Questions of the day: Why I am unable to attractively arrange my lounge cushions? Is it some sort of gift or a learned skill?

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I have been remiss in not reporting on my Hardy Boys purchases which arrived a couple of weeks ago. You may remember that these were the original novels and not the post-1959 rewrites. Good God – I am supremely glad that I did not buy up big because it is really evident why they were rewritten. Plodding, torpid and mindlessly dull.

Where were the aspects I so love about the Hardy Boys? The taking casts of footprints to compare to those on file down at the Bayport police station (because obviously criminals have special crime-committing shoes)? The Police blithely handing over evidence to the boys for them to examine in their lab? In the originals Mrs Hardy is a complete wuss who panics at the thought of being at home alone & is constantly on Frank/Joe’s case about doing anything remotely risky – such as walking across the road. In the rewrites, she wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they were juggling chainsaws with their teeth in a pit of ravenous flesh-eating ponies.

I will go back to collecting the 1972 UK editions and chalk it up to experience!