Two poorly people

It turns out I have some time after all...

... John has gone out on a NaNoWriMo social (go on, go and congratulate him – he’s done it – 50,000 words done this month – and he’s included my challenges – to include both fishfingers and an overhead projector ) I could spend this evening getting some marking done, but instead I’ll give you some pretty pictures to look at.

Last weekend I didn’t forget Saturday Sky, but we were away for our nephews’ Christening (Jenson and Trey, the twins – can’t believe they’re already one!) We took the train up to Crewe where John’s father picked us up, then John drove his mother’s car up to the service itself (we couldn’t all fit into his father’s car). Elizabeth has SatNav – which is great, apart from the fact that the nice lady obviously doesn’t know her way around Cleveleys. She got us off the main road and just dumped us about a mile from the church. (“You have now reached your destination” – er, no!) Even worse, she’d dumped us off the edge of the road map we had! Fortunately we’ve got lost round there before, so we vaguely recognised where we were…

To get back to Saturday Sky – here it is, taken with my phone camera from the back of a moving car – I’m fairly impressed with myself:

And because it was so pretty, here is last Wednesday morning’s sky too:

And for what it’s worth, my sushi-making skills have improved – this was my first attempt, my latest attempt is somewhat more competent:

The ingredients are getting a little less authentic though – sausage sushi anyone? And to go with your prawn and avocado, what about a little lime zest?

And you remember I declared that this was going to be the year of strictly no Christmas knitting? Well, what is a knitter to do when she is asked to knit a pair of long warm socks for her father-in-law? She buys a few balls of Twilley Freedom Spirit and dusts off the pattern for the socks of doom, that’s what she does!

Knitting in the name of science...

... link to this, and then ping technorati. All in the interests of academic research apparently …

It's been a while...

I’ve got a bit of a case of the blogging blahs – not least my knitting is (still!) just miles and miles of grey ribbing, and not really bloggable. And it’s November. I’m not very good at November. This year has been MUCH better than previous years, but still. I had hoped to do a “proper” post today, but I’ve foolishly offered to cover a colleague for a lunchtime lesson – and my offer has been accepted, so I need to go back in later. Hey ho. Anyway, I found this:

(more)

Themed visit...

My parents are down to stay with us. (When I say “stay with us”, what I really mean is “stay in a B’n’B about 10 miles away – we don’t have a real spare room, just a sofa bed, and they like to be comfortable. It works.)

They arrived on Saturday, having previously arranged with the owners of the B’n’B that as they were going to be out mid-afternoon, they would leave the key out for my parents to pick up. The keys weren’t where when they arrived, so they came straight round here. The whole thing was finally sorted out and they even managed an early night.

On Sunday we had arranged to meet up for lunch at the local Bella Italia – there isn’t a huge choice for Coeliacs, but they are great with children. We were about 10 minutes late, and couldn’t see them anywhere, so I waited outside while John got a table. Some 45 minutes later they showed up – they’d been there all along, buried deep in the back of the restaurant.

Today we lost part of the newspaper. My mother had read it. My father had read it. They had finished the quick crossword. I had a moment to sit down and look at it – no more than 5 minutes after it had last been seen in my father’s hand. We couldn’t find it anywhere. It was completely and utterly not there. We hunted high, we hunted low. I even looked in the fridge… Eventually, at bathtime, it turned up in the lego box… I SWEAR we’d already looked there!

So this visit’s theme is “Losing things”. We await tomorrow with some trepidation…

Saturday sky

Hey! I remembered!

I’d hoped to have exciting cloud formations and be able to dazzle you all with my newfound knowledge – John gave me The Cloudspotter’s Guide as an anniversary present – it’s an entertaining read – maybe a little too heavy on the jokes, but there’s some nice easy atmospheric physics in there too. But yesterday’s sky didn’t really have any clouds. Sigh.

No I don't...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

(Thanks to Kirsten for the link)

Diversifying...

On Friday Ruth came home from her childminder in tears because her baby’s outfit is blue, not pink. Now I know perfectly well that Ruth is generally in tears when she comes home from the childminder. Come to that she’s often in tears at dinnertime no matter where she’s spent the day. The combination of being tired and landing in another group of people is generally too much right at that moment. So it’s not something I need to take too seriously.

However, I had been promising her a new outfit for Tilly (actually most of the pressure was coming from John… ), so on Saturday I went to John Lewis and bought 50cm of pink flowery fabric, and without the aid of a pattern, I made this outfit:

Which 80s band?

Heh!

(Thanks to Jen for the link)

On a lighter note...

Adam at the dinner table:
“Today we did something new in PE on the… on the… when we were apparating ...” (Take THAT Hogwarts – my son does apparating in Reception!!!)

Ruth:
“Mummy, that noisy bike really called a motor bike” Another excellent baby name relinquished

Fuming...

GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

I signed up to get childcare vouchers – basically the money is removed from my pay before tax – so we save a considerable amount each year. The system works so I can pay Ruth’s childminder online. Except that last week it didn’t. Work that is. So Bev went unpaid. I tried again this week, again it didn’t work properly, so I phoned the helpline.

