Andalucia fulfilled all its promise. We first visited the small town of Nerja over 20 years ago and on our return last week we found it had grown to a middle-sized town. Thankfully it has avoided the Blackpool feel of so many of the costas. We enjoyed it. No handbag, though, but significant consolation in a string of fabulous pearls. I am lucky to be married to a man who understands the importance of such things!
During the long hot days I read three novels: Ian Rankin's latest Rebus -'The Naming of the Dead'. I am not ordinarily a fan of the detective novel but this had an interesting political take - and I liked the way he demonstrated how the powerful, the corrupt, the compromised and the idealist follow broadly similar paths whatever the size of the pool they swim in: the second in Conn Iggulden's trilogy on the life of Julius Caeser - 'Emperor, The Field of Swords' was an amazing study of brute force, subtle politicking, intrigue for advantage and how a man's moral compass shifts the wider his experience becomes: and finally Simon Scarrow's study of the parallel careers and motives of Napoleon Boneparte and Arthur Wellesley -'The Generals'. At their core, each novel explored how the ambitions and personality of only a few, affect and move the behaviour of the many - how nations and world events are shaped. Three lines from each made me smile, pause and think, respectively...'It's funny how well fed councillors always look,' [ouch!], 'while I hope for peace I prepare for war, ' and 'we must subordinate our temper to reason. The future of Europe [or whatever] depends upon it.'
I am home and the twin pressures of work and public life have already begun to crowd. It will be a long time before I have the luxury of time for leisure reading again.
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