The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
5 journalers for this copy...
Made a trip to the Friends of the Library bookstore in Wheaton. Had to pick up another copy of this book because it is one series I love to introduce people to.
Journal Entry 2 by 
6of8
at -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Maryland USA on Saturday, July 21, 2012
6of8 at -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Maryland USA on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Released 11 yrs ago (7/21/2012 UTC) at -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Maryland USA
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Saw that this book is on Chania's wishlist and thought it would be nice to send it to someone who would enjoy it, hopefully as much as I did. A RABCK in memory of Oppem.
Journal Entry 3 by 
Chania
at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Chania at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Oh, thank you sooo much, what a lovely surprise!!!
Journal Entry 4 by Chania at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Saturday, July 13, 2013
Chania at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Saturday, July 13, 2013
Well, my first Mrs.Pollifax, and I have to say that it was unexpectedly exciting! The story was good and I would like to read more of the series later. Very nice!
Now sending this to Annelis.
I am joining in Alphabet-challenge with this book, and also 52-weeks release challenge, theme being Holiday (because Mrs. Pollifax went to "holiday" to Mexico, and I went to "holiday" to countryside - to work in a summer cottage...
Now sending this to Annelis.
I am joining in Alphabet-challenge with this book, and also 52-weeks release challenge, theme being Holiday (because Mrs. Pollifax went to "holiday" to Mexico, and I went to "holiday" to countryside - to work in a summer cottage...
Haa, now I will know how it all started. I have already read six Mrs Pollifax books but not this first one. Thank you very much, Chania!
It was very nice to learn the beginning of the adventures of Mrs. Pollifax. Stil I can't understand how anybody would put her or his life in danger for CIA. Otherwise these stories are enjoyable. Here Mrs. Pollifax was sent to Mexico but she ended up in Albania. She was there for a week, but she saw much less than I saw during one day in 2013. The Albania I saw was different from Mrs. Pollifax's Albania in the 1960s. It was not so closed a society as it had been. We arrived by ship at the Port of Durrës, travelled by bus to Tirana and a small mountain village Krujë. These are the ruins of Kruja Castle. The higher mountains are hiding behind clouds. Krujë is maybe some hundred(s) kilometers to the South from the place where Mrs. Pollifax was taken.
Krujë tai oikeastaan Fushë-Krujë on ollut hyvissä suhteissa Georg W. Bushin kanssa. Täällä on jopa Bushin aukio kera Bushin patsaan.
Krujën bazaarista olisi saanut halvalla matkalaukun täyteen tavaraa - sekä uutta että vanhaa. Helmet-haaste 10
Krujë castle was built in the 5th or 6th century, perched above the city of the same name. At the time of the Ottoman threat, it was the headquarters of Gjergj Kastrioti, the “Dragon of Albania,” (also called Skanderbeg in English), an Albanian nobleman and military commander. A new museum for the National Hero Skanderbeg was built next to the ruins of Kruja Castle.
The National Ethnographic Museum in Krujë had mostly things from The Ottoman era. No clothes like the ones Mrs. Pollifax and her companions were wearing after their escape. Skanderbeg The Mighty Hero is wearing a nice skirt in this memorial, isn't he?
This is my book #37 in the Reduce Mount TBR 2018 -challence by Dove-i-libri.
Miittiin tarjolle.
Lukuiloa!
Lukuiloa!
I'll take the book to the meet-up at Roasberg.
Happy reading!
Book #36 in the 2018 Keep Them Moving -challence by Booklady331
Happy reading!
Book #36 in the 2018 Keep Them Moving -challence by Booklady331
Well, what do you know? I was looking at another Mrs Pollifax mystery at the Good Friday meet-up and Annelis very quickly fed me this one as well, so I didn't see who had originally registered it. It is a small world, 6of8, isn't it? And Chania, too, who shares my fancy of cozy mysteries.Mrs Pollifax is a new acquaintance to me, but I guess I "have" to continue my tradition of taking 6of8's books to see the world. My next trip will be to Britain in May, themed 'England of the Movies'. Let's see what you think of that!
In the meanwhile, Happy Easter, folks!
5 am. Let the journey begin, although it is not September, the best month to travel (according to Mrs P's neighbour). Waiting for the airport cab.
Journal Entry 15 by 
kirjakko
at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
kirjakko at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
Good gracious! My travel picture diary is waaaay behind. Had a lovely trip, gorgeous weather, excellent guide and saw some interesting places. Did I have time to read? Heck, no.This is Henley, known for its famous yearly rowing event, one of the three big society gatherings (Ascot and Wembley being the other two).
