289: sorry, what?

I was going to write about protest songs this week but I haven’t had time to do the research into it that I wanted to. So I’ve saved it as a draft somewhere else instead and you’ll just have to wait.

Do you know, I’m not sure I managed to get the hang of last week and now here we are on Sunday again. A couple of four day weeks are all very well but at the moment there’s way too much work for those four days. My email inbox is in triple figures when my ideal number is ‘less than 20’. Double figures are but a pipe dream right now, and there have been days when I haven’t even managed to read them all and delete those which don’t require any action.

It’ll all be worth it though, when we welcome all the new team members we’re interviewing (22 interviews down, three to go), when we throw open the gates to a new venue fully committed to accessibility and inclusion, with new programmes for people of all ages and a fantastic set of exhibitions. Until then, I suspect there will be a lot of 4am wake ups. It’s dark at 4am, you know, and even the stupid birds aren’t awake at this time of year – which is an improvement on the peacocks all summer or the angry chickens in France. I think. At least earplugs muffle the birds. Is there a brainplug available? I couldn’t even go downstairs as my living room was full of people asleep on sofas and airbeds.

In a coaching session in July I had a great conversation with someone who helped me work out a plan for just these moments but it involves having five minutes to yourself to do the thing.

It helps (a bit) when you talk to people about what you’re doing and they’re excited, or you talk about access to an expert and you’re doing all the right things, or when people contact you because they want to work with you – or they say yes to your ideas. That was Friday’s meeting with a local SEND school which turns out to be about ten minutes from our site.

What doesn’t help is when public transport conspires against you to ensure that you can’t get anywhere on time: on Wednesday I planned my journey to arrive in Stratford with an hour in hand to get some quiet work done in a coffee shop somewhere. I arrived at Discover with a minute to spare: the bus to Epping was late and then got stuck in traffic, the train took well over an hour to do a journey of 22 minutes, and then they took the train out of service. The rest of the week was not an improvement. There seem to be speed restrictions in place between Epping and Woodford so everything is slow – but not slow enough to be able to claim the journeys back from TfL as that needs to be a delay of 15 minutes or more. Grr. Still, interminable train journeys at least meant I got to start (and finish) this little Autumn Fairy. She fits perfectly in this Bonne Maman jar which I’ve been saving for a moment just like this.

Things not causing me stress this week

The very beautiful Wye Valley, which I walked 15 miles around last Sunday over two walks. The first one was solo and the second was with my sisters and cousins. There’s a lot of uphill, you know. We walked across the Biblins Bridge, had an ice cream in the cafe, an excellent Sunday lunch at the Saracen’s Head and enjoyed the autumn.
By Tuesday I ached all over but I feel in good shape for the Cardiff Half Marathon next Sunday – there is still time to sponsor me as it’s an excellent cause which really annoys the local racists. It would be amazing to make it to £500.

Afternoon tea in aid of Macmillan at Jill’s house on Saturday
Seeing the live action How To Train Your Dragon with Thing 2 on Saturday. A worthy remake – I really enjoyed it.
The right person winning the Sewing Bee for a change (it took a while to catch up)
Conker season
Making a start on stock for the Christmas stalls
The Merlin app – identifying so many different birds. I am a convert from BirdNet now.

Next Sunday I’ll be live and lurching around Cardiff, hoping to come in around the three hour mark – pray for nice weather!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Stone and Sky/What Abigail Did That Summer/Winter’s Gifts – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

How Not To Be A Supermodel – Ruth Crilly

288: cocktails, cake and cheese

This weekend I am back in the Shire, hanging out with the girl cousins (well, most of them) and slowly stewing myself in the hot tub out on the deck. We’re back at Forest Holidays in Berry Hill, near Coleford – my first proper boyfriend lived round the corner from here and our first date (27 years ago) was at Coleford cinema to see Buster, starring Phil Collins.

A night walk on Friday let us see scores of stars away from towns, a shooting star and the International Space Station zooming across the sky. No wild boars or deer, but lots of tawny owls shrieking.

Two walks on Saturday morning yielded a whole lot of interesting mushrooms and toadstools, as well as a fairy door trail. I kept wandering off the path to peer at treetrunks covered in tiny fungi, narrowly avoiding the acorns plunging down from the trees. They were crashing through the canopy and hitting hard enough to bounce. The afternoon was rainy and the breeze kicked up towards the evening, but the sun came out.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Plates and Shakers for tapas: check out the menus and see if you can decipher what’s in the cocktails, because we couldn’t. We’d booked a table for six, but they only had one for five (but squeezed a group of seven in later, so hmmm) so we squidged up on squashy sofas and drank cava and ate tapas.

Saturday evening was all about cocktails, cake and cheese, celebrating Hev’s birthday in style. Today we’re off to the Saracen’s Head in Symonds Yat for Sunday lunch and then reality must reinsert itself on Tuesday. We’re now planning our next adventure, which may or may not involve ABBA. It’s so lovely having a bunch of people I’ve known all my life to spend time with!

