Permutation City Blog

It seems we were all fans of Doctor Who in our childhood. It was one of the few science fiction programs out there and it was great. Peter Davison was "my" Doctor and through the years I thought he was the best. Although I've seen Doctor Who on a large number of occasions since its first screening its not something that I've made an effort to do. Although there are good and bad stories it is fun to revisit them. In more recent years I really enjoyed the Paul McGann web cast based on a Douglas Adams script. I haven't enjoyed the return of The Doctor so much. It's ok but nothing special. Also I really don't like some of the characters, and why do they seem to spend so much of each episode running about? On the other hand I hear that the kids love it. I'm glad that the BBC decided to bring it back and I'm glad that it's popular but as for me I'll give it a miss.

I've been to a couple of the Ashoka restaurants and had a fairly unexceptional experience. It's an Indian restaurant and they serve exactly the sort of dishes you'd expect. It's certainly not as exciting as, say, the Shish Mahal but it might well be cheaper.

Overall I enjoyed this book but it took some time to get going. During the first third only one piece of magic. It's only with the introduction of Jonathan Strange that things start to happen. There are some very nice ideas in here. Magic can be big. We're not talking paltry fireballs. I was impressed when they saved a town from invasion by moving the town, the entire town, to a different continent for a few days and then putting it back. The treatment of elves is different from anything I've seen before as well.