Journal Entry 16 by kirjakko at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
kirjakko at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
Preparing for the big event.Some episodes of Midsomer Murders have been filmed here.
Journal Entry 17 by kirjakko at -- Highways, Roadsides and Services --, -- Highways, Roadsides & Services -- United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
kirjakko at -- Highways, Roadsides and Services --, -- Highways, Roadsides & Services -- United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
Still in Oxfordshire.The English name of this plant is somewhat uncomfortable. It is so beautiful, especially in this weather, but it does not sound very nice if you enthusiasticly tell everybody that we saw many rapes in the English countryside.
Journal Entry 18 by kirjakko at -- Highways, Roadsides and Services --, -- Highways, Roadsides & Services -- United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
kirjakko at -- Highways, Roadsides and Services --, -- Highways, Roadsides & Services -- United Kingdom on Friday, June 1, 2018
I haven't watched Downton Abbey, but we were told that Sibyl and Branson were meeting secretly in this very pub. We had a very good lunch there.
Wallingford is "Causton" in Midsomer Murders. That series I used to watch, but the place rang no bells.
This is The Village in Downton Abbey. Not anywhere near the house (would have been too simple).
Getting back to the book for a minute: Mrs Pollifax said she didn't even own a passport. Most Americans don't have one, but wasn't she just sent to Mexico? Does that really mean that Americans do not need a passport to travel back and forth? And they call Mexicans illegal aliens! I wonder if Mexicans should build a wall...
In answer to your question, I believe that a passport was not required for Americans to travel to Mexico at the time the book was written. I think that changed in the 1980s. Until about 10 years ago, one didn't need one to go to Canada. With all the Trump refugees headed north, perhaps the Canadians should build a wall. They won't -- they're decent people (did zi mention that I am half-Canadian? If only I had dual citizenship!)
Hi 6of8! Great to see that you are sharply observing what has been said from the other side of the pond, so you have recovered from your trip to Bordeaux.Here is a graveyard familiar to those who watch Downton Abbey.
And this is Downtown Abbey a.k.a Highclere Castle, important to all Canadians, half or whole. Canadian Constitution was written within these walls!This was also home of the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, the man who found the treasures of Tutankhamun, and died of sepsis only six weeks after (having dug in Egypt for 16 years to find the trinkets, life is not fair).
Here are some familiar sights for 6of8 and Annelis, who both attended the Oxford Convention in 2015.Radcliffe Camera, the university's reading room, on the left.
Some familiar faces...
...and more familiar faces... The Royal wedding was just two weeks away when we were there. Did you all watch the wedding? The American priest almost stole the show. I wish he would have known when to stop, otherwise he was something else.
These are also well-known faces. Outside the Alice in Wonderland shop in Oxford. A fellow BC book was left there, but it has not been journalled since.
Speaking of Alice, we went on a lovely river cruise while there. It followed the route Lewis Carroll, Alice and her sister took on that Golden Afternoon back in 1862, when Caroll amused the children by making up a story about a girl called Alice, to whom most wonderful things happened.Our afternoon was also golden and we had tea, finger sandwiches and scones on the boat. I could have gotten used to that kind of life.
The latest in handbag fashion. Nearly 90£, so I was satisfied with what I already had. Not as fancy, of course. There were three different bags, so you could choose from the book titles that were closest to your own literary taste.
If you prefer pubs to books, there is a handbag for you as well.
Finished this in the plane on my way to the Sea of Liguria. I arrived, my suitcase didn't...The book had many hair-raising twists and turns. Almost like McGyver on telly. Will look forward to reading more of this series.
Arrived in Italy. With the suitcase...
Saw the tower of Pisa on the Square of Wonders.
The Archbishop happened to come by as well with his merry men...
...some of them already in the limbo. This was shear torture, +35 C and the poor man didn't react to anything happening around him.
Landed on Elba and visited Napoleon's Palazzio. Rather small as palaces go. He was in exile here for nine months. He could not have been totally bad, he was a bibliophile. Here are some of his books.
Birra Napoleon... However, I do not drink bear of any kind.
Napoleon's garden.
Arrival to Corsica was impressive! By the way, a fellow passanger has the book now, but I still post these glimpses from our travels.
I did not climb up there - 35 C.
Luckily I found a little train to take me up. Best spent 5€, gorgeous views.The trip is over, but I'll let you follow my footsteps (and Napoleon's, where these two met).
Our leaking vessel is down there...
Did I feel small? Heck, yes!
Those who walked up here.
Napoleon was born here in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica.
Journal Entry 49 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Tuesday, June 19, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Tuesday, June 19, 2018
It had been over 15 years since my last visit and the city has become soooooo crowded. They now build over water and upwards. There even was a full-size football stadium on a roof top.