Things making me happy this week

Pumpkins 🎃 – trying to make these tiny pumpkins the right size to go in the small jars I bought has been a bit trial and error but I think I’ve cracked it now. The lovely nail techs at the Nail Bar in Harlow were very taken with them (I was in for a pedicure. Manicures don’t stand up to excessive crocheting)

Being able to go into the office and see people! No tube strikes this week.
Things 2 (with Thing 3 as sous chef) making dinner on Wednesday – Korean Fried Chicken, which was amazing. The worst part of adulting is having to think about dinner Every. Single. Night.
Buying my first Christmas present. Now I must ensure the safe place I put it in is one I can remember.
A long walk in the Forest last Sunday in glorious solitude, to High Beach and back via Copped Hall.
The Merlin Bird App – better than BirdNet. We heard a spotted flycatcher!

This morning if the weather behaves I will head for Symonds Yat Rock to admire the view!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Wild Hares and Hummingbirds – Stephen Moss

Clown Town – Mick Herron

Amongst Our Weapons/Stone and Sky – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

Monday Monday – Ben Aaronovitch

How Not To Be A Supermodel – Ruth Crilly

284: getting the hang of Thursday

Thursday was GCSE results today for Thing 2 – we were at school for 8am and then went straight to her chosen college to enrol. Jill brought me coffee in the queue, as she works there, and when the doors opened we got her signed up on the Culinary Arts course and kitted out with chef’s whites, her very own apron and oven cloth, and a pair of extremely no-nonsense steel-toe-capped kitchen shoes. I can’t decide whether she looks grown up or dressed up, but I’m extremely relieved that she got the grades she needed and onto the course she wanted. Apparently there is a shortage of patisserie chefs, so I have heroically volunteered as a taste tester should she go down that route.

Thursday afternoon had more drama – I’ve been feeding Ziggy and the Piggies for the last ten days or so* (next door’s mighty hunter cat and guinea pigs, not a Bowie tribute band) and while chatting to the other neighbour she mentioned that she thought Ziggy had caught a magpie but not killed it, as it was sitting on their lawn. Off I went with Doctor Doolittle (aka my Beloved) in tow to see if the ‘pie could be saved. Its wings were working as it kept flapping away from us, but its legs were dragging. We couldn’t see any cat damage, and Ziggy wasn’t around, so after some manoeuvring Dr D managed to get it into a cardboard box and we covered it with a wire frame to prevent cat attack. In between adding bits to my learning strategy I tried contacting the local wildlife rescues in the hope they’d come and help but they said that if the legs were damaged it couldn’t be rehabbed. I phoned the vet and took Mr Magpie (no idea where his wife and/or children were, though obviously I asked as it’s only polite) round to them. I suspect they would have had to put him to sleep, as the new receptionist didn’t look very hopeful, but at least he was safe from cats.

He wasn’t a fledgeling as all his beautiful feathers were in. We have experience with fledgelings, as we once rescued a baby woodpigeon who’d fallen out of the nest and kept him in a box on the trampoline for a couple of weeks while his anxious parents flew down and fed him. I don’t know whether he was a single chick who was just too fat for them to get back off the ground or if he just went too early. Eventually the rest of his feathers grew in and he fledged properly over a couple of days and headed off. We also used to have a collared dove pair who nested in the Christmas tree where the treehouse was and we always enjoyed watching their nestlings hop around on the railings. We’re lucky enough to have a lot of mature trees around the garden, and usually have robins, blue tits (who treat the trampoline net as a climbing frame), blackbird, woodpigeon and magpie families raising chicks every year. There’s a fierce wren who chased Ziggy off, much to his surprise and embarrasment, and a poser of a bullfinch who sits on a tree stump and shows off. The odd sparrowhawk has been known to rest on the edge of the sunroom roof, and the roof pigeons like to sit on the glass roof and wind up the cats.

There’s a gang of teen corvids – a couple of jackdaws, a rook and a magpie – who terrorise the neighbourhood feeders and hang out on roofs cawing, and sometimes we get visits from the village peacocks on a wander. I think they have extended their territory into the woods behind the house as they were regularly waking me up at 4am earlier in the summer despite sleeping in Loop earplugs. Colin the pheasant – named by our builders, who reckoned he strutted about like one of their lads – used to be a regular visitor and was tame enough to hand feed monkey nuts to. We haven’t had a pheasant for a while but we have had badger cubs in the garden again this year, and a fox investigating the Blink camera. I like to sit out and work in the garden and listen to the different songs – the BirdNet app is great for identifying all the different species.

*Ziggy self-catered this morning, however, choosing to picnic on something in our garden. This is fine, as last time I was in charge of him he was leaving me decapitated meeces in the mornings.

