The planets must be aligned in some auspicious way, as far as my reading is concerned, as I have two delightful books on the go just now. The latest instalment of life in 44, Scotland Street, Alexander McCall Smith's The Importance of Being Seven has me chuckling from the off, and here's a little (reassuring) exchange that amuses in typical McCall Smith fashion:
"Couples with an Aga stay together,"
"How do people know that?"
"They just do. It's the attitude that does it. A person who buys an Aga is going to be ... how should one put it, solid. They want a solid and reliable cooker because they are solid and reliable themselves." He paused. "Do you get flashy types buying Agas? How many flashy types do you know who have an Aga?"
And now for a bit of Debo, and her new book Wait For Me: Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister
"He walked to this holy of holies in Victoria Street [the Army & Navy Stores] with a lurcher and a Labrador at heel - no leads. He put the dogs to sit in the entrance and waited with them for the doors to open at 9 a.m. My mother asked him why he had to be there so early. 'If I am any later I am impeded by inconveniently shaped women,' was the reply."
Simple pleasures!
