Our nearby McDonalds burned down last night

We live on the very eastern edge of Dundee, very near the small retail park by the A92 including a Dobbies, McDonalds, Costa, a kids' activity centre, a David Lloyds gym, a Brewers Fayre restaurant, and a Premier Inn hotel. Last night our McDonalds burned down. We had no idea till this morning. Martin drove past as usual, on his way to work, but was concentrating on the A92 traffic/road so much, he didn't glance that way. Then heard about it on the radio. Here are some pictures from The Courier newspaper. The restaurant was open when the fire started, but luckily all the staff and customers got out ok. It was a really nice McDonalds. I went there a lot with my Dad over many years. Martin also liked it. I hope they might rebuild. P.S. Just checked the distance. McDonalds was just 400 metres from our home ... I'd even been thinking of sending Martin there for me yesterday.

Radio Times

Today's new Radio Times magazine has some marvellous Doctor Who interviews, celebrating the 60th anniversary. Lengthy chats with David Tennant and Tom Baker, as well as pair up chats of various companions (including the upcoming one) and a great chat with Russell T Davies and original 1963 director Waris Hussein. Recommended reading for any fans of the show.

Watching Neil Gaiman chat about fantasy

Martin and I have just enjoyed watching last night’s recording (for paid ticket holders only - I had bought an online viewing ticket) of Neil Gaiman at the British Library chatting with Roz Kaveney about fantasy. It was lovely. Takeaways included:

• Neil has a half completed Neverwhere sequel novel that he hopes to get back to after writing Good Omens season 3 (yes 3!).
• As a youngster Neil thought he’d be a scifi writer later in life. Ditto for Terry Pratchett. Both of whom ended up pretty resolutely as fantasy writers.
• The only Discworld book Neil had a serious hand in was Pyramids, which he helped plan the plot for.
• So many insights into the origins of Sandman - even loads I hadn’t heard in Neil’s one hour detailed chat at the Edinburgh Book Festival just about Sandman.
• Neil thinks we are approaching the end of social media as we knew it. In particular he spoke of Twitter as “It’s a thing that we used to have in the olden days that was good.” Quite!
• I still have some Neil Gaiman graphic novels yet to read - must prioritise! His discussion of his family history links with Violent Cases and Mr Punch was eye opening.
• And yes, we need to watch the last part bonus episode for Sandman season 1 (“Calliope”) which was mentioned in the chat, and also Good Omens season 2 (also mentioned).

Tomorrow night we will be watching the recording from tonight of Neil Gaiman chatting with Rob Wilkins about Terry Pratchett and his worlds. Should be fab. Again I had pre bought an online ticket. These events are part of the wider Fantasy exhibition season at the British Library, and are going ahead despite the library’s ongoing cyber attack problems. I’m finding it astonishing that I’m able to watch and enjoy these talks viewing from northern Scotland.