'THE ROOSTER BAR' BY JOHN GRISHAM.. WHICH MADE HER THINK 'WHAT DOES HAPPEN TO ALL THOSE STUDENTS WHOSE UNIVERSITIES AREN'T ALL THEY'RE CRACKED UP TO BE?'

Have you read this book? It must be his latest as it was published in 2017.

For those of you who are currently at or went to college in the USA, it will be relevant or have memories, the main one theme being the huge amount of money that you owe or owed in student loans. 

Do you think your college / university are teaching / taught you so that you will / or were able to get a 'proper' job in your chosen field or did they just treat you as a number and not really care whether you have / had real prospects.
  

She didn't go to university and thinks that the UK grant system was very different in the '60s, she had flunked school and, as you all know, ran away from home at the age of seventeen.

Enough on 'that' subject she says.

Yesterday was bitterly cold and the wind beyond strong, so after doing a good amount of work in the sitting room sorting stuff out and doing two loads of laundry, she made our supper and we retreated to a cosy bedroom.

We're eating mostly root vegetables, steamed cabbage, spring greens, I think they're called collards in the USA, black or red rice, fish and a lot of citrus, mostly clementines and satsumas.. aka in our house as 'easy peels'.. because they do!

Rice was cooked, the vegetables were steamed and several anchovy fillets were laid on top, together with many twists of a garlic, chilli and salt mix, of course it was from Spicemakers, we're very loyal to that marvelous company!

Everything was placed onto a pretty plate and off we went to settle in for the evening.

I eat considerably more slowly than she does, so she'd picked up this fat hard backed book before I wiped Beaky on my cloth, pottered over to have several slurps of LapySang and clambered up onto her shoulder.

I can always tell when she's enjoying a book, the pages turn slightly more slowly and she smiles or squeaks to herself.  And this was obviously a book that she was enjoying very much!

The story is excellent.. she expects nothing less than Mr. Grisham.. and she would love to see it as a film but please NOT with the likes of the usual suspects or 'known' film stars.

She'd like to see four unknown young actors getting the roles of Mark, Gordy, Todd and Zola with perhaps, the usual suspects.. we know you know who we mean.. as the 'baddies'.

For, oh yes, there are certainly 'baddies' in this story but we are not referring to the people who nearly 'spoil' the fun towards the end of the story.

Nope.. Beaky's sealed shut and she has very strict orders from me not to tell you anymore about this book, except you should get it, read it, then take it back to your library so that someone else can read it and laugh as much as she did.

"Thank you Mr. Grisham, thank you as always for a great read",  she said last night as she finished the last page and closed the book.

Time to start our day.. for it is now past one of the afternoon clock, there is stuff to be done, a letter to write and an email to send to our darling Tom in NYC, whose naughty cat, Sam, has the wickedest habit of knocking the receiver off the handset, thereby 'answering' the landline phone before the answering machine can pick up.. naughty Sam.

We bid you adieu and will be back soon.. chirp.

GeeGee Parrot.

December 6th, 2018.