The Clockmaker

Don't know what's wrong with me. I haven't watched Top Gear for two weeks running now and can't seem to muster the energy to really care. This hurts. I think it's partly that over the last couple of series its popularity has exploded and as it has, the presenters have become more and more caracatures of themselves. The fun stuff has become rather more forced than it used to be and it's rather lost its sense of natural daftness. But I still love James - still want to be James when I grow up - and I have been left with a permanent love of cars. To be fair, I've had the love of cars since I was tiny. I'm far from alone in being the only little girl who preferred playing with cars to dolls but I suspect there weren't as many who could identify so many at the age of about four. Then I lost it a couple of years later. I don't know what happened to my brain when I was a small child but I remember one day just not being able to remember the name for anything. "Airing cupboard" and "Ford Sierra" were two that I particularly vividly remember not being able to remember. And my love of cars lay dormant until I was at university and started watching Top Gear. I don't go as far as to remember much detail about the engines and the horsepower (except that the McMerc SLR is 626hp) but I have my opinions on a lot of them - the most unpopular being that I love the Nissan Cube. I identified quite a lot with James May at the time - I think most people who identify with a Top Gear presenter go with James - and it's all left its mark on me... but it seems I no longer feel any urge to watch it.

Today I have read A Study in Scarlet. About time too. Again I was astonished at its readability, considering its age. And yes, the Mormon section could, at least, have been shrunk down quite a bit. And I don't think I'll be recommending it to Jess, who is a Mormon. But the thing that really astonished me was how much of the framework remained in the BBC version from last summer. I think it could have been fun to see Gregson v Lestrade v Holmes but I can see why Sherlock had to be Sherlock v the police. Holmes himself isn't quite, at this point, the same Holmes he is in the short stories which is what I've read so far. This Holmes is quite bitter about letting the police take the credit for his work whereas later on he really doesn't care. I believe I'm quite looking forward to reading The Sign of the Four in the next week.

Something occurred to me while I was brushing my teeth this morning and I have no idea why the thought suddenly popped into my head.

My mate Silver (and if I keep up this level of obsession, he's likely to actually break my heart when he gets back) is the John to my Sherlock. I hang around fandomsecrets occasionally, I've seen "You're the X to my Y" and for the first time, I see one that actually fits me.

Silver is out in Afghanistan, not actually fighting on the front line, but still smackbang in the middle of the war. He falls asleep unexpectedly. He likes tea. He has girlfriends. He enjoys dangerous things.
I am not a people-person at all, I'm asexual, I have autistic tendencies, I'm obsessive. I know everything there is to know about certain subjects and am completely blank on most other things. I have my manipulative moments.

I have just discovered something about myself. When I'm as tired as I am now, my ability to keep things in focus close up goes. I'm having immense trouble reading this but if I glance up at my shelves a few feet away, everything looks fine. (I presume this is tiredness rather than needing new glasses...)