I've never been a Stephan King fan

except when I cant find anything else to read at the library like on Saturday. I picked up one called "Hearts in Atlantis" The title intrigued me. One of the things I find fascinating about King is his ability to get into the minds of children. He does this in a very adult way, not at all condescending. I read quite entranced his account of 2 12 year olds having their first kiss at the top of a ferris wheel. Was lovely & sorta got me thinking about my first kiss with a girl other than my Mum. It was the daughter of an old family friend. I was Robin Hood & she was Maid Marion. We had to kiss for good luck before we went on a mission ... Damn we went on a lot of missions that weekend.. It was a lot more satisfactory time than my first actual date. I finally plucked up the courage to ask her out to the 1:30 matinee at the old Regent picture theatre in Thames. We were too scared to sit together, so sat at opposite ends of the theatre. We got enough static thrown our way just for walking in together. So werent game to sit together .

Another little bit of memory lane stuff. Hands up who remembers R.M. Ballantyne? he wrote tales for adolescent boys that were considered "Ripping good yarns" in their day. This was the 18th century.. A jolly good old Scots writer in the same vein as R. L. Stevenson. One of the few memories I have of quality time with my Dad was him sitting & reading me a chapter a night of one of Ballantynes books called "Martin Rattler" being an account of his adventures in South America with his trusty Irish Sidekick. I found that book for sale at the Saturday market this weekend. The same edition exactly as the one dad used to read. A lot of memories flooded in as I looked at it. Of course I had to buy it. Am now looking forward to reading it to my grand children