Recently been away staying with my brother, just outside Eastbourne. The weather was lovely and warm and we spent a day in Eastbourne looking at the shops, walking on the pier and sitting in some gardens overlooking the beach. Had a look round the new Towner Art Gallery. The old one was in a lovely old house in what is known as Old Town, Eastbourne (very quaint with lots of old cottages and a pub with lovely beams). The new gallery is by the Devonshire Park. It is very spacious and one of the exhibitions was put together by a 'peoples vote' of the collection they held. There was a gallery housing an installation piece which was a bit weird - I liked the chandeliers made of plaster cast like bones but the bundles of tied up newspapers and old empty box crates didn't really do it for me!

We also had a lovely day in Lewes, though not a lot of the shops were open (it was a Sunday) but Lewes is such a pretty place with lots of little roads to explore. We found some nice gardens to soak up the sun in.

Book Review - Mr Toppit by Charles Elton

On the front cover it says 'Once upon a time a book broke a family'. Certainly this is a dysfunctional family and the events do break things apart. After Arthur Hayman dies in a road accident, a passer by, Laurie on holiday in England from the USA puts in motion events that push Arthur's childrens' books into the limelight. She has her own agenda. The hero from the books is Luke (Arthur's son) who never wanted to be a hero. The daughter Rachel has problems of her own and their mother seems to live in a world of her own. This is an unusual book spanning two contintents and two families which become interlinked. It was a good read but I'd hoped for a better ending! This is one of Richard & Judy's Summer Reads and certainly worth a go. I particularly liked the way the book described the almost obscure books from the past being catapulted into the commercialism of today with its action figures, posters, games etc. that seem to come with fame (like Harry Potter).