Glenda's 60th
27 February

The end of the month has brought a pleasant family occasion.

Ross's mum has turned 60 and so the two of us headed off to a family gathering. For once, Ross's dad, Trevor, managed to keep everything secret from her. Ross and I stayed at his sister's the night before and then we met up with the rest of the family for the meal itself.

It all went well and family ties were cemented.

Meanwhile, there has been more natural disaster. This time, last Tuesday, in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The severity of the earthquake can be measure by the fact that it toppled the 63m spire of the city's Anglican cathedral.

I don't know if this signifies that there is something going on or that global news makes us all more aware of these things.

Ross and I finally managed to see 127 Hours which is directed by Danny Boyle and stars James Franco. It is based on the true story of experienced mountain climber, Aron Ralston, who becomes trapped under a boulder whilst exploring a canyon near Moab, Utah on his own. It's a fascinating study in survival - that's mental as well as physical survival. It has its gruesome moments but, overall, it has a message of hope. I just can't see myself ever wanting to watch it again despite the movie's many merits.

I could, however, be persuaded to watch Valentine's Day again even though it is a much lesser film simply because it is nice and doesn't require too many brain cells or too much emotional engagement. The cast is extensive and they all do their bits very well - Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts. For the record, neither Ross nor I spotted the two gay twists in the story.

Triumphant was our latest talking book, Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome read by Gabriel Woolf. We bought this in the Lake District during our stay at Glenthorne. I read the book when I was in my early teens and I remember a much repeated BBC Children's TV series of about that time too. This reading captured the world of young people living out exciting fantasy adventures but also living in a real world as well. Some of the attitudes are very of its time but overall it was rollicking good fun.

Bit of a disappointment though was Turbulence by Giles Foden. I loved his The Last King of Scotland but was less smitten by Ladysmith. This was more in that vein. He writes well about his historical subjects (and here we were looking at the team of meteorologists who tried to predict a clear patch of weather for D Day) but I was more impressed by the research than I was engaged with the characters or the storyline.