of This Side of Death (UK only).
T&Cs:
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Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winners will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email.
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Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with the third parties, with the exception of the winners' information.
This will be passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for the fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel's Random Resources will delete the data.
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Memories of Cornwall

When it comes to sunsets, Cornwall is surely the envy of the other counties. And in the previous week we've seen a lot of glorious sunsets along the beautiful coastline. The sun gradually slipping behind the horizon is one of the most fascinating sights, and I never tire of it.

Our trip to Cornwall was booked last year. We tend to stay in the same cottage in the village of Perranuthnoe, where all the properties get snapped a year in advance. We love the closeness to the sea, the cottage itself is very comfortable, and our elder son revels in the familiarity of the place.

This is the view of the sea and the village from one of the bedroom windows. You lie on the bed, and drift to sleep with the skies getting darker and darker, and the occasional lights from the distant trawler. Though this year, I had to pull down the blinds, as they have installed the sensor lights by the front door just below the windows, which kept blinking like a disco through the night. Must have been feral cats, foxes or bats, I've never seen anything live moving, whenever I peeked in the night.

We didn't know until the last moment whether this trip would even happen, what with Covid, and all the travel arrangements with social distancing and the joy of masks. I've been fretting for the last few weeks, keeping my fingers crossed, that we could make it.
Staying in Cornwall for a week is a highlight of my year. I don't want to go to the hot climes of the Mediterranean for a break, I'm happy breathing the salty air of the Cornish coastline.

I wonder if this cutie was one of our night visitors, who kept triggering the sensor lights?!

Which souvenirs do you bring home from your trips? I always bring a bag of rocks and pebbles, polished by the sea. I found this lovely pebble on the first night of our stay in Cornwall, and just knew I had to bring it home with me. Now I have to decide where to place it in our garden.
And there's Eddie photo-bombing me from behind the patio doors.

I have easily taken about a thousand photos in Cornwall, but don't worry, I won't bombard you with all of them. I've picked 15, which bring happy memories and make me want to go back to the sea.

Usually I'm behind the camera, so that I don't have many photos of myself, but I asked Eddie to take a few snaps. This is the SoyaConcept top I bought just before our trip. If you read my Photo diary posts, you might remember when I mentioned that I loved that top in the shop window display. It was just perfect for cooler Cornish evenings by the sea.

My boys love the seaside as much as I do. Eddie was so happy, frolicking and rollicking in the waves.
The beach was the busiest I've ever seen it, and we've been staying in this village for about 10 years.
It must be all the visitors who would usually go abroad for summer holidays, but had to change their plans due to Covid.

The village we stay in doesn't have any grocery shops, sadly, so you need to order food online or go to a nearby town (Marazion or Penzance). I've been watching the Tesco slots like a hawk, and managed to book one flexi-slot at 12.01am, when all the hourly slots were snapped immediately.

We also had a food delivery from The Cornish Food Box Company. I cannot recommend them highly enough. They work with more than 250 local producers and farmers. Everything in our order was fresh and high quality. I wish I've taken a photo of the delivery when it arrived, but my guys were starving, and I started cooking our lunch as soon as the food arrived.

Among many other things, I have ordered a traditional saffron cake and scones, with the delicious Trewithen Dairy clotted cream and wonderfully fragrant Strawberry & rose petal jam from Gathered.
I loved that jam, it was like the essence of summer.

In the evenings we like to walk to the rocky beach, well, we call it that, I don't know what's the official name for it. You walk to the left from the village, along the coastal path towards Marazion and St Michael's Mount. There is an old cannon and a rusty anchor by one of the villas on the way. They keep the gates open for people to have a look around and take photos.

For the last few years Eddie and I have a jumping photo taken. It has become a tradition. This is not the best snap, but Sash was getting restless, and we didn't have much time for getting a better shot. Well, we tried. It was windy, and my hair was getting in my face.
This is one of the "embarrassing parent's" photos. I wonder when Eddie would reach a point when he refuses to jump with me?

This is our Sash in a relaxed mood. He wasn't always relaxed, I think the crowds on the beach have made him more anxious. He loves walking to the rocky beach, as there are hardly any people there, and he can spend ages standing next to the waves, looking at St Michael's Mount.

Playing in the sand is a must, when you're on the beach.

You wait and wait for your holidays for a whole year, and then the week whizzes past, fast like a bullet. And it's time to say Good bye to your favourite spot in the world, and travel home.
We wanted to extend our Cornish adventure, and on the way back visited two of the iconic Cornish landmarks - Land's End and Tintagel.

Land's End was quite busy. We walked around, looking at the cliffs, covered in herbs and blooms. I've read there are over 80 kinds of moss on the rocks there. I've never seen such an abundance of monbretia in the wild, presuming that it was a garden plant.
We bought some substandard rock (as in confectionery), which was too soggy soft, and a postcard with a stamp to send to the grandparents in Italy.

We should have checked out Tintagel website before deciding to visit it, as of course, everything is pre-booked in advance these days. But it would have been unrealistic for us, and with the ever-unreliable Cornish weather, plans could always go awry.

The village itself was a hell of a crowded space. Social distancing was non-existent, there were queues and crowds everywhere, and I didn't feel comfortable visiting any of the shops or cafes.

You could still walk down the path to see the remains of the castle and Merlin's cave from the side.
When I saw the new slate bridge over the gorge, I was kind of glad we didn't have tickets.
There is no way I would want to walk on it. I'm not good with heights at all, and even looking at the footbridge from below gave me heart palpitations.

I always wanted to visit Tintagel. It has strong links to the legends of King Arthur and Merlin.
Maybe one day, I will revisit it properly, but only walking on the lower bridge.

We said Good Bye to Cornwall, and now have our photos and memories to go back to. I miss Cornwall already.