Making me happy this week…

This week was vastly improved by the existence of Wednesday which was bracketed by early morning coffee with Amanda and after work (nonalcoholic)* cocktails with Rhiannon. Epping continues to disappoint, as did the High Court interim injunction this week which is bound to be seen as a precedent for all sorts of other councils to take umbrage at the Home Office’s flagrant disregard for change of use applications and so on. Of course this meant there was shouting and celebrating outside the Bell, where the residents are already too scared to leave the building. The ‘decorators’ have been active in our village again, which I hope doesn’t mean they’re going to start terrorising the families in the Phoenix. I am a cynic, so I suspect the lack of public transport and criminal opportunities other than the farm shop and soft play next door might put the hoi polloi off visiting, unless they fancy some expensive sausages and some cake.

Anyway, Rhiannon and I tried a new food hall type place near St Paul’s Station, where I had a ‘Light & Stormy‘ which was remarkably convincing. It had a herbal elixir (an excellent word) instead of dark rum apparently it contains trendy mushrooms. Whatever- I liked it and if it wasn’t just as expensive as rum I might get fonder of it. We didn’t eat although there was a good range of food options. We had agreed ahead of time that we’d spend exactly ten minutes having a rant, although we did add two minutes for AOB (well, expressing our disbelief at members of the local council). We had a timer and everything, and then we had a lovely couple of hours chatting about everything else.

*apart from the tequila slammer that the nice man gave us in exchange for leaving a review.

A solo trip to Harlow where I had a holiday mani/pedi so I have pretty nails – the colour is Thai Chilli Red which isn’t too red or too orange. It wasn’t my first choice but they’d run out of that – red with a burst of gold – and I like it a lot.
Not Amazon, who have annoyed me this week by failing to deliver a parcel three days this week as they were unable to find my front door. Suggesting they got out of the van and walked up the drive was not helpful.

This week I will be working from France, and appreciating not having to think about feeding people or public transport. I shall mostly be shortlisting…

Same time next week, people!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Furthest Station/The Hanging Tree – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

The Postman’s Path – Alan Cleaver. meh. Took back to library without finishing as it was disappointing. If ever a book needed Illustration it was this one. He kept going on about sketching and doing walks but there were no sketches shon or even a map. Great premise, poorly executed despite good reviews.

Midnight & Blue – Ian Rankin

The Book of Doors – Gareth Brown

282: smug as a bug in a rug

Press your back button now if part of your summer holiday planning still involves the annual childcare juggle. I’m about to be unbearably smug.

My Horde are now 14, 16 and 19 and while the teenage years come with their own set of challenges (their hormones coming in while mine are going out, romance dramas, friend group angst, the constant growing out of shoes and trousers, to name but a few) those challenges no longer include having to trade off annual leave, swapping childcare with friends or considering packing them off to boarding school and leaving the country till they’re 18. I read all the Chalet School books, I know it’s all kaffe und kuchen every day and midnight feasts and adventures up mountains. They’d have been FINE. Probably.

While we’ve always been amazingly lucky with the various childminders and big sisters who have looked after them over the years, it’s still flipping excellent not to have to worry about it every year.

The flipside is never knowing quite how many teens will be scattered about the house and garden when I get in or who will be around for dinner. If they’re here they get fed and I assume that works when they’re at other people’s houses too. We’ve always operated open door parenting, on the principle that if we’re there for the fun stuff they’ll know the door will still be open for the harder stuff too.

Several nights a week there’s at least two teenagers asleep in the living room, one in the cabin and right now there’s nine people ranging from the ages of two to 27 racing around the garden with water pistols. I’m sitting surrounded by chaos and the remains of an impromptu barbecue and – honestly – I love it. Especially the bit where they just get on with it with no input from me.

It also means I can go and work in France for a week and then have a week of peace before school chaos starts again; go for a drink with colleagues or friends after work; or be at my desk by 8am.

This is not to say parenting teens is a breeze: emotional crises arise, there are still dramas and we’ve got T-level results this week and GCSE results next week but, on balance, I think we’re doing OK.

I expect one day they’ll all leave home and I won’t know what to do with myself but till then I’ll keep embracing the chaos.

Other things making me happy this week:

A lovely day off on Friday with Miriam, with breakfast at the Mayfield Bakery and a very relaxing massage.
Finding Breton cidre at St John after work on Thursday, and remembering how nice it is to do these things.
A peaceful day at Shelley Church fête crocheting toadstools and chatting to nice people. The meerkat went home as a raffle prize with a very excited teenager.
Painting wooden toadstools with Things 1 & 2 in the garden

Finishing a new pig in a blanket as a test for this year’s Christmas offerings

Same time next week then!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Still Water/Nightwalking/The Sheep’s Tale – John Lewis-Stempel

Talk to the Tail – Tom Cox

Whispers Underground/Broken Home/Foxglove Summer – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible]

Midnight and Blue – Ian Rankin

260: where are we now?

