Friday seems to be the day I post photos! Anyway, I have a 64 GB phone and yet, every few days, I get a notification to delete items to get more space. Hence all these photos which are now being deleted to gain more space in my phone.
Vienna Waltz – Tracy Grant, Teresa Grant
Nothing is fair in love and war. . .
Europe’s elite have gathered at the glittering Congress of Vienna–princes, ambassadors, the Russian tsar – all negotiating the fate of the continent by day and pursuing pleasure by night. Until Princess Tatiana, the most beautiful and talked about woman in Vienna is found murdered during an ill-timed rendezvous with three of her most powerful conquests. . .
Suzanne Rannoch has tried to ignore rumours that her new husband, Malcolm, has also been tempted by Tatiana. As a protégé of France’s Prince Talleyrand and attaché for Britain’s Lord Castlereagh, Malcolm sets out to investigate the murder and must enlist Suzanne’s special skills and knowledge if he is to succeed. As a complex dance between husband and wife in the search for the truth ensues, no one’s secrets are safe, and the future of Europe may hang in the balance. . .
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
Who amongst us does not love the thrill that only comes from finding the perfect pair of shoes, that dress or even a bag! And if you managed to find it on sale, the thrill is doubled or even tripled.
Photo by Oleg Magni on Pexels.com
The Rush that is Shopping
You enter the mall with anticipation
Fingering your cards, feeling just a bit maudlin
You have big plans for the day, waiting to jump into the fray
You walk around, checking out shops, sizing up your prey
Then when you have found the perfect dress you were looking for,
That’s when you rush towards it, find your heart starting to soar
Eyes sharp as an eagle, ears keen as a owl
Like a predator on the prowl
When the dress is in your hands, you breathe a sigh of relief
Then its the delicious excitement of making sure it fits and does not give you grief
Then you pay for it and take it home
Now you wait to twirl in it, maybe do a roam?
That’s the fun of shopping, it gives you that burst of adrenaline
The rush that comes from it, makes you shine
The Betrayal – Helen Dunmore
Leningrad in 1952: a city recovering from war, where Andrei, a young hospital doctor and Anna, a nursery school teacher, are forging a life together. Summers at the dacha, preparations for the hospital ball, work and the care of sixteen-year-old Kolya fill their minds. They try hard to avoid coming to the attention of the authorities, but even so their private happiness is precarious. Stalin is still in power, and the Ministry for State Security has new targets in its sights. When Andrei has to treat the seriously ill child of a senior secret police officer, Volkov, he finds himself and his family caught in an impossible game of life and death – for, in a land ruled by whispers and watchfulness, betrayal can come from those closest to you.
Another hectic week! I’m strange right, when I don’t have anything to do, I complain about that and now that I am really busy, I am not too happy about that too. Actually, I am not unhappy about being busy, but I just wish I am busy doing something I really enjoy doing, not something I am doing just for the sake of it.
My freelance work is now taking up a lot of my time, some days I am doing it even for more than six-seven hours a day. It is slowly becoming a full-time job, but with a quarter-time or less than that salary. I am going to keep a close watch on the hours I am spending on it and maybe after around three months time, I will go back to the people I am working for and see if there could be more money in it. I am also hoping that the back to work programme I am doing will result in a good and interesting position and soon.
This week is also slightly more hectic than usual. I have my last back-to-work workshop and a networking event after that. I also have a hospital check-up scheduled this week for my eyes. This is a follow-up from last year when I was referred to the hospital for some possible complications due to my diabetes. After a couple of visits, it was determined that nothing was wrong with my eyes at the moment, but given my chronic condition, I was asked to come back for a follow-up after 18 months. I am also going to ask about the frequent tearing and redness in eyes.
Memories and Such 