More Garden a Bit Of Tidying and Other Things.

So Today I should have been ticking an item off my bucket list and going to The Chelsea Flower Show with my friend Charlotte. As an avid gardener since I was a small child, I'm not really sure why I've never been before but I haven't. I won't lie I'm gutted but at least the tickets will be valid for next year.

I was also annoyed to get a letter from The New Theatre in Oxford to say a show I was due to go to with Soo and Melissa in July has been cancelled. That I understand, what bugged me was they said they are only giving out credit notes not refunds and mine would only be valid until March next year. So now I owe Soo and Melissa money and also have an expensive credit note I'm not even sure I'll be able to use, the way things are going I can't see theatres opening up or shows touring any time soon.

Like Vix, and as mentioned in my last post, I have also been doing battle with a demented lady blackbird who tears up seedlings and freshly planted plants to steal the moist compost to nest build. I tried putting out a whole pot of just damp compost but she quickly took all of that and went back to raiding my seed trays again. Christ only knows how big it's nest is!

This was my bird proofed cold frame after she ran riot through it. I used the mesh shelves from another old cold frame I had had.
I have come to the conclusion mine is a reincarnated aromatherapist, she seems to be obsessed with my lavender seedlings, other plants get ripped up and thrown aside the lavender she actually flies off with.

See the empty hole in the middle of the last row? That had 4 little lavender seedlings in it, I mean how the heck did one blackbird manage to carry off a great lump like that?? There was no sign what so ever left behind, just the empty hole!?!
As you can see I covered it over with mesh but she struck again when I potted them on a couple of weeks later and got under the net and flew off with another 5 plants for heaven's sake!
Talking of birds when I was eating my lunch yesterday I noticed a mini flock of goldfinches going nuts on an Aquilegia

I still have no idea what they were all busy pecking away at. I checked if maybe there were greenfly on it but no and it's not like the seeds have set yet, very odd. The poor plant has not recovered from having half a dozen birds sitting on it and is now lying on the lawn.

Himself had his birthday this month and typically it was a chilly grey day so we took the chance to go for a walk down the old railway line which is usually way too busy. When we got back I just pottered about until it was time to cook dinner.
I decided to finally dust the bedroom properly and so I'm jumping on the show my dressing table blog post, late as ever.

First up are my necklaces. My Mum saw something back in the 80's about using a pinboard for displaying jewellery  and we have both used them ever since.

 Left to right at the back. The bottle with the green bracelets I dug up back when I used to go bottle digging. The engraved one is from Past Times and the glass and silver perfume bottle was my present for being a bridesmaid at my brother's wedding and is also from Past Times.The little silver lidded bottle at the front was my Nan's.

These are all my rings, on two ring stands and in a dish. Two dyed wooden hearts I bought at a craft fair and a very old photo of when we first started dating.

This jug and ewer behind them, I bought in Boots when they used to do home wares. The silk flowers came from an awesome shop called Sylvester that used to be on Little Clarendon Street in Oxford which I loved. The bells in the bottom are an ankle chain I bought when I was a student.

 This is a china candle holder I bought at a craft fair and it holds my silver bracelets. the tin is a tea caddy I bought in a National Trust  shop in the Lake District when I was 11.

The photos are my adored cat Edward who just had my heart, more than any other cat I've had before or since, and my Nan. I found the frame in a drawer when helping her pack up her house to move in with my aunt. She gave it to me and I love the frame so much so it seemed fitting to have a picture of her in it. The mini blue bottles she gave me for my 25th and the frog candle holder I bought in another defunct shop called Angelic that used to only sell candles and candle holders.

 Next up is my pixie in a jar. I bought him when we first moved to Oxfordshire in 1984 and my 'Piglion' that my Dad bought me many years ago. I saw it in a shop when out one Sunday with my Mum and Dad in West Wycombe. Dad called back there before my birthday and bought it without me knowing. I was so surprised and so happy when I unwrapped him.

