Chapter-by-Chapter: New Moon, Chapter 1

I did honestly intend to post this last week, but I sort of used up all my energy and motivation just getting as far as the Preface, so I'm going to actually pick things up now. Perhaps I'll really enjoy it once I get started.

Perhaps I'll win the lottery tonight as well.

So, on with Chapter 1: Party.

What Happens?

It's Bella's birthday and she is in a proper grouch about the prospect of getting older. No one is allowed to mention her birthday and she definitely does not want any gifts. This doesn't stop anyone. Not only that. Alice arranges a party for her, with gifts and everything. Unfortunately open envelopes is very dangerous and getting a paper cut when you're surrounded by vampires may be bad for your health!

Thoughts as I read:

I'm going to guess from the title of this chapter that there's going to be a party of some sort. My prediction is that there's going to be some sort of high school party. Perhaps Bella and Edward are pretending to be normal high school teenagers and are going to attend it. Or perhaps Bella's trying to find a way to avoid it.

You know the traditional method for the beginning of a Twilight chapter. I'll give you the clue, it's the same way that 99% of your stories probably started when you were at primary school; with Bella either dreaming or waking up. In this case it appears to be the former:

I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure I was dreaming.

The reason for this is that Bella is looking at her dead grandmother who is currently very much not dead. Either Bella is dreaming or Grandma Marie got turned into vampire before she died, in which case Carlisle Cullen is probably to blame.

Then Edward shows up and I have no idea what is going on. This must be a dream, the dead grandmother is the first clue but suddenly they're somewhere sunny so it can't possibly be Forks. Edward is sparkling all over the place. And Bella notices that there's something odd about her Gran, the odd being that Gran is actually old Bella and this is actually all just a dream.

She's dreamt that she grew old while Edward continued looking like a hot guy in his late teens. Does this mean that Bella is scared of growing old? She wants Edward to turn her into a vampire not just so they can be together but so that she can stay a pale and clumsy teenager for the rest of her life. Seventeen wasn't that bad a year for me, but I can't imagine being stuck at that age forever.

Also, random thought that just occurred to me. If becoming a vampire amplifies your latent talents, what talent would Bella end up with? Think about how dangerous Bella is now when she tries running; now imagine the chaos she could cause if she ran at vampire speeds!

Correction to the above. Bella wants to be eighteen forever. She's just woken up to discover it's the thirteenth of September; her birthday. She is now officially older than Edward. Except, y'know, he's still going to be about ninety years older than she is. What she's unhappy about is the fact that in actual years of physically aging, she's now older than he is and she's just going to keep on getting older, unless he does her a favour and bites her.

Bella's clearly been spending too much time with Edward because his mood swings seem to have rubbed off on her. She tries not to cry while her dad gives her presents because she's like, totally ancient now. Her mood takes an upswing when she gets to school and sees Edward and Alice, apart from her annoyance at the fact they've clearly got her a gift against her will.

Alice helpfully lets us know what Bella received from her parents, since she 'saw' it in one of her visions. Her mum sent a scrapbook and her dad gave her a camera. It'll be cool if they become a plot point later in the book.

We reached Edward then, and he held out his hand for mine. I took it eagerly, forgetting, for a moment, my glum mood. His skin was, as always, smooth, hard, and very cold. He gave my fingers a gentle squeeze. I looked into his liquid topaz eyes, and my heart gave a not-quite-so-gentle squeeze of its own. Hearing the stutter in my heartbeats, he smiled again.

'Liquid topaz eyes'? I don't know what that means. It's giving me a mental image of someone with really bad hayfever and watery eyes.

Bella comes out and says it; she's not happy about it being her birthday because she's older than Edward. Technically unless he was turned the day before his eighteenth birthday, then she's been older than him for a while. She's still dead set (no pun intended) on being his vampire bride, though by the sounds of things Alice knows something Edward doesn't because she placates our clumsy heroine with a reminder that a year or two isn't going to make that much difference in the long run.

I guess I would feel differently about this plot if I hadn't been inadvertently spoiled years before I even decided to read it. I know that sooner or later Bella is going to get turned so I'm just hoping it doesn't get dragged out too long.

Bella can't honestly understand why anyone would want to stay mortal when they had any other opportunity. You should read some Tolkien, honey. Watching everyone you know who isn't immortal dying, watching the world making the same mistakes time and time again without having the power or influence to stop them, living the same old life and knowing that it's never going to end. Immortality is not all it's cracked up to be!

