Thursday, February 16, 2012

Axminster

As you drive into Axminster, which lies between Cheddar and Weston super Mare, nestling at the foot of the Mendips, you are struck by the usual dreary, rural council houses.

But within 100 yards of the mediaeval square the approach road enters a cavern flanked by old, old terraces: maybe Victorian three storied houses, maybe older.

We are in The Oak pub and restaurant, quite upmarket and featuring coast-caught fresh fish. The only down-mark for me was the dessert cheesecake, which featured a gelatine topping which I doubt the chef put on personally.

This after a morning putting the final touches to a number of documents for the client.

I'm currently reading "The Quantum Thief" by Hannu Rajaniemi. Its imagined future civilization, trans-humanist worlds out past Jupiter, is beautifully realised and pleasingly opaque (I made full use of my new Wikipedia app - there's an article).

The plot is equally elusive but I can be easily pleased by a chick who can deploy smart nanomissiles in 10 milliseconds and call down steel-burning laser fire from her stealthed orbital spacecraft!