The next is a little crab pot my Mum bought me because I'm a Cancerian, behind is a tiny clay cat  that I bought in a shop that used to be in Oxford called The Cat's Whiskers. As you may have guessed  it sold just cat themed items.

Next earrings. The wooden holder was a gift from my friend Jenny and another clay cat from The Cat's Whiskers.

 Finally this box frame has buttons from my Nan's button tin. I used to play with it for hours and hours when I was little. On top are a collection of 3 quirky birds.

So there's my dressing table.

It's been a busy and tough month so I have been finding solace where I can like the gorgeous full moon. I just told you I'm a Cancerian, so I am deeply moved by the moon. I may not actually believe all that star sign stuff, but that is a fact I will agree with wholeheartedly.

I am mesmerized by the moon, I sit and gaze at the moon and I just feel better.

The highlight of my week this week was managing to FINALLY get a Tesco online shop slot which involved me ordering much wine to replenish the depleted wine fridge. Sadly trying to get a repeat prescription from my doctor's surgery I was not so lucky. Knowing how shit they are I started the process 2 weeks before I actually need it. Here's hoping next week works out for that!

There may have been a few lockdown purchases but I'll save them for another post...

It's All About the Garden

Hello all, here I am in to week six of working from home and getting very used to it. In fact I think I had started to go feral. I haven't worn a dress since day one and have only worn make-up once until today, but today I was interviewing some students so I frocked up to feel more work-like, and put a face on so I didn't terrify them!

Nothing much to report other than a kidney infection a couple of weeks ago to break the monotony. I've always been prone to them but it's been a while and the timing could have been better.
I did what I usually do when I'm sick, that is to ignore it and hope it will go away until it gets to the point where it either does, or I admit defeat and go to the doctor.
Typically I had niggling symptoms until Friday night when they started to get a bit worse. Himself left for work on Saturday and told me to call the surgery as he was sure they were open, turns out they weren't. So I figured I'd just drink a ton of water and wait until Monday. By Sunday I was feeling very bad and luckily for me my brother and sister in law had called by to drop something off. From the gate my sister in law suggested calling 111 as they can get you a consult and a prescription if needed.
So I gave them a call and even with everything that's going on, and the fact the recorded message warned there would be a long wait, I got though in a few minutes. After the initial consultation I was flagged as bad enough to need a call with a doctor and told one would call in 2-6 hours. Well in 3 hours I had not only had a call from an out of hours doctor, but also an emergency prescription for antibiotics.
3 days into the prescription I woke up feeling so good it made me realise just how crap I'd been feeling the whole of the week before. So is it likely to make me change my ways and go to the doc sooner? Hmm probably not.

I got to see my Dad again this weekend which was lovely. He's been a bit low so it made it even more special to get to talk and cheer him up. My Mum managed to finally have a skype call with him today too so they have seen each other again at last which Mum said was lovely.

Otherwise I have been doing much like everyone else and gardening! I never really did a lot here as of course we didn't think we were staying long and also it's a hell of a mess but you can only suppress the natural urge for so long!

This gorgeous weather has certainly helped as did managing to get a coveted soil delivery. 

First job was potting up this hanging basket I had bought back in February. It's made from recycled plastic and I loved the shape, it reminded me of one of those old fashioned diving helmets.

I decided it would be ideal for the poor baby white strawberry plants I have had waiting to be potted up for an age. If you have never seen a white strawberry they look exactly like they sound, white instead of red but they have the most delicious flavour.

My Azaleas have been stunning this year.

I group one lot with some foo dogs I bought years ago in Past Times (oh how I LOVED that shop!) 

and the rest with some bronze cranes I've owned for 30 years. I fell in love with them and bought them with my second ever wage packet from the library. They were stupid expensive at the time and my Dad had a fit, but I love them just as much now as I did then so I figure every penny was well spent.

There was one vague flowerbed in this garden that I have just tidied previously, but this year I decided to extend it and dig a load of manure into the rather crappy soil ready to plant it up with some colour. 

