Naked Cyclists in the 'Diff

This is my daughter's story but she rarely has time to breathe these days let alone sit at a computer.

She went to Cardiff (The Diff, as it seems to be called here in The Port) on Saturday with Miss Boo, to buy Bridesmaid shoes. Boo is to be a bridesmaid for her Uncle Mark and it is such an exciting thing for her... but I digress.
They had toiled around the shoe shops and decided to stop for refreshment. They found somewhere with outside seating and settled down to watch the people as they drank their drinks and ate their cakes.

There was a strange noise from somewhere along the street so Boo Stood up on her chair to see what it was. I don't know the collective noun for cyclists but I am assured there were a lot.
Boo shrieked "Mummy! they've got no clothes!"
and they hadn't.

A huge bunch of naked cyclists pedalling like mad whisked through the centre of Cardiff and off to who knows where. Such excitement.

As everyone settled back down in their seats the man behind my daughter muttered to his table companion "I am so glad I didn't have the hotdog!"

My daughter said it was a very close thing but she didn't spit her drink across the table or snort it down her nose. Such admirable control. I am proud

The Man in the Yellow Shirt

Yesterday we went out with Admiral Lord Bluefunnel and his Lady wife. You can read about that expedition here

The Bish entering the Cathedral for his Installation

While we were sitting enjoying the sun outside Wells Cathedral - we maintained our record of going to unusual places and finding them shut as we couldn't go into the Cathedral because they were installing the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
Now, I'll digress here for a second because that phrase always conjures up an image of a couple of men in High Viz jackets with the Bishop on a sack truck, just like the men who installed my new stove.... It's the way I think, OK?

Where was I? oh yes, sitting in the sun outside the Cathedral hoping quietly to myself that my cuz, who was doing the driving, would want to go straight home because my knees were hurting from my fall and my left shoulder had begun to ache and I didn't remember hurting that, when Mr M said "The man in the yellow shirt". I looked, I grinned, I pointed my camera, zoomed and clicked happily over the next five minutes or so.

I just love that he could be there on the Cathedral Green where just a few minutes previously we had seen the beginnings of a ceremony and no one - and I mean no one bothered this man at all.

He was almost continuously talking to someone that we couldn't see. By the way he shook hands with the invisible person it was obviously someone important, I suspect it was Royalty by the way he did some things.

In spite of the importance of the occasion he was allowed to continue. To me this says that he must be well known to the cathedral staff and probably is well known throughout Wells. I just think it is so typically British that he wasn't tidied away, he was able to contribute to the events of the day.

Eventually he picked up his jacket and his umbrella and after symbolically firing one round from his umbrella he symbolically broke it across his knee then bowed to the invisible person and strolled off into the afternoon sunshine, mission accomplished

Scones! who would have thought?

I suddenly had a bit of a craving for a scone. Not something I usually crave, not being one to eat jam. However, I pulled the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book (circa 196? and inherited from my Mum) off the shelf and opened it at the page for oven scones

Aaah, measurements I can relate to! lovely Imperial measurements, not those nasty metric things that don't mean anything and don't conjure up a picture of exactly what 225g looks like. Now tell me it's 8oz and I know just how much to tip onto the scale before I have to be careful and make it balance.

Anyhoooo, just 30 minutes later this is what I had

Currant scones on the left and Cranberry scones on the right. As I made them I realised that I could make them for Mr M as treats because they do not contain sugar - nor sweetener.

I have now tested them with just a scrape of butter and they are delicious. I had quite forgotten how good I am at scones.

OH oh, you will see that my scones are wedge shaped. This is simply because I was taught at Agricultural College and so I don't use a rolling pin I just pat out a circle with the dough and then cut it in wedges so I don't have to wash a cutter either because I use the knife I cut the butter with when making them. They taste better in wedge-shapes too.

Simply a Moment - May

It's 6.45am on Friday 16th.

Suddenly I am wide awake and the noises outside tell me I am late. Oh no! I have to take Miss Boo to school and she will be here any moment.

