Book 23 Between Planets, between ..... taps ...

Short one tonight cos I'm behind on these book posts again !

Book 23 was Between Planets by Robert Heinlein, not one of his best. Not quite as bad as what Farnham's Freehold turned out to be (a great premise but went in a really bad and highly racist direction). But nowhere near the standard of some of his other books like Starship Troopers, Time Enough For Love and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Oh and Friday too. Friday is an exceptional roller coaster of a book, may have to read that one again.

This one follows young Don Harvey as he escapes Earth just at the .... spoilers redacted ... Ok. Less spoilers. The story is about attempting to get between Earth and Mars, to reach his parents .... while ending up in other areas of the solar system.

The books dates somewhat, as a book written in 1951 is missing much of the innovation that followed. That rarely matters in a Heinlein book though, he writes exceptional scifi about characters, political systems and the somewhat shady arms of enforcement (not necessary legal enforcement) that back up what the political systems are attempting to achieve.

One consistent factor in Heinlein books is that his characters have to survive by either application of force or they have to evade force being applied to them. And often his characters are on the wrong end of Who Has The Bigger Stick.

That's definitely the case in this one where our Don has to escape Earth mostly on his own resources and across the solar system definitely by his own initiative.

A bit of a slog this one, even for a 170 page story. I wouldn't recommend it but do check out the books above, plus a few more in the Lazarus Long sequences and the multiverse sequence. The Cat Who Walked Through Walls may well find itself in my reading list soon.

Oh ... the reason why I'm somewhat squeezing out this post is because I've already read Book 24. But that's one for another day.

Taps ?

Not that kind of tap.

I've been doing the plumbing again ... I think the mains water pressure has gone up over the weekend as a consequence to them fixing something and I believe that's too much for one of my old taps. It has been dripping ...

I have the replacement tap and know how to fix it but. The new pipes are the wrong size ! And I can't use the old pipes because they're brazed into the old tap !

Grr.

It has defeated me tonight but I shall return anew. With different pipes. I've left things in a state where there are no drips so the old taps will be good for a few more days. Water pressure is a bit low though.

And it's still too warm ! Also humid. Hopefully it'll cool down soon but after doing a little walk to Arnos Vale cemetary on Friday for another Gromit viewing :

That's number 6 for me, Dias De Las Perros. Oh ... after realising that my jeans are a little too heavy a material to go walking long distance in. Will have to investigate options before embarking on the very long walks.

Film was good too. I saw Skyscraper as the only person in the showing (Avonmeads is like that and it's why I keep going back there). I'd sum it up as enjoyable garbage. Dwayne Johnson does have a habit of making highly enjoyable films to watch. Sure, the plotline and background is complete garbage ... but they're fun to sit through and they cheer you up.

Mindless fun if you will and it set me up well for the weekend.