April Also Came and Went

I started the month having lunch and a lovely catch up with an old colleague Alison from my Bodleian days. She no longer works there either, and apart from Facebook (where we often find we have been to the same exhibitions, just on different days!) We seem to have taken to bumping into each other at the theatre in Oxford. 

Due to restructuring at her current work place she is planning to take early retirement (dear god how I WISH I could, but the way things are going I think I will never retire.) So it was good to hear her plans. We hope to grab lunch again before she actually does finish and also have a firm date in the diary for September and the Uncanny live tour. 

I also began the month officially starting my new role at work. I have been doing it unofficially for about 6 months now and the whole restructure of the team has taken over 2 years. It has been fucked up majorly along the way but we are finally there. The joy was a little tarnished by the fact they treated people differently having told us it would be the same process for all. Meaning I just got my new role with no interview, whereas one of my colleagues actually had to apply and be interviewed for the role she was also already doing. 

That did leave a bit of a sour taste. 

I’m now back to purely admissions with no more recruitment work, so no more presenting and little to no travel which I am very relieved about.

 

That first weekend as the weather was so lovely I decided to re-pot my houseplants...

5 hours and 2 full bags of compost later and I still hadn’t done them all. I finally accept I may have a serious houseplant addiction! Lord only knows what I would do if I had to move to somewhere smaller….   

Sunday we got another walk in I was still trying to build up my millage. The blossom was stunning and the sir felt like it was full of butterflies which was glorious to see after last year was so hard on our butterfly population.

 

The following Saturday I met Charlotte in Oxford. Again, the weather was glorious, so we took a stroll around the Botanical Garden, pausing for a drink on the terrace where you can always guarantee the tourist will keep you entertained trying to work out how to punt. 

From there we went to Georgina’s, the tiny Greek restaurant in the indoor market for lunch. As ever the food was delicious. I was amused by a family of three opposite me, where the mother and daughter spent more time posing for, and deleting, pictures of themselves, than actually eating the food.   

 

For the Easter weekend our plans changed slightly as my brother and sister-in-law had to rush down to see her parents as her Mum was not well. The plan had been to all gather at their house and enjoy the garden. Instead Himself and I went to Mum’s for a lovely chilled few days.

Nephew Number One invited us over for tea on Easter Sunday so Mum could finally meet Milly the cat in real life. He had been sending her numerous pictures up to that point. Milly did let us have a brief cuddle before disappearing, she’s still a bit nervous of too many people.

 

Easter Monday we took ourselves out for a walk having found some new footpaths. We ended up in a nearby village West Hagbourne which seemed to have some sort of bizarre Easter dragon festival on. 

It was all very The Wicker Man but we enjoyed walking round and were able to leave unscathed!  

On the Wednesday I took a day off work and went over to meet Soo for a slightly belated bluebell walk.

This time we went to Vincent’s Wood looping back to Eynsham for a well earned lunch at the Evenlode. It had poured with rain overnight but the day stayed dry, though my feet were soon soaked from the wet grass. 

It was very cute to walk through a field of sheep and be right up close and personal with the lambs, though not so much with all the poop! 

On the Friday was the Rocky Horror Show. As long time readers will know we go every time it tours. We had an early dinner at home then headed into Oxford for a few drinks before the show.

I bought the tickets so long ago I had forgotten that we were in the third row from the front!

It turned out some of the ladies from my pilates class were sitting in the seats behind us, they said they had wondered if they would see me there but hadn’t expected me to literally be right in front of them. The show was amazing and the cast on top form, with Adam Strong playing a magnificent Frank’n’Furter. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Himself was up early the next day and off to Broadstairs for the weekend so I spent it happily pottering around outside in the garden. I even took myself out for a walk on the Sunday just to keep my pace up.

 

I finished the month with a trip to the dentist, thankfully just for a check-up.

I shall wrap up this post with a few purchases. 

The dress I fell in love with in TK Maxx, I rarely if ever find clothing I like in there, I go in for the homeware department, but this just caught my eye. I couldn't understand why such a lovely dress was on the sale rail and snapped it up. Then I got it home and put it on and realised why! The bodice was really weirdly cut, but rather than return it, I decided I could do something with it and unpicked it at the waist. I've repinned it and now I just need to try it on once more to make sure it absolutely right before I sew it on properly.

The vintage 50's wicker bag I bought on Ebay at the end of last year. Usually they are crazy expensive but this one was really badly faded. Typically I forgot to take before pictutes, but here is the one from the listing. The back was pretty much completely colouless. 

I did a lot of research to find something that would work to re-coat/re-colour the wicker. Once I found the right stuff I bought a can and then left it sitting in the kitchen until now. To be fair I did need the weather to be good, so I could spray it outside, but I finally got round to having a go and I am absolutely delighted with the results!

Talking of bags I also bought this one when I was getting a birthday present for my sister in law. I couldn't resist the shell shape.

I also got some nautical themed brooches from the April Erstwilder release

Finally I couldn't resist this little jug and sugar bowl.

And that was my gallop through April.  

May has been great fun with lots on, and a glorious holiday to Cornwall. There may well be multiple posts and many pictures!