Well, maths-wise (if not date-wise) this post marks five years since I started rambling at you all about whatever I was up to – the header image is from March 2020.

My first post was written as we were heading into the original lockdown and I introduced the people and felines who live in the house. It was never intended to be a lockdown diary – I originally registered the domain name as a way to document the reinvention process at Young V&A that I was working on. And then I just carried on as I was enjoying myself. I’m now on a different reinvention project, which is physically on a much smaller scale, but feels like we’d doing something important as there isn’t anywhere in the UK at the moment dedicated to illustration in all its variety.

The family has pretty much reinvented itself too: the cats are the same ones (just older and grumpier) but we’ve added another three grandsons and one blended granddaughter to the mix. The things were 13, 11 and 9 when I started – two in primary school and one in secondary, and now they’re 18, 16 and 14 and one is prepping to leave college for university, one is leaving school for college and one is picking his GCSE options and calling everyone ‘Bruv’.

I’ve probably crocheted my way through several marathons’ worth of yarn, and I still haven’t finished the Seurat cross stitch I was working on (really must pick that up again). I’ve tried out many new crafts, for which I don’t have nearly enough time, and made a whole lot of clothes and quilts. I’ve written 258,827 words (just under 1000 a week on average), which is quite a lot really. 2023 was the year I wrote the fewest words, but I did spend the first six months of that year training for a couple of ultras and so I walked a lot of miles instead. I think that’s an excellent excuse – it was certainly a memorable 50th year, I spent much time with family in the process and we raised money for an excellent cause. I’d quite like to do it again… I’ve read an enormous number of books, some of them several times – I’m looking at you, Pratchett, Aaronovitch and co – occasionally I think I should do what my sister does and just make one big list and if I could work out how to do pages on this thing as well as posts I might.

Most of the last 260 posts have been cheerful moments, but at times I’ve been frustrated and angry at things like sexual harassment, inane political decisions, school dinners, and the marginalisation of arts and craft. I’ve been honest and open about mental health and parenting and navigating these things with the added joy of peri- and menopause. It’s nice to have a little corner of the internet of my own, mostly, and I enjoy recording my week and being able to frame what I’m thinking. Other people reading it is a bonus….so thank you to everyone who comes along for the ride. And to my Dad, who binges once a month. (Hello Dad). Not so much to my Beloved who says if there’s anything he needs to know I can just tell him about it.

I’ve also liked reflecting on all the things that make me happy each week so without further ado it’s…

Things making me happy this week

Taking part in a ‘Today at Apple’ session where we got to use the Apple Pencil Pro to do drawing and things. I went along with my very talented colleague Silvie, who knows which end of an iPad is which. I’d like to live in the Apple Store, they’re always so calm. I’m also quite tempted by an iPad but that’s because I have a butterfly brain.
The weather! Thing 2 and I had a sundown walk on Monday and she was disturbed by the fact that everyone was smiling and saying hello – that’s the effect of the sunshine!
Not going to work in the dark in the morning.
Finishing the jumper I’ve been making, modelled beautifully by Thing 2, and starting a hexie cardi with the frogged Hydrangea blanket
Getting a book in the post – hurray for magazine competitions!
Not BlueSky, who suspended me for activity breaking their community guidelines – which confused me as I’d only had the account for three days, had followed one person and posted once.

Today I am off for a long solo walk, probably through the Forest as despite the sunshine off-road is still a swamp. This is annoying as there are many footpaths I have yet to explore.

Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading

The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal – Jodi Taylor

The Raging Storm – Anne Cleeves

Snuff/The Truth – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

The Trouble with the Cursed – Kim Harrison

258: another breath of French air

Well, here we are back from France, having eaten our own bodyweights in baguettes, boule and in Thing 2’s case, brie.

On Sunday we headed off to Port-Louis where my ever- tolerant family put up with me pottering off into the sea for a dip in my bobble hat. The water was so clean and clear, the sun was out and the kids had a wonderful time exploring rock pools, collecting seashells and poking crabs to make sure they weren’t dead. Port-Louis is always good for tiny jewels of green seaglass so I came back with a pocketful for my collection. Thing 2 wants to try making some jewellery with it.

We hit the beach again later in the week for Dad’s birthday at Larmor-Plage, which is a bit further round the coast and has shiny mica-rich sand. The shoreline was populated with tiny sanderlings sounding like squeaky toys as they skittered in and out of the waves. Cormorants, geese and ducks bobbed up and down a bit further out. We pottered along the headland and onto the next beach, with more rock pools and bigger chunks of glass. The Things are becoming more discerning – not frosty enough, still too sharp – as they scan the sand. Lunch was at Le Tour Du Monde, where I had moules mariniere, and Thing 3 excavated an entire lettuce worth of greenery just to remove the tomatoes from his club sandwich.

