By turns funny, heartwarming & occasionally sad, this memoir offers an American woman`s view of pastoral Scotland today. It is an account of the author`s marriage & her years spent at The Guynd, her husband`s ancestral estate. We follow her steep learning curve in dealing with a grand & crumbling mansion, an overgrown landscape, troublesome tenants, local aristocracy, Scottish rituals & a husband for whom change is anathema. A son & heir draws Belinda Rathbone into an intimate relationship with every tier of local society, while a visiting friend heightens the strain of the culture gap. Alternating between enchantment & despair, Rathbone digs into family & local history in an effort to understand her surroundings & free her husband from the grip of the past. Like a letter home from a strange l&, this tale of the journey through the wrought iron gates into the living past is both wry & poignant, both oddball & reflective of the ties that bind us. ...

It was a railway just waiting to be made. The capital, London, was in the east; Bristol, second city in the l&, 110 miles to the west or a sea journey of 672 miles. By the late 1820s, technology had enhanced to a state where the very latest form of transport, a steam railway, could make a far superior link than travel by canal, sea or road. This in-depth study of the Bristol to Bath line by the master of West Country railway history, Colin G. Maggs, covers the line`s conception, construction, opening & its dramatic effect on the district from the nineteenth century to the present day. It illustrates many aspects of the railway: the first English Pacific locomotive, GWR diesel railcars, gas-turbine locomotives & the pioneer HST, as well as damage & uses during the Second World War & the many accidents that occurred, including one that could have proven fatal to the author. The GWR Bristol to Bath Line is illustrated with maps & over 200 photographs showing every aspect of the line, which passes through sylvan scenes & industrial ugliness. This book also contains appendices giving financial & traffic information, along with descriptions of all stations. This fact-filled, authoritative study offers a rare insight into the development of an integral section of the British railway. ...

Sorely neglected by railway authors, the line between Bristol & Taunton was part of the Bristol & Exeter Railway. A fascinating line, it was built to serve a moribund coalfield & a grand harbour scheme which proved a dismal failure. The line had many interesting

Features: two short dock branches, one of which had a telescopic bridge; several industrial concerns with their own locomotives; vital wartime factories; the busy holiday & excursion traffic to Weston super Mare requiring a special station. Wind strength had its effect on the railway because on the horse-worked Weston super Mare branch, when an adverse wind blew, it was quicker to get out & walk. The line has had more than its fair share of accidents & mishaps. The B&ER favoured express tank locomotives, some magnificent specimens having 9-foot-diameter flangeless driving wheels. The human side is not ignored: there are details of navvies lives & deaths; of a spat between Brunel & his resident engineer & the daring robbery of a mail train. Colin G. Maggs, one of the country`s leading railway historians, covers all these details & more in this gripping & well-researched story illustrated with over 200 images.

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Tamil Nadu, 1968. Village landlords rule over a feudal system that forces peasants to break their backs in the fields or suffer beatings as punishment. In the misery of their daily lives it is little wonder that the Communist Party begins to gain traction, a small spark of defiance spreading from villager to villager. As communities across the region begin to take a stand against the landlords, the landlords vow to break them; Party organizers suffer grisly deaths & the flow of food into the market-places dries up. But it only serves to make the villagers` resistance burn more fiercely. Finally, the landlords descend on one village to set an example to the others... ...

” The Ha Ha Bonk Book” by Janet & Allan Ahlberg is jam-packed with brilliant jokes! This ” Young Puffin” joke book is full of good jokes to tell your dad, mum, your baby brother, your teacher & anybody else you can think of, such as: What goes ha ha bonk? A man laughing his head off; What goes 99 bonk? A centipede with a wooden leg; What goes putt, putt, putt, putt, putt, putt, putt, putt? A bad golfer & lots more besides... Allan Ahlberg
- a former teacher, postman, plumber`s mate & gravedigger
- is in the super-league of children`s writers with sales exceeding 17 million & library borrowings of 13 million. In collaboration with his late wife, Janet, he has published many enduring titles, among them ” Each Peach Pear Plum”, ” Peepo!”, ” Burglar Bill” & ” The Jolly Postman”. In addition he has written novels, collections of stories, sets of easy-readers & joke books.

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This title presents a history of the Habsburg monarchy from the end of the Holy Roman Empire to the monarchy`s dissolution in 1918. The book offers an insight into the problems inherent in the attempt to give peace, stability & common loyalty to a heterogeneous population. ...

At just 17 the author went to live on her new husband`s hacienda deep in the Venezuelan Andes. There her husband (a bank robber & aristocrat) more or less leaves her to fend for herself. She lived for seven years among the people of the area, grew to love them & learned the names for seventeen different types of avocado pears! ...

When Max the Martian crash-lands on planet Earth, he befriends young Sam who promises to help him get back home. The pair set out on an exciting journey through secret underground tunnels to the Tower of London, to find the one special ingredient that will power the little Martian’s spaceship & return him home- diamonds! ...

Surland Falk, leading publishers of street plans of Dutch towns, produce clear & detailed maps that make strong use of colour. The plans extend into the outlying suburbs & include an enlarged inset of the central area. One-way streets & public transport routes are clearly shown. Useful addresses for tourists & a full street index can be found on the reverse. Map legend

Includes:: English.

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The Hague with Scheveningen in a series of handy size, detailed & indexed city centre street plans of main towns in the Netherlands & Flanders including Brussels from Falk, highlighting recommended walks & places of interest, with six best sights prominently marked & cross-referenced to brief descriptions. The plans also indicate publishers’ recommendations for shopping and/or bars & restaurants. The network of streets & small connecting passages is very clearly presented. Metro stations are marked & tram routes are shown with line numbers & stops. The plans show cycle paths & for drivers indicate main traffic arteries & car parks. Symbols show various facilities such as tourist information centres, markets, canal cruise offices, etc. On the reverse, the street index is accompanied by a calendar of main events, a list of museums, plus contact details for publishers’ recommendations. Map legend & all the text about recommended sights, etc, include English. To see the list of other titles in this series please click on the series link. ...