The Cullens have apparently organised some sort of birthday party for Bella. Ah, that'd be the titular party then, wouldn't it? She starts making excuses why she couldn't possibly go, but these guys aren't going to take no for an answer. Edward pretty much puts her foot down. And who doesn't love a man who tells you just what you're going to do, even on your birthday. That's so romantic!

Attention is never a good thing, as any other accident-prone klutz would agree. No one wants a spotlight when they're likely to fall on their face.

So just. Don't. Go. Tell Edward you're not going and that's final. Jeez.

The next page is a discussion of money; namely Bella's parents don't have much, Bella has some which she's earning from a job in town just in case the vampire thing doesn't work out and she has to go to college, Edward has lots because Alice's ability to 'see' things is handy when you're playing the stock market.

Edward didn't seem to understand why I objected to him spending money on me – why it made me uncomfortable if he took me to an expensive restaurant in Seattle, why he wasn't allowed to buy me a car that could reach speeds over fifty-five miles an hour, or why I wouldn't let him pay my college tuition (he was ridiculously enthusiastic about Plan B).

Perhaps because it would get you out of his hair for a while? Possibly forever, if you found some college guy to obsess about instead.

We also learn that the 'older' Cullens have graduated now. I guess we won't see too much of Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie in this book.

School ends and Bella and Edward drive home together. She's in a cranky mood thinking about whatever it is Alice has planned for the evening. I don't feel sorry for Edward being on the receiving end of her crank since he gives as good as he gets. All is better when they reach her house. A quick snog and she's in a perfectly good mood and ready to go watch Romeo and Juliet for English class.

When the film ends, Edward starts talking about how easy it is for mere mortals to kill themselves compared to vampires. It sounds as though Edward contemplated ending his, well not life, undeath perhaps, when he thought that the tracker might have gotten to Bella. And so we finally learn a little more about the world of Twilight vampires. Edward's plan involved going to Italy to annoy a very old and power family of vampires called the Volturi. They're the ones Carlisle lived with for a while in the distant past.

This revelation causes Bella to tell him off because even if she was dead, she wants him to go on without her. She points out that if things were the other way around he wouldn't be impressed with her deciding to top herself if he ceased to exist. The conversation is interrupted by Charlie showing up with pizza. Bella's hoping that he'll stop her from going out but he's all for it and he wants her to take the camera to snap some photos.

I also think that Charlie has a thing for Alice:

"That's good. Hey, say hi to Alice for me. She hasn't been over in a while." Charlie's mouth pulled down at one corner.
"It's been three days, Dad," I reminded him. Charlie was crazy about Alice. He'd become attached last spring when she'd helped me through my awkward convalescence; Charlie would be forever grateful to her for saving him from the horror of an almost-adult daughter who needed help showering. "I'll tell her."

This is just awkward. As far as Charlie knows, Alice is a teenager. And I'm still pretty sure she has a thing for Bella, anyway.

On the way to the Cullens' house, Edward warns Bella to play nice, pointing out that the last time any of them had a proper birthday was before World War Two and it seems that this is an event they're all looking forward to. I bet Rosalie isn't. It turns out that even Emmett and Rosalie have come back from Africa. That's how big of a deal Bella's birthday is.

Bella does push Edward once more; what she really wants for her birthday is to be just like him. This does nothing to put Edward in a good mood, until she asks if he'll show up in the picture she took. Her camera has film in it? When was this book written? 2006? You could get cheap digital cameras then, why's she got a camera that takes film?

Alice has gone completely overboard with the party idea. I feel sorry for Alice. She's been stuck being a vampire for so long and she really just wants a shot at being a normal teenager. It must be so frustrating for her having to put up with new best friend Bella who wants nothing more than to give up all the normal person stuff to be undead. I think if I was Alice I'd have slapped Bella by now!

We catch up briefly with Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie before Alice announces that it's time for presents. You'd think just because they're dead they could still celebrate their birthdays. Is there some rule against vampires having birthday parties?

Then Bella is handed a big bow with nothing inside it. They've gotten her a new stereo for her truck which Emmett is already installing. Next is Edward and Alice's gift. Whatever it is it's in an envelope, which gives Bella a paper cut as she opens it. The single drop of blood is all that it takes to drive Jasper into a frenzy. He's suddenly lunging at Bella and Edward has to jump in between them. This is very dramatic.