Further inland, we took some walks along the Blavet, a canalised river which comes out at Lorient. The towpath has been underwater for a lot of the winter so far, and the water is still high. The usual cormorants were haunting dead trees like baby dragons, a heron and a white egret lurked in the shallows and we were lucky enough to see a few kingfishers flashing along. Tan saw a Daubenton’s bat but it failed to make a second appearance no matter how hard we looked.

The most striking thing is the huge increase in coypu activity. The banks are riddled with their holes and on one evening wander we saw a whole family playing and swimming, including a baby pottering about near its mum. The rain last night was torrential so their dens are probably submerged again.

We continue to be confused as to when to stop bonjour-ing other walkers and start bonsoir-ing. Tan’s working theory is that the entire nation receives a subliminal message that tells them. Is it when the sun reaches a certain point on the horizon? It’s definitely not a time, and we have been soundly reproved on occasion with a “nuit est tombé!’ when we have bonjoured a fraction too late. Answers on a carte postale, please.

Considering it’s February we’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather. It only really turned bad on Thursday when we went to Hennebont for the market. We changed our minds and took the kids to Decathlon instead to spend their holiday money, and then took a lengthy detour around Lorient and Lanester on the search for the Chinese buffet for lunch.

On Friday we headed to Trinité-sur-Mer for the market and a blowy walk along the quay. The kids tried Kouign Amman and looked in horror at tripes and andouilles (so did I) and we ate galettes and crêpes for lunch.

Every trip out seems to have ended with a visit to whatever supermarket is on the way back: Super U and the Leclerc Hypermarket were the favourites. I seem to have gained a whole shopping bag of French food (and I remembered treats for the office!) including my favourite Surfizz sweets, cherry compôte and caramel sauce. The kids are amazed by the range of food on offer. I’ve got butter and proper Port Salut too.

In the evenings I’ve been working on my crochet jumper: the back, front and half the first sleeve are done. I chose the pattern as it reminded me of a jumper I loved when I was at uni – the link to the pattern is in the Insta post below.

Dinner times have been a chaos of conversation, as usual when we get together. I think Thing 3 will be quite relieved to get back to normal!

And now it’s back to normal service – kids are back to school on Monday, I’ll be back in the office and I’ll have to think about what to feed people again. I’ve missed Thing 1 and my Beloved, of course, and I think I’ve missed being woken at 5am by starving felines!

Same time next week…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Lost Man of Bombay/The Dying Day/City of Destruction/The Last Victim of the Monsoon Express – Vaseem Khan

Night Watch – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

Million Dollar Demon – Kim Harrison

The Holly King – Mark Stay

257: time flies when you’re being mum

The last couple of months have been bringing home to me how fast the Things are growing up, not just physically (as I crane my neck to look up at them) but in what they are up to. I think I have been deep in denial that Thing 1 is actually planning to leave home in just a couple of short months, to head off to university to do Early Childhood Studies. Thing 2 is revising hard for her GCSEs and had an interview for a professional cookery course at a local college this week. Thing 3 is making his GCSE choices and wanting to join gyms and things.

It does make me feel a bit wistful looking up at them all, especially when the digital photo frames show ‘on this day’ pictures of when they were small: using their dad as a climbing frame, charging off into their first deep snow in the local park, picking me bunches of bright dandelions on the way to the shops, ‘gumping in muddy buddles’ in their ladybird wellies, being hopelessly overexcited at a toy train, being the Littlest Gruff on daddy’s lap at storytime. I still have their first shoes and their first tiny Welsh rugby shirts stashed in my wardrobe, of course, and locks of hair from their first haircuts*. There are certain photos which make my heart melt every time they pop up.

Now I look at Thing 3’s shoes (size 12!) and Thing 1’s varying hair colours. Thing 2 still picks flowers but is now more likely to press them and turn them into art than clutch them all around the town. It used to take ages to get anywhere as she was so engrossed in looking at all the small things. Thing 3 used to make us stop at every lamp post where he’d say ‘that sign means lightning! If there is lightning you must not go in the garden because you will DIE’. It took a while to get to nursery. Thing 1 used to talk to the meerkats that lived in Daddy’s shoes, which was a bit disconcerting but there you are. Who were we to say that there weren’t meerkats in his trainers? Imagination is one of the best things about being a small person, building the world the way you want it – I think if they get to exercise it when they’re small it’s good practice for improving the world when they’re older. I think we’re going to need the imagineers in the next couple of years.

Obviously I know in my head that kids are supposed to grow up (I plan on trying it some time myself) and leave home and be their own people and all that sort of caper, but it seems to have come round terribly quickly and without much consultation. I’m not sure I like it but apparently it’s not up to me….

*Thing 2 is reading over my shoulder as she revises and just said ‘urrgghhh, you kept our hair?’ She’ll learn.

