1 January: The Number One

Today is the first day of the first month of the year. Here are some facts about the number one.

1. Multiply any number by one and the answer is the number you first started with.
2. The symbol for the number one dates back to ancient Brahmic script in India, where it was a simple vertical line.
3. Sometimes the number is written with a serif at the top which can lead to confusion with the number seven. Hence 7 is sometimes written with a line through it to distinguish the two.
4. 1 is the atomic number of hydrogen. Staying with the periodic table, Group 1 of the table is alkaline metals, while Period 1 contains just two elements, hydrogen and Helium.
5. The first asteroid to be discovered was Ceres, and so it has the minor planet designation 1.
6. The Bee Gees, Ed Sheeran, Harry Nilsson, Metallica, U2 and Alanis Morrisette have alrecorded songs with the title "One".
7. In sports, the number one is often assigned to particular players, for example, in Football, it's usually the goalkeeper and in rugby league it's often the starting fullback.
8. As well as the number, the word "one" is often used as a third person singular pronoun, eg "One needs to find a job." It tends to be used in more formal contexts with everyday speech usually using "you" instead. It's frequently used in caracatures of the British royal family, so the Queen will say "One is not amused", for example.
9. The M1 was the first full length motorway to open in the UK, in 1959. It runs between London and Leeds. The A1 is a road which connects London and Edinburgh.
10. In numerology, one is the number of creation, the number from which all things spring. People whose birth number is 1 are natural leaders, proud, courageous, strong and determined. They are the people who get things done. They can also be stubborn, demanding and jealous.

Golden Thread

Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

Fiveswood has a rich and intriguing history. Local legends speak of giants, angels, wolves, a local Robin Hood, but most of all, a knight in golden armour. Fiveswood's history also has a dark side - mysterious deaths blamed on the plague, a ghostly black panther, and a landslide which buried the smugglers' caves.

Terry buys an apartment in The Heights, a house which has been empty for decades, since the previous owner disappeared. Now he has finally been declared dead, developers have moved in and turned it into six flats. Terry has the odd feeling he has lived in this enigmatic house before. But that is not all. Since childhood, Terry has had recurring, disturbing dreams which have been increasing in frequency so that now, he has them almost every night. To his dismay, the people from his nightmares are his new neighbours.

Except, that is, for Eleanor Millbrook. She is refreshingly unfamiliar. After Terry saves her from a mysterious attacker, they become close. However, Terry's nightmares encroach more and more on his waking life, until they lead him to a devastating discovery about who he really is.

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Goodreads Review for Golden Thread:

This is a standalone book rather than one of the "super" series. Excellent characterization, a "keeps you guessing" plot, and some fairly deep philosophical issues ! Would recommend this to anyone, but especially recommended if you would like to see a completely new "take" on the people with powers / alternate futures / general oddness type story lines. Somebody make the film !