“Oh,” she says, “What browser are you using?”
“Firefox.”
“Well that’s why – we’ve upgraded our system, so now it only works on Internet Explorer.”
“Will it work on Opera?”
“No, only Internet Explorer.”

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????!!!!!!!!!!!! (I didn’t shout at her, I did grump, then I apologised, and said I know it’s not her personal responsibility.)

“So, since we don’t run Windows, and don’t have Internet Explorer, how can I pay?”
“You can do it over the phone”
She reads out a phone number – a premium-rate phone number…

I asked for contact details to lodge a complaint – this “upgrade” was undertaken without any communication with clients…

And breathe – in fact she’s wrong, it worked fine on Opera.

I’m still mad as heck though.

(Oh knitting – yeah well, it’s just miles of grey ribbing round here – nothing to see really.)

Our Traditions

Well, a few days ago I grumped about the adoption of traditions that aren’t ours. So here are some pictures of our Seasonal Festival, that yes (in answer to Mary and others) since I was a child has lost much of its association with failed religious terrorism (thank you Liz ) It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen anyone trying to beg “a penny for the Guy”, and mostly it’s “Bonfire Night” rather than “Guy Fawkes Night”. Anyway, here are some photos from the bonfire in the vicarage garden this evening:

We call them...

...pirates:

and that white spot over his shoulder – that’s the moon – yet again I left it too late for Saturday Sky – and the poor love was cold and needed the toilet – the things a knitter’s son has to go through! Still, he loves the hat – it was a fun knit, and although I’m not proud of the well-dodgy tension in the stranded knitting (carefully placed so you can’t see the worst of it ) I’m happy with it – esp the surprise red cotton lining!

Random stuff...

This is the sky this morning:
– which is a good start!

I would like to draw your attention to a new campaign. A colleague of John’s has started Sausage Monday – she is happy to answer questions on such thorny issues as “Does Toad-in-the-Hole constitute a suitable Monday dish?” “What about Fishfinger Friday?” So do go along and give her a visit.

And now a little cogitation. Halloween. I know it’s not just me, because everyone I’ve asked (colleagues and parents of other children in Adam’s class) is of a similar mind to me. We don’t like it – not that we have any particular religious objection, and toffee apples, pumpkins and bobbing for apples are all great. As is dressing up as a bat or a ghost or whatever takes your fancy. No, what we can’t abide is trick-or-treating. I’ve heard a variety of objections – it’s not safe for the children, it’s intimidating for people living on their own, it’s not our tradition (and although I do agree with that one, I’m not particularly enthralled by our own autumnal tradition of burning effigies… ) I think my main objection is to extortion. Groups of small children going round with a responsible adult to a prearranged group of participating friends is one thing – groups of teenage boys knocking on the doors of all and sundry and squirting silly string (as happened to one of my colleagues) or throwing stones or eggs (as per news reports) when they’re not answered is entirely another. On my way to work yesterday I saw someone’s window box had been destroyed – there were geraniums strewn all over the road. Apparently halloween is now the busiest night of the year for the police.

I guess that part of the problem is that it isn’t our tradition – we’re really only just beginning to take it on board in a big way (although it’s now the 3rd biggest retailing opportunity in the UK – behind Christmas and Easter, but ahead of Valentine’s Day – lots of relatively expensive and tacky costumes for sale, as well as sweets to dish out at the door) – and because it’s not our tradition, we don’t really know how to “do” it properly.

But yes, our Bonfire Night has its ugly side – when John and I were newly married we had American neighbours over as postgraduates who were horrified to hear that burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes is an annual event. It was something of a shock to realise that our “harmless fun” looked so appalling to outsiders.

Enough of controversy – back to knitting – you didn’t really think I’d be able to remain monogamous to miles of grey ribbing did you?

Adam needs a new hat, and I’ve been hankering after knitting this since I first saw it:

I’m just hoping that it will fit – if not, I’ll have a nice new hat

Today I’m planning that we will mostly veg in front of the television. Ruth is complaining of being tired. I’m hormonal, and I had a flu jab this morning. So I’m guessing/hoping that the hat won’t take too much longer.

Competition Results...

Well, the deadline has now passed, and all the entries are in. We have excursions from:
Nihal – do go and check out her view across the rainswept Bosphorus, and her local shops in Istanbul
Mary – where we ponder whether playing ball hockey is permitted when playing ball and hockey is prohibited…
Louise who makes me want to move up to Scotland now, now, now.
Jessie who has me glad I’ve packed my bags to move to Scotland, but now has me dithering about whether I might prefer Vermont…
Becky who takes us for a trip round where she lives in Oman (it’s beautiful too, but I’m not so tempted to move there – toooooo hot for me!)
Erika with whom we run a few errands in La Conner WA

and last, and missing the deadline by a mere 13 hours, but certainly not least is Ruth with whom we potter round her part of London.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who took part in this – there isn’t a huge number of us, but look at the totally different places we live in – all with their very own local flavours. But this was set up as a competition, and competitions need winners, so the winner is (very very long pause a la Strictly Come Dancing – what? You’re not watching? Oh you should, you really should – OK, you’re still waiting) – the winner is…

Becky.

Congratulations Becky – some yarny goodness will be heading your way. Please email me your address.