Edward sensibly pushes Bella into a glass table to save her from Jasper's fangs; the table shatters and Bella ends up with rather more than just a paper cut.

Dazed and disorientated, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm – into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires.

I'm not too worried about her. They controlled themselves when they found her bleeding out after the tracker got her. Plus there's still another twenty-odd chapters to go. Bella's going to survive this.

Finish This Book: Collecting

Occasionally when I'm working through this book I come up against a stumbling block, something that delays me somewhat. Sometimes it's a case of waiting for the right day to do a task, or the right tools, or a decent internet connection so I can look something up.

This was one of those pages.

It explains that a detective may collect things in order to document their research. So that's what you're instructed to do: Collect things from your immediate environment.

Now I started out intending to just grab things from around the house, taking 'immediate environment' to mean the area around the chair where I sit to fill in my book. But then I did the second part of the activity which was to find out the meaning of 'naturalist'.

The cliff notes answer is:

Someone who studies natural history; someone who studies plants/animals in their natural habitat.

And I realised that I'd probably have to leave the house for this one.

I took advantage of the nice weather and the fact that autumn has struck with a vengeance and grabbed a bunch of leaves on the walk towards Kerrycroy.

I got a pretty nice selection and I think they're a good representation of the plants which grow around the estate. It's an accurate documentation of of my immediate environment. I've taped them all into my book; I was prepared to grab some litter as well to stick in but I only found an old Styrofoam cup. When the tourist season ends the amount of rubbish lying around the estate dramatically decreases.

What sorts of things do you think you would collect from your local area?

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn

Book 7 of 2015: Quidditch Through The Ages by J.K. Rowling

At the beginning of December 2014 I read Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, one of the two Comic Relief/Harry Potter tie in books J.K. Rowling released back in 2001. It only seemed natural that I followed it up with the companion book Quidditch Through The Ages the following January.

It's one of the books that is mentioned early on in the Harry Potter series and is designed to be a reproduction of a library copy from Hogwarts, complete with additions from the students who have read it. It's packed with information about the history of the game, going right back to its origins, as well as famous teams from around the world, and interesting moves and plays in the game.

I mentioned last week that I read Miramont's Ghost which left me mostly disappointed but slightly creeped out. Well, I live in an old house, in the grounds of an even older house, and it was January so night time was very dark (and therefore even creepier). I decided that before I could actually go to sleep I needed to read something a little less creepy. It was about 9:30pm so I needed something quick and easy; Quidditch Through The Ages fit the bill.

I have to admit, I don't enjoy this book as much as Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. I put it down to the fact that I'm probably the least sport-minded person in the history of the world and apparently that extends into fictional sports as well. All the same, it's funny and interesting.

I like that there are mentions of things that come up much later in the series. I love that J.K. Rowling laid so much groundwork to set up the world. You don't have to read these books to enjoy the others, but you get an extra level of the Wizarding World and that's always a good thing. There's so much depth in these books that you know these things are in the story somewhere, I wish there were more of these books to take us further into the world.

Speaking of which, I stand by my insistence that if they ever produce any more of these books, they have to release Hogwarts, A History. I would love to learn more about the history of Hogwarts, even if it was as slim as this book (a mere 56 pages). That's another complaint, of sorts, I wish these books were longer. I know they were released for charity and were just designed to be little books, but I can't help but want more. I'm never satisfied.

One thing did really make me smile while I was reading this:

Caerphilly Catapults
The Welsh Catapults, formed in 1402, wear vertically striped robes of light green and scarlet. Their distinguished club history includes eighteen league wins and a famous triumph in the European Cup final of 1956, when they defeated the Norwegian Karasjok Kites

Because at the time of reading this book I'd been to Caerphilly about a fortnight before.

Which is something else I like about this book. The list of the teams means that there's something there for almost everyone to relate to; there'll be a place where they live or have been or which is near to them and they can imagine where that Quidditch team might play. It's a little bit like giving something back to all of the Harry Potter fans who obsess over the series and wish they could go there too.

Reading a reproduction Hogwarts library book is about as close as I'm ever going to get to going to Hogwarts, so if that's the case, I'll take it!