Things making me happy this week

Last week’s post being flagged as not meeting some tech corporation’s community standards – AHAHAHA. Like Captain Vimes says, if you’re annoying the right people you’re doing things properly.
The V&A Academy’s online ‘In Practice’ series – last Monday I did Ekta Kaul’s Stitching Nature session and had an enjoyable evening doing embroidery..
Meeting lots of lovely ex-colleagues from Young V&A as I was in Bethnal Green for a meeting.
Turning a Vicki Brown Designs yarn advent sock yarn set into piles of squishy granny squares. Eleven colours down, 23 to go. She designs gorgeous sock patterns too. Sock yarns are too nice to go inside shoes though.
Making some progress on last year’s temperature tracker which I hadn’t touched since August as I put it down in favour of Christmas crochet. Only four months to go…
The prospect of a lot of baguettes, canalside walks and a week off.

What I’ve been reading:

Million Dollar Demon – Kim Harrison

The Fifth Element/Night Watch – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

Death of a Lesser God– Vaseem Khan

251: learning from experience

I think, if nothing else, the past fifty odd years of my life have proved that New Year’s resolutions are a bit of a waste of time, so having got that thinking out of the way I can get on with 2025 in my usual fashion – doing as I would be done by, trying not to eat too much cake, making a dent in the contents of the sheds and not being too lazy. This all seems doable. As I mentioned last week I have signed up to an event in March, so need to train for that – I love to walk but am essentially lazy so need a target to aim at. As Tan said about me in 2023, wind her up and point her in the right direction and she’ll just keep going.

Of course, there is still a lot of cake left but will try and ration my consumption….

This week was New Year’s Eve and as has become the tradition over the past ten years or so we spent it with our village gang of friends. Our plan was to go early, spend an hour or so and then come home when the grandbaby we were looking after for the night started getting grumpy. What we hadn’t reckoned with was Mason’s night owl habits – he was having a whale of a time dancing, playing with balloons, being cute at people, eating party food and so on. We eventually wrestled him back into the buggy at 1am, much to his disgust, and marched him home to bed.

I was on night duty with him, sleeping on the couch next to his travel cot, and I am clearly out of practice at this, since my lot are all in their teens – I woke at every snuffle and hiccup and by the time his mama rolled in at 8am with Thing 1 after they’d been out to a rave I was very ready for my bed! Mason, on the other hand, woke up at 6.30am, promptly stole my pillow and blanket while I was warming up some milk for him and went back to sleep leaving me no space at all. Needless to say I spent a lot of New Years Day in bed. Still, as I may have mentioned before, there is nothing quite as snuggly as an armful of warm sleepy baby – at least until your arm goes dead.

I don’t think Lulu is quite as fond of overnighting babies – she’s been quite mad this week, but she’s now got a new tower to play with. Toddlers are big fans of cats but the feeling is not mutual…

SERIOUSLY? Did you do the wine test?

Apparently the Uniqlo round mini bag has been going viral recently for being lightweight, washable, handy for travel and being able (according to my sister) to fit an entire bottle of wine inside which I can see would be very useful. The social media reviews tend to talk about 500ml water bottles, but she has her priorities, OK?

The Uniqlo one comes in a quilted option, a corduroy option, as a lined version with a sporty strap, and in a whole variety of colours. Tan had bought the black version and kindly demonstrated the booze-holding capacity at the Christmas market in Ealing – I’d already been looking at the red version while shopping on Black Friday but hadn’t bought it as it wasn’t yellow. I like yellow when it comes to bags. When I was buying my parents’ Christmas presents I gave in to the red one as it was still on sale – obviously it still wasn’t yellow but I found a pattern on Etsy for a dupe and spent a couple of days between Christmas and New Year making a couple in different colours.

The pattern was easy to follow (all mistakes were my own, like getting one of the lining panels the wrong way up!) and the outcome was the same size as the Uniqlo original. This pattern has a zippy pocket on the inside which was surprisingly easy to install, two small side panel pockets and a main space which does – just about – fit the bottle of wine in the same way that the Uniqlo one does. All the fabric and zips came from my stash – a remnants bundle of waxed cotton provided the outer fabrics, and some quilting cotton featuring lucky cats and a comic book print from the V&A sample sale a couple of years ago came in handy for the lining.

I did need to buy the hardware as I wanted an adjustable strap but if you always wear your bags the same length you can make it without these bits. You could also make it without the zippy pocket if you were after a quick gift for someone. I happen to have a lot of waxed cotton so can see me making more of these (get your requests in now, people! I have various colours (not purple or teal, sorry M)). I tested it out on my commute on Thursday and it fits my phone, glasses case, earphone pouch easily but not my current portable project but that’s because I didn’t try and squash it in.