I scrabble for my glasses and swing my legs out of bed, sitting up at the same time. Mr M continues to snore gently beside me. Now I remember to be quiet and careful as he is on afternoon shift so won't appreciate a morning wake-up call.

Still in a state of controlled panic I turn and peer at the alarm clock to see exactly how late I am......... 6.45am? quarter to seven! Oh for goodness sake! I thought it was 8.45 and I was late. Now I am awake and out of bed and I could have slept another hour at least!

I get dressed and go downstairs and out into the back yard to let the chickens out. They will appreciate an early start to their day of dust baths and insect pecking. I go back in and put the kettle on. Time to read for a while I think.

This meme was invented by Alexa at Trimming the sails why not pop over there and read the other momentous stories. This is the last time you will be able to do this as Alexa has decided to retire the meme and we will have to find something else to write about.

Knitting, a progress report

As you can see I have done a few inches now. I am a slow knitter because I was taught to knit right-handed and I am pretty sure that it should be one of the things I do left-handed, like ironing or dealing cards and sometimes writing if I pick up the pen with my left hand.

I love how the pattern looks as though it is dotted with tiny flowers when it is just the yarn making that all by itself. The people who discovered how to do this are very clever aren't they.

Oh and before you ask, I made the quilt it is a name quilt in that most of the squares have the name of someone in the family stitched on it. As the great grandchildren appear I try to fit their name as near as possible to whichever of my children they descend from. I did put the names of the daughters-in-law on there but had to unpick them when the divorces came along. Perhaps I should have kept them on there but it is my quilt and will go to one of the grandchildren when I am gone so I'll do what I like with it.I finished this one with a binding on the edge but usually I do it the Welsh way with a double row of stitching close to the edge of the border fabric as I can never get a binding to sit nicely - except on this quilt and even that took three goes to get right.

I have just noticed that the stitches on the edge of my knitting look as though they are sloping, that is the way the yarn colour has worked and not my knitting - OK?

Self patterning? It works!

Just a quick progress report about the knitting

I still haven't got to grips with the new camera as it makes every picture so washed out looking and that's to do with aperture and I am still struggling because I cannot see which of the teeny tiny symbols the stupid dial is on. I have to get new spectacles so that I can actually see.

Not a terribly clear picture but this is the second attempt. The first one I unravelled because I didn't like it. This one is simple and I can do this while lying nearly horizontal.

I have to say that all this elevation is working and my leg only swells up if I am standing for several hours. I am also trying to regulate food intake - you notice that this is my way of trying to fool myself into dieting. It won't work and I will soon decide to get real and make a proper effort. I think I am hanging on until after the treatment that the dermatologist has recommended has been completed. that way I will be able to exercise without itching, I hope.

Now back to the knitting! and I will get the magnifying glass out and look at the destructions for the camera.

Knitting - I like to knit

I am spending a lot of time sitting these days. I have to keep my leg elevated because the doctor told me so. This means I have to sit with my feet up... now there's a hardship!

I have discovered that even though I love to read I am no longer keen to read more than one book a day. I tend to fall asleep when reading and I just don't want to sleep all day and then toss and turn all night because I can't sleep.

So I watch TV.................. that's ok as long as PBS has something worth watching but recently they seem to have the series about prohibition on a continuous loop and when you've seen it once it can get a bit boring.

So I pout one of the crime channels on or I watch Sky Arts cos sometimes they have interesting programmes on and I knit. My friend Sian over at FromHighintheSky was talking about knitting blankets with self patterning yarn so I had to go and see what this was all about. I finished up at Love Knitting and decided to buy some self patterning yarn and have a go. I have a lovely baby blanket pattern and it will be interesting to see how it makes up in the yarn. I ordered it yesterday and it has arrived!!!

I am about to return to my chair and elevate my aching leg and give this yarn a go. I will be taking pictures. I just hope Sian has an address so that I can send off my blanket when it is done.