Windows 10 - My Thoughts

I got my new laptop, affectionately named Bloo, for obvious reasons, a couple of months ago because my old one was slowly dying. I didn't get it a moment too soon either because when I booted up my old laptop a few weeks back it had entirely died on me; it's either the motherboard or the harddrive, neither of which I've got the time nor the inclination to investigate further.

One of my concerns with getting the new laptop when I did was the fact it would mean having Windows 8.1; and I'd heard things about Windows 8. Part of me wanted to hold off just a little while and wait until Windows 10 came out (because I know the rule of Windows Operating Systems). The other part of me, and my family, knew that a new laptop was needed immediately, so I sucked it up and kept hold of my copy of Windows 7 just in case a downgrade was needed.

And Windows 8.1 didn't actually bother me that much. There were a few things that frustrated me about it; the tiles screen could have been a little more flexible, the lack of a Start button was a pain (but I had an add-on that took it's place pretty well), I could never find the calculator when I wanted it. But I got used to it and I loved my nice smooth running, fast laptop especially when compared to my old one.

But then I got a message telling me I could get Windows 10. I nearly ignored it because I thought it was going to be a free trial or something, or you'd end up having to pay some sort of subscription. But nope, if you had Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 you were eligible for a free upgrade to the (so-called) last Windows OS.

When I got the message to download it, I did, and then I waited and waited and waited, and waited a little bit more.

I know how these things work when it comes to technology. There are always a whole host of bugs that need to be ironed out before you can actually use the stuff properly. I kept an eye on what people were saying about it; I googled what actually happened when you hit the button to go through with the upgrade; I googled what I needed to do before I went ahead.

I was prepared to download all the Windows 10 drivers for my laptop, I backed everything up, I googled a little more. Then I decided to go ahead with it last Sunday. I planned to devote the whole day to the task. I didn't need to. It was done within an hour and a half.

And so far?

Well, it's kind of like Windows 8.1 but different.

I like the fact that everything was exactly where I'd left it when I started my laptop up for the first time afterwards. I like that I've got my Start button back. I do kind of miss my page of tiles, but I'm sure I'll come to terms with it. Everything seems to be much as it was before and, as I don't have internet access at home, I've not had much of a reason to play with features such as Cortana.

The one thing I had a slight issue with was when I started up trusty Blue for the first time after doing a full shut down. It seemed to take F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

This is maybe a slight exaggeration. It's definitely an exaggeration. Especially when you consider the fact that my old laptop used to take upwards of half an hour to start up fully and let me do anything (rushing it resulted in the poor thing locking up or having a hot flush and needing to have a shut down to get over it).

In reality F.O.R.E.V.E.R. is probably a lot closer to about two minutes. But it's a long time to sit starting at a black screen when you're not used to your laptop doing things like that.

It was back to Google again for the fix. Ironically the issue seemed to be in part caused by something called 'Fast Start-Up' which is actually anything but. That shaved some time off it. The other cause is to do with graphics drivers, which I'll investigate when I get around to it.

Other than this, I'm coming to really like it. I keep finding little things that just makes sense; like when you select the Start button and 'All Apps' and they're in alphabetical order, it makes things easy to find; or when you're opening or saving a file in a programme it gives you your recently used folders, I know past versions of Windows have done this, but it just seems to work so much better in Windows 10.

Sure there's hiccoughs and teething problems, but the kinks are ironing out nicely. I've not found a single programme that I used before that doesn't work on the new operating system (even my ancient version of Photoshop Elements which I thought was going to cause problems since it jumped up complaining that I didn't have Internet Explorer 5 on my computer). I'm tempted to dig out some of my really old games to give Windows 10 a run for its money with them at some point.


Have you upgraded? How are you finding it?

Weekly Rundown: Autumn Walks

Autumn is well and truly upon us and I love it.

For me autumn is sweeping leaves, getting cold and damp, warming up with hot chocolate and an old Disney animation.

It's cold mornings and blue skies and seeing your breath. It's woolly hats and welly boots and gloves and scarves.

It's going for walks with the people you love, kicking up leaves and taking photos of all the colours.

And there are so many colours in autumn. I mean, spring makes an effort, and summer tries hard, but autumn has really got it covered in the colour department. And they all change so quickly. The road you travel along in the morning might look completely different by the time you head along it in the evening.

It's like magic.

We've taken a couple of autumn walks this last couple of weeks. And I've brought my camera along with me for some nice autumnal photos.

