The winter solstice. Shortest day of the year and a sun cloud mix. But it’s warm enough. Hits twenty and the dogs are happy to enjoy lazing in the center of the Saturday market.
As usual the used book stall is the most enticing. Pick up Tony Benn’s More Time for Politics, his diaries for the years 2001 to 2007, 2001 being the year he retired from his half century as a member of the British parliament. We were lucky enough to see him at his second last public appearance - in London in November of 2013. He died in March of 2014, the BBC obituary noting that he was one of the few British politicians who became more left-wing after having actually served in government.
Also an Ian Rankin novel and the memoirs of Nicholas Henderson, a British diplomat who served as ambassador to Poland, Germany and France as well as representing his country in the US. So well set up for reading. A far cry from the days when e-books were non-existent and English language books so thin on the ground in some countries we visited that we read whatever we found - resulting in some unusual choices, occasionally surprisingly rewarding.