Journal Entry 50 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Formula driver Mika Häkkinen's first home in Monaco, opposite to Albert's Palace. Boris Becker lives in the same house.
Journal Entry 51 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Albert's Palace. We went to a tour inside, very grand, but sorry folks, no photos.I had no idea that the Grimaldies are a bunch criminals. The first one came to the Palace dressed as a monk and was let in. He then let his troops in, took over and announced himself the head of what became Monaco. I also did not know that for a while there was a law that if the Prince does not produce male progeny Monaco will become part of France again. It was only three years before his death that Prince Rainier changed this so that the crown can go down in the princess-line, too, as it has done twice before. Well, Albert does have a son now, so the non-taxpayers of Monaco have no fear. And according to president Trump, everybody else can sleep happily ever after, as he has solved the problem in Korea...
Journal Entry 52 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
But this is what I liked best in the whole of Monaco - Jacques Costeau's original yellow submarine from year 1966, in front of the Maritime Museum and Aquarium where Costeau worked over 30 years.Is this little thing what The Beatles sang about? At least "We all live in a yellow submarine" was written on the side of it.
Journal Entry 53 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
One of the inhabitants of the oldest Aquarium in the world (and the second biggest in Europe).
Journal Entry 54 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
You don't want to see every fish in portret, but I'm sure you'll love this fellow.
Journal Entry 55 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Mosaic on the Museum's floor.
Journal Entry 56 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Much of the Museum was under renovation, but not all.
Journal Entry 57 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
This was the bone hall. We were among the last visitors. Suddenly the lights went out. Then eerie music started to play and a light show with music began. Wow. If I had been a kid I would have been scared, it was very impressive.
Journal Entry 58 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Anchors up! Last port Cannes.
Journal Entry 59 by kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
kirjakko at - Quelque part à Monaco / Somewhere in Monaco , Monaco Monaco on Thursday, June 21, 2018
Our ship and the famous Monte Carlo Casino on the background.
We walked the crowded streets of Old Nice in 34 C heat and I didn't even take my camera out. Too hot is too hot. And I hate crowds (wonder what it is like in August, their tourist season). But this photo was taken from the air-conditioned bus coming down from Eze.
Released 5 yrs ago (6/21/2018 UTC) at Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur France
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Good-bye Nice.The book went to my old boss for her travel read. She had lost her Agatha Christie already on the plane coming over.
Got this book as I forgot my Agatha Christie in the plane.
Better than I would have thought.
Goes back to Kirjakko
Better than I would have thought.
Goes back to Kirjakko
The book has returned to me and continues to my workmate for her summer cottage read.
With these light nights one often reads 'till early hours. The sky has lovely colours.
Guess what? The book is on the road again. My workmate never got around reading this.Pic: Rush our at New Forest.
First stop: Minstead, famous for being the burial place of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I wish I had had a mystery book with me, which I could have left on his grave. Mrs Pollifax was still in the suitcase in the stomach of the bus.
Second stop: West Bay, famous for its 185-million-year-old Jurassic Coast and being the filming location of Broadchurch.
Third stop: Torquay, the birthplace of Dame Agatha Christie and Basil Fawlty (of Fawlty Towers).Pic :A room with a view.
Journal Entry 69 by kirjakko at Eden Project, Cornwall United Kingdom on Saturday, September 22, 2018
kirjakko at Eden Project, Cornwall United Kingdom on Saturday, September 22, 2018
An amazing botanical garden created in a place where 20 years ago was merely a gray clay pit. Plastic hot houses with a rainforest in one and Mediterranean climate in another. Has been called the 8th Wonder of the world.
This must be the 9th wonder of the world. A lady of 36 yrs invited a summer theatre group to perform in her garden in the middle of nowhere at the end of 1920'ies. There were really no proper places to sit on nor a flat place for a stage as her house was on a cliff by the sea. She loved the theatre and wanted them to come back (there wasn't much entertaiment otherwise in that remote place where mountain goats would have loved to live). So she went to work with her gardener, first removing the vegetation from the cliffside, then starting to clip clip clipety clip the cliffs to mould them. She carried sacs of sand (to make cement of)on her backfrom a beach several hundred meters below which seems unbelievable, because she was a skinny little thing and the cliffs really steep. I was huffing and puffing merely from going up and down the steps she had made to her amphitheatre. Already in 1932 she could invite the theatre group back, but carried on her work enlargening, repairing and adding details until she died in 1983, at the age of 90. She outlasted three gardeners...A woman and her vision - and love for theatre. That is how the Minack Theatre was born.
A view to the right from the audience of the Minack Theatre.
