Fire

There has been a huge fire in an old villa here in Hamilton and at least 3 young people have died. I was stunned to discover that one of the people who had died was the granddaughter of a friend of mine who lives in the room opposite my mother in the rest-home.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11359293
A photo of her and the other two known victims has just appeared on The New Zealand Herald page. So sad, and so many people on the periphery impacted. It is to be hoped they do not find any more bodies as no one really knows how many people were in the house on Friday night.

I am loving People of the Book,  it is the only book I am reading at the moment due to my headaches and eye issues. As it meanders its way from Sarajevo to Vienna to Venice and now Boston I am enchanted by how such a large amount of factual information can be transported to make a wonderful novel.

Amazon keep asking me to review books, some which I have not had time to read yet. I cannot see the value in these reviews, particularly as they tend to show up on Google and if one does not want the whole world to know what they are reading, like me, they should keep their opinion to themselves. 

My old retired guide dog, Chocolat, is looking sad and miserable. I am not sure if it is just age, she is almost 13, arthritis, poor sight or the cold weather we are still experiencing here. I feel so sorry for her, I love her so much and hate to see her having such difficulty with her daily life. At times she seems really happy and playful but at others she just sleeps and ignores us all.