Things making me happy this week

The possibility of snow, though I fear I will be let down by Essex weather again
Siestas with warm cats as winter is finally biting (see point 1)
The microwavable boots I had for Christmas I had from the TTS (see point 2)
Quiet day in the office on Thursday where NO ONE was asking me to do stuff. I can be forgiven for being late to both Teams meetings, yes? What were all these other people doing working?
Putting Christmas away tidily till next year
Home made orange, cinnamon and cranberry bread in the bread maker
Finally mastering Yorkshire puddings
This is England – I didn’t pay any attention the first time round but am really enjoying it
Wallace and Grommit – Vengeance Most Fowl – No Parkin! on the Yorkshire border side made me laugh out loud
A rainbow of fat quarters for a quilting project just awaiting the purple shades before I can start planning
Quilting this nine-patch ready for backing. I *think* it’s a Riley Blake fabric but it may also be Moda. It’s got stars on and it was charm packs.

With any luck the lake will be frozen tomorrow so we can pretend we’re orcas or polar bears or something – a good ice swim always makes us feel like superwomen!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

High Five/Hot Six/Seven Up/Hard Eight/To The Nines – Janet Evanovich

BBC Dramatisations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (Audible)

A wide range of quilt books in search of inspiration!

250: probably Sunday

Welcome to that weird period between Christmas and New Year, when there’s still a lot of Christmas cake left but you’ve run out of pigs in blankets, the Christmas specials are over and you probably have to go back to work at some point in the not too distant future. I have a giant pile of ironing to do, a whole lot of unfinished projects that I should probably be getting on with, and I have had some truly excellent naps instead.

On Sunday Rachel, Jill and I went for a very chilly swim at 5.5 degrees – my fingers were agony coming back to life afterwards – followed by coffee with Edith and Miriam in Harlow, and a bit of shopping while they got their nails done. I’ve found there’s no point getting my nails done as crochet trashes them! Later in the day I started trying to retrieve the dining table from under a pile of crafting materials. I introduced Miriam and H to Wheatus’s festive classic ‘Christmas Dirtbag’, which they hadn’t heard before. The festive film of the day was Miracle on 34th St (the 1994 version). I still love the 1947 version more.

Monday was baking day with Thing 2, while listening to about five million Christmas songs, none of which were Justin Beiber or Mariah Carey. One of them was ‘A Christmas Song’, which I first encountered on a compilation called ‘Nigel-Approved Christmas Fodder’. We lost Nigel a year ago, but the playlist remains my December go-to (though I did delete Mariah Carey from it. Sorry Nigel.) The stollen was made. The Christmas cake was iced with lazy ready-made icing and some sugar snowmen and penguins and polar bears. We also made chocolate salami after a colleague brought some in as a treat. It was amazing, though I did have to use rum as I couldn’t find any Grand Marnier in any of the supermarkets (and I had rum in the house). I cleaned the oven, too – after an explosive beef joint last week coated the inside of the oven in yuk. The children tidied their rooms, with assistance from my Beloved who insisted on telling me about it in forensic detail, and excavated several tons of laundry. Truly my life was complete. The festive film of the day was Gremlins – who doesn’t love the Mogwai?

On Tuesday the final presents arrived, much to my relief – there’s always something last minute! Thing 2 and I were back in the kitchen baking stained glass biscuits to use up the broken candy canes and two sorts of Welshcakes – cranberry and orange as well as the traditional ones. I remembered to get the turkey crown out to defrost along with the sausagemeat, and to sign up to an ultra marathon in March (does 25k count? It’s only 15 and a half miles). The festive to-do list has definitely helped this week. In the afternoon I popped to the neighbour’s with some Welshcakes and had a coffee with Sue, her dad and the sock-stealing Bella-dog. In the evening realisation that while I’d remembered to get the turkey and sausagemeat out, I hadn’t got anything out for dinner so I took a vote and we had a kebab. The movie of the day: Arthur Christmas.

Wednesday was, of course, Christmas Day and we’d been invited to TT1’s for the afternoon – I was taking the stuffing, which I made in the morning and which is apparently the best stuffing her partner has ever had in his life. As expected, it was glorious chaos – 14 people aged from four months to 55 years, two dogs (one very large and one very small), piles of presents, enormous quantities of food. We managed to fit all the presents, all the kids and my folding table into our little Kia Ceed which was the equivalent of a very tricky sudoku.

Boxing Day began with a walk and a coffee with Miriam and the dogs, complete with banana bread. I had an excellent nap in the afternoon and in the evening we had our own Christmas dinner with my late MIL’s angel chimes on the table. Lulu sat on the spare chair and watched us intently, but it turned out she just wanted some turkey. Ever since she recovered from her operation (which has caused her insurance premiums to double) she’s been far more interested in food, especially people food which was never a thing for her before. While I was making the pigs in blankets she sat at my feet and shouted at me, even though she doesn’t like sausages. In the evening we watched Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, and the Doctor Who Christmas Special – I loved the cheeky Mr Ben reference!

On Friday Jill and I started the day with an early walk with to see the cows down at the farm, as well as Wilbur the pig and a lot of hopeful horses. I spent the afternoon looking for inspiration in my quilting books – particularly Stuart Hillard’s books. He does amazing things with colour but I never have the patience to recreate his patterns. I have a plan though… In the evening a gang of us got together for a walk to Marconi Bridge to see the Epping Ongar Lights Express going through to the station. There weren’t any trackside lights this year which was a bit disappointing but the train was everything we expected!

