Just read Drive by S.A. Corey. It’s a SF short story set in The Expanse universe (I’m intending to read all the stories, novellas and novels over the next month). It’s a straightforward story – about Solomon Epstein, the inventor of an engine that allows fast spaceflight and his first testflight – but what is delightful is the way that it’s told in flashbacks about the developing relationship with the woman he marries and the backdrop of growing tensions between Mars and Earth. It has a bittersweet ending.

Really cross with myself for seemingly losing my ipad! I left it in the classroom in which I was teaching at the end of the day. I’m not working tomorrow as I’m having my guts cut open at the local hospital so can’t dash in early and try to retrieve it. Being realistic, I don’t think I’ll see it again. How on Earth did I not put it into my bag when I packed up?

Listened to an old BBC audio drama of Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. Not having read the novel, In don’t know how faithful it is. I liked the way the different characters bounced off each other. I’ll add the novel to my ever-growing list of “to reads”.