Snoring through history

An emergency blip of yet another hot, sleepy animal, this time Jake snoring his way through the evening with loud, old man snores.

I set the alarm early to try and break the pattern of late nights and late mornings that is becoming too much the norm. I also hoped I might spend the day on the river. Unrealistic hopes; the spirit was willing but the flesh was too dilapidated. I'll spare you yet another description of the same old troubles, it bores even me - perhaps particularly me.

I did manage to go out to get some lunch and Jake accompanied me to the back of the garden to fondly (if unnecessarily and rather pathetically) check over my boat, making doubly sure it was ready to go if and when.

The rest of the day has been spent watching old favourite movies such as A Knight's Tale and Doctor Strangelove before embarking on a marathon catch up on the BBC's series of The White Queen. I've been putting that off since watching the first episode six weeks ago . Its a slice of history that has interested me for a very long time and about which I've read pretty widely , in other words I care about it and frankly after the mess the Beeb recently made of The Tudors I was expecting to be very disappointed - the first episode didn't entirely allay those fears. I am now, however, pleasantly surprised; of course there are inevitable over simplifications, omissions and distortions, its fiction after all and the subject matter is Byzantine in its complexity , but it got a lot better as it went on and I'm really enjoying it. I'll never manage to see the Woodvilles in a sympathetic light though, they have always struck me as a particularly nasty set of political maneuverers (amidst stiff competition) and Elizabeth Woodville especially. Good to see a sympathetic portrayal of Richard III though (so far) - I'm a dyed in he wool Riccardian!