"As meat loves salt" by Maria McCann, Jonathan Firth and general rambling

Several weeks ago The Observer had a feature where it asked successful authors to pick a book they loved but thought was a neglected gem. One of these was "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd which a colleague lent me and I really enjoyed and may even have posted about ( I can't remember if I did or just meant to) and another is this one "As Meat Loves Salt" by Maria McCann. It is set during the English civil war but really the war is a very minor player in it. I like historical novels but this is not a period I have ever read before. There was nothing that was obviously anachronistic to me and in fact I loved it. The main character is very complex and well drawn, certainly not an entirely sympathetic personality. In truth it is mainly a love story, which is why I enjoyed it so much I suppose, but it is also beautifully written, never drags, is utterly believable. I really recommend it.

ITV have been showing old Midsommer Murders and last Friday and today it was the very first one which Jonathan Firth was in. It occurred to me that that was pretty much the last thing I saw him in so I looked him up on IMDb. That episode first aired in 1997 - incredible. He has been quite busy since then by the sound of it but not in anything I've seen. What really made me smile though was that there was a discussion thread on his IMDb page about how he should be in a Harry Potter film, somebody apparently had always thought of Lupin as him. As I recall he wasn't all that at chemistry so that would chime with Lupin's lack of potions skill.

Paid over £1 for a litre of diesel for the first time on Friday. Hideous. I can remember my mum having a fit when petrol went over £1 a gallon, but that must have been 30 years ago.