Autumn isn't even my favourite season of all. I like winter best; but autumn is the prelude to winter. It's the build up to NaNoWriMo, Mr Click's birthday, our anniversary, Christmas; all of my favourite things.

Yesterday the weather was so nice that, even though the sky was a little bit grey, we were able to walk without jackets. I also got a whole bunch of photos of Tara as well. She's a really photogenic labrador, but you have to catch her at the right time; when you're on the way back from the walk is best, when she's too tired to be too playful.

Of course, up there I mentioned autumn being a time for hot chocolate. Well, in the run up to NaNo I've decided to give up chocolate (just because I can, I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I want to, see) but this is proper hot chocolate weather and it's making it hard to stick to my resolve (not because I'm addicted, because of the weather). I've also dug my knitting out again because it's the right sort of weather for that as well. The nativity is getting back on track after about a month off and I'm starting to make more plans for my next project after this.

I've fished my OU hoody out of my wardrobe (it's been nearly a year since I got it), I've got my thick socks on; neither of these things mean a huge amount since I live in Scotland and wear hoodies and thick socks year round. We've had the heating on and extra cups of tea and a hot water bottle in bed. The nights are getting darker and chillier.

I love this time of year.

Film Review: The Return of the King, Part 4

Time for the next part of The Return of the King. It's another long one because it's a very long film.

Last week Gandalf had Pippin engage in a little light arson in order to summon the Riders of Rohan, meanwhile Denethor was disappointed with his one living son, and Gollum got Frodo to kick Sam out their little trio. With the exception of the summoning of Rohan, it was pretty depressing.

134. Oh look, cameo from the Jackson children. And I'm sure on the commentary it mentions some other family members who you can see in the crowd.

135. The way they're throwing down flowers at the feet of the soldiers is like it's a funeral. Everyone knows they're going to their death.

136. Gandalf's insisting that Denethor loves him. He's got a funny way of showing it.

137. The sound of the gates opening sounds a lot like one of Treebeard's sighs. Maybe that's where the Entwives went? Gondor turned them into fixtures.

138. You know this is a serious battle because of the swelling music, the glimpses of the enemy and the fact that they're riding in slow motion.

139. I love Billy Boyd's song. Whenever I get to the bit where the words were taken from in the book (I think it's in The Fellowship of the Ring) I can't help but read it in time to this song. They couldn't have picked anyone better to sing the end song for the final Hobbit film.

140. Of course in the book, this is a much happier song. The way it's sung here and the context makes it so sad.

141. It's so different from the Green Dragon song and 'Hey Ho to the Bottle We Go'.

142. Aw, and Gandalf is sitting all alone and looking sad. He's all powerless to help at the moment.

143. Rohan's camping trip is going well. There's quite a few of them, just not quite enough.

144. Aragorn's being quite critical. I mean, I know he wants to save the kingdom he's due to take over, but Théoden didn't really have to help. He should be a little bit more grateful.

145. We'll be learning about the Paths of the Dead soon. The horses don't like to be near the entrance to it, but Aragorn seems drawn to it.

146. Merry nearly eviscerates Éowyn after she dresses him up in armour. She sounds a bit Australian when she speaks here as well.

147. Éowyn's a bit annoyed with her brother for laughing at Merry. She's so determined to go to war. Éomer should be nicer to his sister, he'll feel bad about it later if he doesn't.

148. I guess he just wants to look out for his little sister.

149. A mysterious rider has arrived at the camp and Aragorn is dreaming of Arwen. These two things appear to be connected.

150. Théoden's tent is really well furnished. It's more decorated than Edoras!

151. Future father-in-law has shown up with the new that Arwen is dying. Elrond's surprisingly calm about all of this. He knows about the Corsairs coming up the river to attack Minas Tirith and tells him that there is somewhere that he can go to get more men. There's a creepy wind that blows through the camp when the Paths of the Dead are mentioned.

152. Elrond's pretty awesome here as he presents Aragorn with Anduril. Aragorn's way of saying thank you is to practically chop off the end of Elrond's nose when he unsheathes it.

153. That is a really long sword. There's a joke to be made there. I'm not going to make it.

154. Perhaps Elrond is just trying to get rid of Aragorn so he can ship Arwen off to Valinor. He's like, 'go on, go to the Paths of the Dead, you know you want to'.

