Started reading A Scots Quair last night. Having read Sunset Song (the first book of the trilogy) at school I keep noticing particular paragraphs that I must have memorised to quote, or used in some essay. Even so, I am emjoying reading it again, and I'm glad I didn't just dive into the 2nd book. The language used is really very pretty, the scots as used there strikes me as very poetic in contrast to the usual harsh English tongue, in the way that flowery old English writing does, or indeed the peculiar American style of The Catcher in the Rye and similarly artful works.

Perhaps it's just a question of the unusual being elevated to some special status through no virtue of its own, but I do think some of the great dialect writers really knew how to weave their magic.

I was tempted away from my book by Martin and a visit to the Casino; having rewatched the excellent Casino earlier (Martin just bought the DVD) I found it difficult to resist (although we hoped there would be no hand-or-money dilemmas). After a can of Coke in Nickel Edwards, I went with the guys to the casino, and indulged myself with a cup of coffee and ham sandwich, before proceeding to break even at the blackjack table.

Rebel that I am.