It was nice to get out of Velcro City for a few days over the festive season*, and spend some time in the rural quiet of Yorkshire.
A whole lot of doing nothing was successfully accomplished, and copious amounts of food were consumed. Result.
As such, there’s very little to report in this particular issue of FPB**, except that I read three and a half books in the course of a week (which is the sort of throughput I used to achieve back before I started this writing and blogging malarkey), and re-established my deep and lasting appreciation for the merits of red wine, cats and open fires.
Books and magazines seen
No new books this week, but a late arrival this morning from the magazine camp, namely the January issue of F&SF. Which is odd, because I remain convinced that my sub should have run out ages ago … I guess it hasn’t.
Another new arrival from across the pond, though not of a literary nature, comes in the form of my [unnamed holiday] present to myself:
Yup - it’s a BoingBoing promo T-shirt, with the “Jackhammer Jill” mascot as re-imagined by the notorious Hot Rod artist Coop. In no other item will there ever be such a perfect and equal intersection of geekery with rock’n'roll. So I had to have it, really. 
Coda
That’s your lot, then. If you’re lucky, I’ll have done some fantastically exciting things by this time next week - but going on past form, you may wish to avoid holding your breath. 
I hope you all have a good time at New Year’s, and don’t end up punishing major internal organs too badly in the process.
But for now, it’s time for me to sign off and head out for The Final Friday Curry Of 2007. Have a good weekend, ladies and gents.
[* The travel logistics involved were less pleasant. I now understand why it costs twice as much to make a journey by train compared to by coach, and I shall be paying that extra next time. Gladly.]
[** No change there, then.]
