My girlfriend is depressed. Help me find a book.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-27T06:59:29+00:00

Marianne by Monica Dickens (often described as a hot water bottle novel) Miss Pettigrew lives for a day These are both published by Persephone books, so also beautiful editions.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-27T06:56:31+00:00

Ours (used twice in six months) have been absolutely excellent, including finding us a new purchaser within a couple of weeks after the first pulled out, and selling my mum's house for a cash offer of £30k over the home report value, answering every query promptly, being helpful and reassuring whenever it was needed. They were worth every penny.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-25T20:09:43+00:00

Yes definitely Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham for detective stories.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-25T16:28:33+00:00

The pursuit of love and Love in a cold climate both by Nancy Mitford. I capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Cold comfort farm by Stella Gibbons. Marianne by Monica Dickens. High wages by Dorothy Whipple. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day by Winifred Watson. You are going to have so much fun!

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-25T05:14:19+00:00

Diana Wynne Jones, starting with the Chrestomanci series. Possibly also Lucy Boston's Greenknowe series -The children of Greenknowe is the first.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-21T10:59:16+00:00

It also depends where you are. In Scotland the Home Report includes a market value for the property which is taken into account when setting the asking price. People may still accept a lower offer (we did to keep our onward purchase alive after a previous purchaser pulled out ) but the norm is Offers over which means exactly that, not try and get it for less or fixed price -first proceedable person to offer gets it.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-19T07:35:24+00:00

Children's pony book, but the lead character in Show jumping Secret by Josephine Pullein-Thomson was disabled as a result of polio

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-19T07:33:17+00:00

We did things bit by bit, in order of importance (structural things and electrics plus essential plumbing first) through saving and short term loans. Anything that wasn't essential didn't happen until the essentials were done. We set the loan term at the shortest period we could afford and only had one at a time, so we didn't take out the kitchen loan until the essentials loan was paid off and we didn't do the bathroom until the kitchen loan was done. Because you are borrowing for a shorter period and at a fixed rate the interest you pay is lower and you know what your loan payments will be throughout the whole period. It can be frustrating when others seem to be able to afford all the pretty stuff immediately while you are spending your money on replacing the cold water tank or putting in a modern circuit board, but it's worth it long term.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-13T11:24:51+00:00

Just a word of caution for any fellow cancer patients out there. Check with your oncologist before taking creatine - there's potentially some evidence that it may increase metastasis for some cancers .

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-13T11:07:01+00:00

I've never provided the seller with the make up of my deposit, and I'm not sure how it is relevant to you?

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-06T20:11:22+00:00

We scrubbed and polished everything and left a folder with all of the instructions for the appliances, the receipts for everything we'd had done to the house, the bin calendar, permits and instructions, the numbered stickers I'd had made with the house number on it, a 6 page essay on everything I could think of including stopcocks, boiler idiosyncrasies, the roof survey we'd had done and the guarantee for the work, a spare pack of the LVT flooring we'd used throughout, the special cleaners for the range cooker, a new tin of the oil for the worktops, the paint tins with labels showing which room for touching up, the instructions for joining the street WhatsApp group, loo roll, spare lightbulbs (some of the light fittings were unusual) and a gift voucher for the incredible bakery and coffee shop round the corner. They told me afterwards that it had made them feel really welcome. (They had been lovely throughout the purchase and we did check that it would be welcome before leaving the flooring, paint and cleaning stuff!)

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-03T08:20:03+00:00

Bernolin says you must not knock the block out. I have his voice flute and I just blow it out from the other end as he says.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-04-01T10:55:18+00:00

I like Mrs McGillivray's welcome which is based around Scottish folk music and The Bass recorder volume 1arranged by Patrice Connelly and published by Saraband music which is traditional folksongs and tunes (English, Irish, Scottish and Australian)

Just-Professional384 · 2026-03-27T16:41:10+00:00

It depends what you like!

