Of hedgehogs, Dads and I, Clavdivs

[strange_complex]

I believe I may have mentioned as much on this LJ before, but just to reiterate - my Dad is teh aces! When he arrived at 9pm last night, I only had one working telephone socket in my house - a bit inconvenient, since it was in my study, and I couldn't guarantee to hear it if I was downstairs and the study door was closed. Now, I have no less than four working telephone sockets - a little excessive for my needs, perhaps, but they were all part of an old system which was just there anyway, so he figured he might as well reactivate them all while he was at it. I am incredibly impressed at his cleverness.

He also brought a plastic outdoor table and chairs, which will be nice as hollyione is coming to visit me tomorrow, so we can enjoy sitting out in the garden with drinks while her daughter plays around us. We decided to take them straight through to the garden from the car when he arrived, and of course being 9pm it was dark, and the automatic light I have above the patio doors switched itself on as I opened them. And what should I see in its beam, sitting in the middle of the lawn? A hedgehog! I wasn't terribly surprised, as I see foxes and squirrels all the time, but hedgehogs are a bit more secretive, and I obviously haven't been out at the right time to encounter one yet. He didn't even seem very scared or anything - he didn't roll up in a ball, but just sat there, and after a while decided that maybe he would shuffle off somewhere a bit quieter. It was very exciting, and I hope I shall see more of him.

Anyway, now Dad has headed off towards Dundee, where he will be picking my Mum up from a Medical History conference and then going to the Moray Firth area for a holiday. Apparently the main attraction is dolphins, which can be seen by the dozen in the bay.

Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news, a film of I, Claudius is apparently on the cards. Could be very exciting if it happens, although I may be forced to kill myself if Leonardo DiCaprio is cast as Claudius. As Caligula, though... I could go with that.

Comments

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't find Harris' novel that annoying, though it does have the standard problem with many historical novels, that pre-industrial people are thinking in a post-industrial manner. But it wasn't hideously inaccurate, and I've read novels that are far worse.

The fictional bits of the Butterworth/Laurence book are better, though.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

The thing that's jarred most so far is several references to Attilius' religious cynicism. This seems like unnecessary modernising to me - wouldn't it be more exciting to explore the mind-set of someone for whom the gods were real and active? I'll forgive him if it turns out to be the basis for character development later on - but I am not hopeful.

But as I hint above, it is the accuracies that are somehow annoying me more. I keep wanting to shout, "Yes, you've read Pliny, and Frontinus, some stuff about volcanoes and probably Hodge's book on aqueducts too. Now get over it!"

What an author of historical fiction could actually do to please me, I'm not sure...

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

Believe me, there are far worse authors for "Look at me! I've done research! See my research!"

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Go on - name and shame! ;-)