Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "Note for American readers - pants=underwear in British/Irish English, not trousers. Apologies for any confusion."
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17 days ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "Thankfully my experience in a school library for teens never extended to a "Code Blue" but as a Beaver Scout leader (with children aged 6-8) we had to be ready. In hindsight I wish we had a Bob the bear to help us back then."
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17 days ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "The poster of crazy reader requests in this episode is based on real life. A librarian friend of mine who works in an academic library (which shall remain nameless) contributed to a large poster of this variety. Sometimes humour is the only way to deal with the demands of the reading public."
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1 month ago

Commented on Backlist Mystery Book Club:
   "Yes, I agree. It's being able to read along and try to work it out which keeps us reading, despite some of the dated aspects. Although my father claimed to be able to solve all of them by applying 1 simple rule - it's always the least likely person."
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2 months ago

Commented on Backlist Mystery Book Club:
   "Another good review - thanks! You're making me want to re-read some of my Agatha shelf."
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3 months ago

Commented on Backlist Mystery Book Club:
   "I love the idea of a book review series here on Channillo, well done! It's decades since I read this book so I can't recall if I twigged the ending but I loved the Marple books and yes, I can how this would be surprisingly up to date thanks to our recent pandemic experiences."
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4 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "By co-incidence Irish is on my mind this week as I'm helping my youngest to prepare for her spoken Irish exam. I rarely speak a word in the language but I'm relieved to find I still understand it and can stumble through a conversation. Like Nina I have friends who grew up speaking it and love to hear them chatting with their families through it. If you visit Ireland you'll find it on all the road signs, official forms, and public transport."
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4 months ago

Commented on Love me a myth!:
   "Fascinating. I'd never heard of the losing nose with age! Glad that doesn't happen to humans. The only place I've read much about brownies is in childhood books by Enid Blyton."
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6 months ago

Commented on Love me a myth!:
   "I've never heard of an ercinee but now I know not to follow their trail :-)"
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7 months ago

Commented on Love me a myth!:
   "Poor Leviathan, always alone. I love the idea of mythology coupled with a little flash fiction. Probably just as well that she didn't create any offspring though!"
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7 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "Drat - you weren't supposed to spot that mistake! I only realised after I posted the episode that I'd mentioned some small lights at the desk and children's section. Gold star for observation, Hoff!"
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7 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "This library adventure was inspired by my experience of a power cut with a group of boisterous 8 year old boys in my house on a play-date. They couldn't understand that without power I had no light, no cookies to bake, and no TV/music/gaming. We survived and they still talk about how much fun they had by candlelight playing hide and seek."
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7 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "My own level of denial around needing reading glasses was beyond silly. I've given in now so Nina won't have to change the font size to make her point!"
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8 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "I've played all these Halloween games - how about you? What's your favourite part of Halloween celebrations?"
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8 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "I hope you enjoy reading this episode. I particularly enjoyed writing about Lily and her grandmother. The Pirate Dinosaur book is real, by the way - as are most of the books I mention in this serial."
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9 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "I haven't been to Wigtown in person, yet, but any town with 14 bookshops sounds good to me. I have visited Scotland though and the cows are adorable!"
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10 months ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "Apologies for the cliff-hanger (I couldn't resist)."
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1 year ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "At least you tried! The closest I get to this is my long-running attempt to read all the books on the "501 Books to read before you die" (it was a book title) list - I'm only up to 151 books and I had read about 70 of them before I got started, but it's a great way to expand my reading horizons. I put the list up on my blog if anybody is curious - https://wordfoolery.wordpress.com/501-books-reading-list/"
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1 year ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "I've never taken part in Reading Bingo - have you? You could even do it on Channillo serials here, I think - one from each category?"
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1 year ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "I firmly believe nobody should have to work on their birthday. Depending on where you live you may not know about homework - this is school work which Irish children aged 5-18 take home after school - learning spellings, practice exam questions, writing an essay, project work etc. It varies from ten minutes of work up to 3 hours (usually depending on age) and isn't universally liked by the children, or their supervising parents."
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1 year ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "Yes, that last rhyme at the end is deliberate. Sorry, couldn't resist!"
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1 year ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "No actual mice were harmed during the writing of this episode ;-)"
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1 year ago

Commented on The Librarian's Secret Diary:
   "The Gaisce President's Award is presented to worthy teens and young adults who complete a series of challenges across a variety of skills, including a trip away organised by the teens themselves. It's somewhat similar to the Duke of Edinburgh Award in the UK and is often done by teens involved in Scouting or doing their transition year (age 16) in school. There are three levels (bronze, silver, and gold) and typically the gold ones are presented by the President of Ireland at his official residence in the Phoenix Park, Dublin."
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1 year ago