...and a view to the left from the Minack Theatre. The thespians must find it challenging, both physically and vocally.
Poldark country. This is where the TV-series was filmed.
The westernmost spot in England.
In St Ives there was a surfing school and a graveyard right next to it.
A room with an even better view.
Our hotel in St Ives - Tregenna Castle.
Some people travel in style - this car had driven all the way from Switzerland to stay in our hotel.
Journal Entry 79 by kirjakko at St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall United Kingdom on Saturday, September 22, 2018
kirjakko at St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall United Kingdom on Saturday, September 22, 2018
St Michael's Mount, cousin to Mount St Michelle in Normandy, France.
This is where my love affair with England began 37 years ago. Lived the Herriot Life in a vet's family.
Tavistock was our nearest market town way back then. We now had just 30 minutes to explore it...
A sign in a fudge shop window:"Families are like fudge: mostly sweet with a few nuts."
Journal Entry 83 by kirjakko at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Devon United Kingdom on Thursday, September 27, 2018
kirjakko at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Devon United Kingdom on Thursday, September 27, 2018
When a family has owned an estate for over 400 years the gardens may sometimes get lost. Luckily we found it now.Lost were also 16 of their 26 gardeners during the Great War. You should not send people who are trained to plant life to kill others. They were beautifully remembered in the garden, a picture and a little history of each and every one of them was placed in the section of garden where they had worked.
Journal Entry 84 by kirjakko at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Devon United Kingdom on Thursday, September 27, 2018
kirjakko at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Devon United Kingdom on Thursday, September 27, 2018
They had some great pumpkins there - Charlie Brown would have loved these.
This is merely the gate to Lanhydrock House, nowadays owned by the National Trust. This was the only place where we had to actually queue for 20 minutes to get in - on an off-season Thursday.
The previous owners have been dog- and book-lovers...
...but hunted big game... Already way back then I would have considered an elephant's leg as a piece of furniture tasteless.
There were also several tiger skins on their floors.
Our last night was spent in the old Taunton Castle in the middle of the town. Full of history, a big trial was held here when James Fitzroy, the eldest of Charles II's illigimate children (he had 14 of them, and none born in wedlock) had tried to announce himself a king after his father had died and his brother James II had became king. Fitzroy and 500 of his supporters were read their sentences, many of them doomed to die, by a judge whose nickname was "Hangman". Fitzroy was taken to the Tower of London and beheaded there.We also learned that it was Charles II who started the habit of giving royal children born out of wedlock a common family name, Fitz-something. It started with Fitzroy, but there were a couple of Fitzcharleses as well. Later came Fitzwilliam, Fitzgerald and so forth, depending of the father. Interesting, I never knew that. On a bit later date the aristocracy began to use the same prefix. Or should I say preFitz.
We saw Stonehenge merely through the bus window, thus the "Emergency exit" on the photo. Well, we have never really understood the meaning of Stonehenge, it might have been an emergency exit way back then...
Winchester was our last stop before heading back to London. Nothing to do with the rifle by the same name. But Jane Austen died here, in this very house.I remember in the 1980'is when I Interrailed in Britain and went to see the Winchester Cathedral. I walked there looking at the glass windows and the ceiling and when I happened to stop and look at my feet I realized I was standing on Jane Austen, as she is buried in the church. Today they charge you to get in, so I was happy just to remember the good old days.
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table had also been there.
What about Mrs Pollifax? She did the most unexpected thing. She disappeared. We don't know when or where. As my travelling companion said she would like to read the book I never released it, but when she said at the airport that she could take the book now, before we put our luggage through, there was no Mrs Pollifax.Luckily I had also bought a couple of books from charity shops and one from this honesty bookshop (the actual shop was not open yet when we passed it, but these books were out there with a sign telling to put a pound through the letterbox if we wanted one). Have I said I love the British? Have I said it often enough? No wonder Mrs Pollifax wanted to stay in Britain. I hope she will write home one day, telling where she has been.
Journal Entry 94 by kirjakko at Mystery Tour 🤷♂️ in Somewhere in the UK, -- Wild Released somewhere in UK -- United Kingdom on Monday, October 1, 2018
kirjakko at Mystery Tour 🤷♂️ in Somewhere in the UK, -- Wild Released somewhere in UK -- United Kingdom on Monday, October 1, 2018
Released 5 yrs ago (10/1/2018 UTC) at Mystery Tour 🤷♂️ in Somewhere in the UK, -- Wild Released somewhere in UK -- United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Mystery tour is probably the closest to describe where Mrs Pollifax has gone. Or she might be enjoying a cup of tea in one of the very British tea rooms.
