Saturday 25th September 2021 

For some people, their idea of chilling out is a bottle of wine and a Netflix series.  For others it’s a cup of tea and a cigarette. 

For me, it seems to be a videogame and an audiobook. 

I started Priest of Gallows a few months ago but for some reason, although I was enjoying it, something came along which disrupted my reading.  I’m one of those people who if I don’t return to a book within a few days, I lose the thread of the plot or the absorption of the world and need to start again. 

I’ve genuinely loved this series.  This and Aaronvitch’s Rivers of London series are among my favourites being published right now.  Priest of Gallows is the third book in the series and is basically a fantasy Peaky Blinders.  I’ve not even watched the entire first series of Peaky Blinders but there’s something about the gritty underworld in these books that appeals to me.  And somehow as the story has grown and the main character, Thomas Piety, has moved from family gang and into government, it’s not lost touch with its roots. 

I devoured this book in a couple of days, listening every chance I could.  Of all the books, this one leaves the story hanging at the end, but I enjoyed every single minute of it.  Personally, the books don’t get the attention they deserve. 

And while I listened I’ve been busy on Minecraft.  I’ve been building a city together with farms and autostorage.  Over the last week I’ve finished off the storage and got it working, I’ve added in a couple of farms, and linked it up so the output gets automatically ferried to the storage.  And now I’m building over the top of my storage, the idea being that it gets hidden by the city above. 

One of the main buildings is the station.  Whilst I already have railcarts underground ferrying farm spoils, overground I have a long distance rail system that links back to the starting area.  So the plan is that this goes over the storage area, so things can be dumped off, but is part of a huge terminal in which long distance lines will head off in all direction of the compass. 

I’ve been following a few video guides to learn how to build.  These always take a load of time as I sit there watching a youtube video, pausing every few seconds to replicate what the creator has done.  But now I have a few ideas on wall textures and I started building for myself. 

The rail terminal did take me hours, but it was hours I was listening to Priest of Gallows, so I felt pretty chilled and relaxed as I pieced everything together to create it. 

It looks OK.  Probably not the greatest creation but I suppose I can always tidy it up at a later time.  Most importantly, it serves the function I need it to do, and does look a bit like a railway station inside.  It has multiple levels and I like how my city isn’t just flat (although currently a large part of it is to hide the auto storage underneath.  I’ve also become pretty good and building flower borders to break up all the brick. 

Next is going to be a giant map room that forms the bottom layer of my castle.  I intend for that to me absolutely huge, surrounded by loads of houses so it really is a huge great city. 

But I guess I’ll need to find another audiobook to do that.  I’ve got a huge pile so that shouldn’t be hard, but I don’t just want to consume books through audio. 

And after a great book like Priest of Gallows, whatever comes next has to be equally as good or I’ll lose interest. 

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Past Years: 2020 – The Year of Being Fearsome | 2019 – The Year of Soldiering Through | 2018 – The Year of Priorities | 2017 – The Year Of The Offensive