Waiting for me upstairs on the bedside table, together with my not terribly reliable purple mini Maglite, is a book with ISBN 0571210147. Read it? Does that number reveal that it's a hardback? Not usually keen on HB format; my upper arm strength came on leaps and bounds when I was working my way through De Lillo's Underworld.

Title of said book is Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, and the author is one Garrison Keillor. I've been a fan of Mr GK's works since way back when, and remember lying on the beach on hols around 1989 in Rovinj, Yugoslavia, lapping up his gentle humour. Apt title, that book: Happy To Be Here.

Welcome to the Lutheran world of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, where:

...all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average.
— Sign-off from the Lake Wobegon news

And what a voice. I'd heard the great man reading from his books a few times on the wireless before being lucky enough to see him in person at Norwich (start at Ipswich, find A140, follow the tractor), again some years ago. He sang and told stories to a rapt audience.

Thanks to the Beeb and the Internet, I've recently discovered Garrison Keillor's Radio Show over on BBC7. It's (currently) on Saturday afternoons, but hit "listen again" and you can catch up with it at your convenience. Truly this is the 21st century.

Be seeing you!

Ed