News

Strikes disrupted daily life again this week but in Woodbridge there was an additional issue in the closure of the A12 for maintenance work. With traffic redirected through the town, there were times when the roads were gridlocked.

Although most vehicles were following a diversion, some tried to take different routes to avoid the closure and resulting congestion. Unfortunately the driver of one huge lorry came unstuck when he approached the one way system and realised he couldn't get through. His subsequent attempt at turning back resulted in him blocking the whole of the historic Market Hill.

While many of these lorries seem far too big for our roads, we can't fail to sympathise with delivery drivers who are often under huge time pressure. If their routes are compromised, they have to make difficult decisions on how best to reach their destination. But we all know the dangers of blindly following the instructions of sat nav systems.

Indeed, I had a bit of a surprise earlier this year when I thought I was being taken on a short cut to north Norfolk. Congratulating myself on how I was avoiding hurtling along A roads and was instead enjoying big skies, sunshine and windmills, I turned a corner to hear my sat nav suddenly pronounce 'take the ferry'. Fortunately, despite being in the middle of nowhere (on the edge of the Norfolk Broads), the chain ferry was operating, and my journey continued, but if I'd studied a map beforehand I might not have had such a shock.

Of course it was lack of planning on my part that, on this occasion, I hadn't looked at all my options on a road atlas before starting my journey.

But how many of us are losing the skill of reading a map? On a recent episode of 'The Apprentice' on BBC One, the candidates revealed that they didn't know how to use a paper map. And this wasn't a case of not being able to read contour lines or decipher the symbols in the legend, they didn't know how to use a street atlas!

Wouldn't it be sad to lose the skill to read maps and appreciate our immediate environment? And how important it is to understand where we are in life, where we've come from and where we're going! Let's keep using road atlases, street guides, nautical charts and OS maps. Besides, you don't always have the power or signal for an electronic device, particularly in Suffolk!

Thank you for reading.

A play has just opened in the West End, quirkily titled 'Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons' (that's five 'lemons'). Starring 'Poldark's Aidan Turner and 'Victoria's Jenna Coleman, it is described as 'a tender and funny rom-com' but it's so much more than an evening's light entertainment.

The premise of the play, written by Sam Steiner, is that a law is proposed, and then passed, where each citizen is limited to speaking only 140 words a day. 

The two characters, Oliver and Bernadette haven't long been a couple. They think they've told each other all the important bits about their lives before the law is passed, but of course things are never that simple. So how do they cope with this limit on their conversation? What are the words they choose to say to each other? What does this limit on communication mean to the balance of power in society? When do you use up your words to avoid dealing with the difficult 'stuff', and when do you just start singing?!

This was just the most amazing tonic. It was lovely to be at a London theatre again for one thing, but it was so refreshing to watch a warm, funny, lively play which also had moments of poignancy and quiet, and which left us all with so much to ponder and discuss.

Very often deep and difficult issues are presented in gritty, dark, angst-driven rants on the stage, I find, which may be creatively formidable but leave me wrung through and despondent. This was exciting, energising and stimulating while also making some interesting and challenging points about communication and power. Go and see it if you can - or buy the book!

Thank you for reading.

The beginning of another year is often the prompt we need to try something new and I'm pleased to say that this month there's been a surge in interest in book clubs.

Our meeting in Woodbridge is only a week away but it's not too late to get a copy of the book and come along to join us. Scroll down for details but please let me know if you are hoping to attend so that I can be sure we have enough chairs!

Book groups are great for broadening our reading, sharing thoughts and opinions, puzzling over characters' behaviours, delighting in plot developments and wondering about authors' motivations and messages. And they're also a good place to meet like-minded people.

Many celebrities, businesses and magazines have developed their own book clubs to strengthen their brand identities and build a community.

Following on from the success of tv's Richard and Judy's Book Club, Oprah Winfrey in the US and 'Between the Covers' on BBC2, there are also book recommendations from singer Florence Welch and actors Reece Witherspoon, Emma Watson and Sarah Michelle-Geller. 

The book list from former president of the USA Barack Obama is always very popular and there's also a Reading Room hosted by the Queen Consort.

Author and editor Alexandra Pringle, from Bloomsbury, launched a Silk Road Slippers Book Club with author Nesrine Malik last year, and even clothing company Toast has a book club and author interviews. 

For our meeting in a few days' time, we'll be discussing Meg Mason's 'Sorrow and Bliss' which was also selected by Gwyneth Paltrow for her Goop club. I wonder how our opinions on the book will compare?!

And, although these online, virtual book clubs are a great resource for discovering new titles, you can't beat meeting together in person over a cup of coffee and a piece of flapjack, can you?! I hope to see you at the book group soon.

Thank you for reading.

Though we've been bombarded with news and views about one particular book in the past week, there are dozens of exciting new titles being released in the coming months and I've been desperately trying to whittle down my 'to be read' pile(s) to make room for them. 

But as I've been pruning my shelves, I've been distracted by books I've enjoyed over the years and titles I've been meaning to read.

Over Christmas I finally got round to a Mary Wesley title given to me as a present months earlier. And the new Lucy Worsley biography of the great Agatha Christie led me to read one of the crime writer's Mary Westmacott novels for the first time.

Both books were delightful for their gentler pace, refined settings and the gentility, respect and civility in behaviour and interactions. There was also a wry humour, not always intended. It felt comforting and uplifting to step out of modern life and into these worlds of a few decades past.

Of course I'm not alone in enjoying this sense of nostalgia and a number of publishers are now reissuing many forgotten classics. 

The British Library Crime Classics series continue to do very well, and the beautiful endpapers of Persephone books means that they are constant favourites. Faber and Penguin produce modern classics, of course. But I was recently drawn to Pushkin Press reissuing the novels of the Golden Age crime writer Josephine Tey with striking covers, and also two titles by the author of the children's stories about 'Madeline', Ludwig Bemelmens.

So many brilliant books to rediscover and which offer some welcome respite from the issues of our modern world! My 'to be read' list has got much, much bigger!

Thank you for reading.

This week seems to have been dominated by book news.

The books which topped the charts over Christmas were revealed - 'Guinness World Records' was the overall winner apparently.

The number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland in 2022 has reached a 10-year high with the sixth consecutive year of growth, according to the Booksellers Association. There are now 1,072 independent bookshops.

Oh, and there were reports of what to expect in a controversial memoir due to be released next week. Nothing from me on that one...

But this weekend is reputedly when new year's resolutions fall by the wayside. Whether you plan to write a book this year (or open a bookshop?!), read more books, keep a book journal, or attend book group for the first time, it's a bit early for us to give up on our booky challenges so I wish you well!  

Thank you for reading.