There and back again... by train.

Well I've had a week at the new job now and am releaved to say that I'm really enjoying it. There're a lot of things to learn about the IT Systems of my new employer, there are a lot of new people to meet and acronyms to navigate , but that's all good.


My biggest concern really was the traveling. I've swapped a 20 minute door to door car journey in the morning and evening for a 45 minute train journey, with 10 minutes at each end, making it just over an hour of traveling. It was one of my concerns when taking the new role. Would I hate the journey every morning and every night ?

My wife provided me with this helpful little guide of things to do if the train crashes, from her Worst Case Scenario desk calendar...

which was nice. Good to see she cares... I'm not really sure how much warning you'd get anyway, but I guess it's the thought that counts.

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying the journey as it gives me time to catch up on my reading. And I mean 'book' reading... you know... those things without pictures in them? At home I tend to spend all of my available reading time going through a pile of comics, so it's great to be able to get back into books.

So, what was the first book I read on the train that cold Monday morning? The Solomon Kane Stories by Robert E. Howard, what else? hat an ability Mr Howard had to conjure up fabulous settings, creepy adversaries and compelling central characters. I've read most of these stoties before but I'm still really enjoying re-reading them. The only sad thing is that the movie they made really didn't capture a lot of the mood of the character or the settings. Not as bad, by far, as the Conan movies, I nearly walked out of the cinema for the first one, but not as good as they could have, or should have, been.

I think I may have to invest in a Kindle though as it's difficult fitting big heavy books into my back pack, and I'm still not totally convinced I'd make enough use of an iPAD to justify the cost. Decisions, decisions.


This week I also got some great news from Gal Editora, the publishers of the Brazilian edition of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? They are going to second print, having shifted almost all of the first edition.

They've added some new quotes on the back and a little Second Printing title on the cover image.

but the rest of it is unchanged. They've done very well and we're really happy with the relationship. I guess if you live in Brazil, are considering picking up a copy and prefer First Editions, then you might want to pick up a copy sooner rather than later.