155. Éowyn's trying to talk him out of going. Aragorn has to talk her out of fancying him. Poor Éowyn.

156. Gimli catches Aragorn trying to sneak off. Legolas invites himself along on the trip as well.

157. Perhaps Aragorn should explain where he is going and why because all the whispers start as they leave. Clearly they think the battle is doomed and they're off on a suicide mission. At least Théoden seems to understand why he has to go.

158. Théoden is really a cool old man. He knows they don't stand a chance against Mordor, 'but we will meet them in battle nonetheless.'

159. Éowyn's just a sad shell now she knows she won't get it on with Aragorn. Théoden's being all nice to her. I wish they had more time together, it's all Gríma's fault.

160. If you watch the rock formations that Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli walk past in the background they go past the same ones a couple of times.

161. While I've been watching the background, Legolas has been telling Gimli (and the viewers) that the people in the mountain were cursed for not going into battle and only Aragorn can call them to fulfil their obligations.

162. The music is all creepy so we know that this isn't going to be a fun excursion. As they wait outside the entrance there's another creepy gust of wind and the horses take off.

163. It's just as well Aragorn has his sword in his hand because it looks like the horse has gone off with his scabbard.

164. Gimli has to talk himself into going undergrown, especially as Legolas went in without complaint.

165. Éowyn's not the only one being ordered to stay behind. Théoden doesn't want Merry to go with him. Luckily a stranger rides by and lifts him up on the horse in front of them.

166. If Éowyn is heading off to battle, who is ruling the people of Rohan while she's away. If the battle had gone really badly would she have just left the people she was supposed to lead to face invasion without anyone in charge? I wonder if she's like Queen Amidala and she has a bunch of lookalike handmaidens or something.

167. Legolas is seeing things as they journey underground. Gimli's freaked out by this because he can't see anything. I'd be freaked out too if someone told me the dead were following me!

168. And now they've walked into some low fog. Low fog from which creepy skeletal ghostly hands keep stretching up. Gimli's technique is to blow them away. If he keeps huffing and puffing like that he's going to hyperventilate.

169. As if this place couldn't get any worse, they've got to walk across a carpet of skulls which fracture and break beneath their place. It's a bit of a fixer upper.

170. The Leader of the Dead meets them in a big hall. He reminds me of the ghost in The Frighteners who kept losing his jaw. It's clever the way that he seems to vary between looking like a skeleton and looking like a desiccated corpse.

171. The trio is surrounded by ghosts as their leader tells Aragorn that the only person who can summon them is the King of Gondor. So Aragorn casually puts up his sword and points out that he is the King.

172. Aragorn is so awesome that he can grab ghosts by their throats. Mordor doesn't stand a chance.

173. The Dead don't agree either way. Instead they all disappear and then an avalanche of skulls is unleashed. Are all of those skulls from people who retreated to the mountains instead of fighting? There were an awful lot of them.

174. For a moment it looks as though the trio are going to be buried alive, but they make it out, in prime position to see settlements burning and the Corsairs making their way up the river.

175. Aragorn's upset so Legolas offers a comforting hand on his shoulder. It's all very sad.

176. Then the leader of the Dead shows up and announces 'We fight'. And we know things are going to be okay.

177. Except they're not so okay in Gondor since Faramir's horse has just come back dragging a badly wounded Faramir behind him. What is it about Denethor's sons and Orcs using them for arrow target practice?

178. The Orcs outside are unleashing a bout of psychological warfare on the inhabitants of Minas Tirith. They're throwing heads of Gondor's soldiers into the city. Nice.

179. Denethor's pretty much lost it now. He's convinced Faramir is dead, that Théoden isn't coming (which is rich considering he didn't want to light the beacons to ask for help), and he starts telling everyone to run away.

180. Luckily Gandalf is there with his staff to beat some sense into the Steward.

181. What he should really have done there is locked Denethor up somewhere that he couldn't do any harm and then taken over the city. Instead he's taken over command but left Denethor nursing his bumps so he can do what he wants with his severely injured son.

182. Poor Pippin is running around trying to follow his company whilst the whole city is under siege.
We'll leave Pippin where he is because he's kind of falling behind and I think he might need a week or so to catch up.

Next week'll be pretty much all fighting because there's a lot of battles going on in Gondor. Or rather, it's the same battle but in lots of different places.