travelling around author’s blogs again tonight and found a link from someone called Ann Aguirre. Followed it back to discover that her book, Grimspace
But I’ve added it to my amazon wish list, along with Blokus
Can’t get my head around blogging the whole week at all yet, not least as I’ve just realised that, having decided to leave unpacking the car til tomorrow, I’m going to have to change my mind and go bring all the bags in, as I need my lens stuff and I can’t remember which bag it’s in. Bleargh. So I’ll just talk about this afternoon in the metrocentre.
We got there at just after half one, with me preparing to drag them into the foodcourt so that they could eat whatever and I could have chinese, to discover that the foodcourt is temporarily closed, so the alternative was obviously McDs 
I really hate their spciy veggie thing, and I’m tired of explaining to their staff that filet of fish is not vegetarian. And I understand how come so many ppl (or at the very least McDs customers) are fat – that grotty meal had very nearly full calorie requirements for a woman for a day, and yet it was completely unsatisfying and I could quite easily have forgotten I’d eaten it at all. But at least they had carrot sticks (no more garlic bread fingers ) so Small got to have something to eat with his fish fingers.
After McDs I dragged them halfway around the centre to find the hawkin’s shop that was listed in the leaflet. It had shutdown So then I took them back to Poundworld and Small chose a car and a marvel heroes sticker book, which he then proceeded to read as he walked. (All of this was after the bit where he dragged me across the aisle to look at a film poster and tell me it was for a film called The Water Horse – how did you know that? I read it.) We went into primark and he sat down in the middle of the aisle to continue reading, so I had to move him next to a pillar. Three ppl asked me if he was mine, as a lost child was announced over the tannoy as he was perched – he was completely unconcerned. When we eventually got home, he started writing out the names of the characters, X-Men and Storm, Captin (sic) America. And this time he could still read them after he’d written them, which seemed like a huge leap forward.
He’s slightly worried that we’ve come home without a copy of his game, I’ve explained that this will be sorted, hopefully over the weekend. And now I think I should go to bed. My bed. And a lie in in the morning – Tim is taking the day off as he’s done his hours pretty much already this week 
You really do seem to be masochist for big shopping centres
It occurred to me (as we drove home) that pretty much all my adult life I’ve lived within 20 minutes of either metrocentre or m’hell, and I much prefer the former. Although today it was weird, it’s had a lot of rebuilding I think and lots of bits looked completely unfamiliar.
It also occurred to me that it was really depressing that I went to a place with hundreds (? surely) of shops, and ended up in three chains that we could have gone into anywhere, and really I’d have far preferred to pop into Durham, but there’s the whole parking and walking thing to deal with and I was going for quick and easy.
I believe there was a Jax in one of Terry Brook’s Shannara series (Wishsong I think).
Hi Jax,
Looking forward to hearing about the holiday,you may not have found what you needed but seems like small got all he needed!!
I tried to reply to your email but it got sent back…
I had lots of difficulty in the beggining with fullstops and http and url? Oh you get the picture I am a novice at this malarky!!!!Thanks for sorting it and I
am pleased to be aboard.
lynn xx
“He’s slightly worried that we’ve come home without a copy of his game”. After the “Why do we have to leave?” complaint madam moved on toworrying about not having a copy of the game as well. Also have promised it will be sorted . . .