Saturday began with a swim with Rachel, Jill and Sue at 6.1 degrees (that 0.6 of a degree did not make a difference to the tingly fingers!) and then Thing 2 and I took a spur of the moment trip to Harlow to see if there was anything good in the sales. We had lunch at Wagamamas and a good mooch around the shops – I found a black maxi dress in River Island reduced by more than half, and the jeans I was after were also half price. It was foggy and cold, so the buses running to time was definitely a bonus – though heating was apparently too much to hope for!

I know I really ought to be doing some useful things (like finishing the quilt I started in the summer) while I’m off but I’m quite enjoying watching TV, doing the odd row of crochet blanket and spending some quality time snoring with the cats. The ironing won’t do itself though, sadly, but I do have a nice new iron thanks to my amazon voucher as my good one for sewing has taken to tripping the fuses in the house every time it steams. For those of you worried about me, I spent the rest on a new leather jacket as mine is as old as Thing 1 and definitely looking a bit battered.

Normal service will probably resume sometime next week – we’re babysitting for GT2 on New Year’s Eve so coffee tequila won’t be on the menu this year!

Same time next Sunday…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Two for the Dough/Three to Get Deadly/Four to Score – Janet Evanovich

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown/Inspector Chopra and the Million Dollar Car/Murder at the Grand Raj Palace – Vaseem Khan

BBC Dramatisations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (Audible)

249: move along, please

Aaaand…breathe. The out of office is on, most of the presents are wrapped*, the turkey crown is in the freezer** and the cake is marzipanned and practically hiccupping with the amount of rum it has ingested. The presents for France are in Ealing ready to go over with London sister today, and we had a very delicious lunch at Remoli complete with aperitifs and pudding (affogato, of course). Christmas can now happen.

*Despite definitely having finished the shopping last weekend, I still ended up in Flying Tiger in Ealing Broadway as the stocking presents didn’t look enough.

**We are going to TT1’s for Christmas lunch but the utter horror on Thing 2’s face when she realised this meant I wasn’t doing Christmas dinner was a sight to behold. Yes, I am a sucker but at least I drew the line at buying a full turkey just so I could make soup, despite the face. Boxing Day will be dinner for us then!

On today’s mooch round Ealing we visited the Christmas markets that seem to be popping up in every available shopping centre – the best was at Pitzhanger Manor, but even that was only about ten stalls. London seems to have taken the idea of these markets but hasn’t really managed to get the hang of them. The one in Ealing Broadway Centre was six stalls, half of which were overpriced food and the others were overpriced tat. There is a limit to the number of scrunchies and Swiftie-style bracelets that any one person really needs, and this is coming from someone who remained faithful to the scrunchie throughout the noughties and still has a bagful in case I decide to grow my hair our again. I went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park once – when it was free to enter – and swore never, ever, ever again. Having said that, the one on the South Bank is nice but there are way too many people at it, and if there’s one thing I cannot be having with in London it’s people who dither about the place. Chancery Lane tube station has been plagued this week by people in rush hour who go through the gates and then just…stop. Even my sunny disposition has been somewhat taxed by these muppets. Add to this people who can’t read the ‘stand on the right’ signs, people who choose to stop in the middle of pavements for conversations, people who walk slowly in busy places (I would have voted for a slow lane on Oxford Street) and anyone who hangs around by the entrances to tube platforms.

Even less fun this week was trying to despatch a parcel to World of Books – Royal Mail was not an option, only InPost or Collect Plus, so I chose InPost as they had two lockers in Epping and Collect Plus are in weird little shops. One locker was full, the other was broken – so I had to go to Ongar. It cost me more in bus fare to post the stupid parcel than I was earning from the books. This is the downside of living in a village in between two small towns, of course. Well, that and the buses which are a nightmare at the moment thanks to roadworks in at least four separate places on the route.

Things making me happy this week

Coffee and a catch-up with Rhiannon and cuddles with baby Otis on Friday, and the best (only) mince pie I have had this year made by Raf.
A Christmas drink with my lovely colleagues on Thursday at St John
Cat socks
Starting a non-Christmas themed crochet project
The library getting all the books I’d requested in at once – binging Vaseem Khan’s ‘Inspector Chopra’ series. Highly recommended.
Richard Franks’ take on teaching A Christmas Carol
The expression on my idiot cat’s face when caught with his new catnip banana

Today I am having coffee with Miriam and Edith after a chilly swim with Jill – and then I am going to do as little as possible for several days!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Midnight at Malabar House/The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra – Vaseem Khan

Hogfather – Terry Pratchett (Audible) – and the collected BBC dramatisations of various Discworld novels

Two for the Dough – Janet Evanovich

Making Thinking Visible – Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, Karin Morrison