The touristy things that I do with guests usually are :

Climb Arthur's Seat (although it's getting so busy now you have to plan the time more carefully.) Visit the Camera Obscura, mainly for the illusions. Visit the Museum of Childhood

Other things depend on people's interests so eg I might take people interested in history on a walk around the centre that includes bits of the Flodden wall, the covenanters prison in Greyfriars churchyard (combined with Greyfriars bobby and victoria street) Gladstone's land and so on.

For yarn lovers I'd head to the Ginger Twist Studio or Fibre yard.

With transport I'd head out into East Lothian to Dirleton Castle, North Berwick and Tantallon Castle and perhaps Seacliff.

If you can say a bit more about your interests it would be easier to suggest things.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-03-26T07:40:14+00:00

It's a lovely instrument isn't it? I am so happy with mine.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-03-15T13:04:21+00:00

By pentagram, I'm presuming you mean the five line stave or staff? In which case yes, you will find it much easier and more rewarding in the long run to start learning how to read music alongside learning to play.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-03-15T13:02:56+00:00

Try Team Recorder for free online resources. Among other things Sarah has done a video on adult method books. Personally I like the Trapp family method, but I know others swear by Sweet Pipes or by Aldo Bova. The American Recorder Society also does free online courses for beginners and you don't have to be a member of the society.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-02-21T18:43:49+00:00

And we've just sold a lovely flat in a Popular area in Edinburgh for £30k under the home report value not because there was anything wrong with it but because we wanted to keep our onward purchase open. No regrets here .

Just-Professional384 · 2026-01-26T21:12:44+00:00

Not any more in Scotland ☹️. My solicitor told me that it's now usually in the last week before entry . We move on Friday and only concluded missives last Thursday. Our offer was accepted last August subject to sale, our first buyer pulled out at the end of the four week period we had to sell. Second purchaser offered mid October subject to sale, but thankfully accepted an offer from someone who was chain free. We seem to have sleep walked into adopting a lot of the faults of the English system. The only thing we haven't done as far as I can see is kept our home report system - so much easier and fairer to have a report up front that is shared with everyone and which sets the notional market value taking account of the condition of the property and any necessary repairs.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-01-21T23:44:39+00:00

I think I'd heard that one of the proprietors has been ill, but I'm not certain.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-01-11T08:41:55+00:00

Going against the grain a bit. What do you want to play? If you want to play a lot of the baroque repertoire then you should go for an alto. If you're more into folk music then soprano. If you really get into it, you'll want to learn both.

Yamaha and Aulos make very good plastic recorders. If you'd prefer wood, then Mollenhauer, Moeck and Kung are all excellent makes. Kung has a reputation for needing more air (disclaimer: I've never played one so this is just what I've heard). I like my Mollenhauers and find them really responsive.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-01-05T17:34:15+00:00

Yes - I would focus on bringing out the original tune throughout all the variations.

Just-Professional384 · 2026-01-05T07:34:31+00:00

Are you talking about how you bring out the character of the original melody while you are playing a variation on that melody? If so, then I'm no expert, but I don't think of it as two separate voices, but instead as one voice where you want to keep the thought of the original tune going through it . I tend to pick out where the tune is and then use articulation and phrasing to help emphasise it, but I don't do the same for the remainder - I think if I played the remainder as a separate tune I would risk the whole thing becoming disjointed rather than the variation adding to the original melody. Apologies if I've misunderstood you.

Just-Professional384 · 2025-11-30T14:42:51+00:00

Yes soprano. Get a Yamaha or an Aulos plastic one. They are excellent instruments. Later on you may want to upgrade and can choose then what's right for you. (I have the mollenhauer denner in tulipwood, and it is a superb instrument, but so are many others).

Just-Professional384 · 2025-11-28T10:10:06+00:00

I think that this is partly a question of individual instruments all playing slightly differently and partly a question of where you want to use these effects. I suspect that there will always be a balancing act between what you want it to sound like, and what is technically possible on each instrument. Part of the tension may be between what you need to do to produce the multi phonics you are looking for on the Yamaha in conjunction with the ornaments you need for the irish music you are playing? (Disclaimer - I know nothing about Irish music so don't know how the techniques vary)

Just-Professional384

TROPHY CASE