I also sowed all the random seed packets I had knocking around left over from when we moved 3 years ago.

They were hugely out of date but I figured so what? Especially as they were unopened and so far they have mostly started to grow. Though I have been doing battle with a crazy nesting blackbird who has been stealing moist compost from various pots and trays. I swear it's building some kind of mud Taj Mahal the amount of soil (and seedlings goddammit) it's pinching. I do hope the neighbours weren't in the garden to hear my language today when I discovered it's latest vandalism.

There were also a load of vegetable seeds in my old tin as well, so this is my next project

to turn this into a bit of a veggie patch. It's pretty much the only bit of the garden without a tree, so roots shouldn't be an issue, and thankfully as until recently it had a huge pile of ivy cuttings on it it isn't too overgrown.

This is a view of our garden from over the road, to give you an idea of just how overgrown it is and quite how much ivy I have to deal with, yup that's pretty much all ivy! We need to tackle the stuff at the front of the picture that's on the garage once the nesting birds have fledged, in three years it has pretty much covered the roof and is close to encroaching on the passageway so it's needs a haircut.
The huge conifer is also in our plot, frankly if I owned this place it would be the first thing to go.

This is a shed, yeah really. The landlord hacked the ivy back enough to peek in when we moved here, then declared it unsafe and left it as was. Last autumn my Mum cleared her shed and gave me her old telescopic loppers so I randomly attacked the ivy on the top to try them out. You can clearly see how far back I could reach with them!

I always have to have rosemary growing where ever I am and was delighted to see some here. I never knew it could grow so tall, it is about 8ft high and taller than the old dead tree it's leaning against!

I hacked a load of stuff back last year and found a honeysuckle that has now gone crazy too, it smells amazing though.

This laburnum self seeded itself when we moved in, three years later it adds it's gorgeous yellow to the spring mix and another handy nesting spot as it is also smothered in ivy.
I'll maybe share some more pictures when I've done some more and providing the cold snap we are due doesn't kill everything off. Fingers crossed.

Spring in Isolation.

So 4 weeks in and we have hit a rhythm. Himself working at the kitchen table and me ensconced in the living room. Work is still very busy and I'm actually grateful right now as the days zip by, in fact I was finding I am actually doing more work, instead of having to finish up to catch my train home, when you are at home already you just carry on. So I've been being a bit more mindful of my hours. My team at work been having virtual coffee breaks a couple of times a week to just hook up and talk none work stuff, we even had a virtual cocktail hour which was fun.

Himself and I try to take a walk at least every other day, mostly pounding the pavements around town, we have a couple of routes that are either 20, 30 or 60 minutes long.
I've noticed lots of houses have teddy bears in the windows (is that a thing everywhere?) and one house has them doing different activities every day which is pretty funny, I find myself looking to see  what they are up to as we go past which I guess is the point.
The most exciting thing was discovering there is a pot bellied pig living just down the road from us! For three years I've walked to and from the station and passed him (or her) every day and not even realised

Mid week we head out to Sainsbury's, about 3.30pm seems to be a good time. We split the list in two and go in separately reconvening down the street to walk home.
I know this isn't ideal but it's either that or one person making several trips as not having a car means we have to carry everything and there is only so much you can carry in one go!
I have to say I find the whole process incredibly stressful. Even though they only let so many in at a time, once inside there are many people who just wander about, coming right up to you and even reaching over you for items instead of waiting for you to move on. I find myself holding my breath, though what I think that will achieve I have no idea! It's still pretty impossible to get online delivery slots, hence us walking down and there are there are still items you can't get.

Before the lockdown I ordered 72 perennial plant plugs for the bargainous price of £4.99  and a new mini green house.

They arrived mid lockdown right when it was impossible to get any compost anywhere, luckily I had just enough left to pot them on but that was it.Everything else would just have to wait.
I also bought a couple of trays of pansies in Wilkinsons just before lockdown too. On my couple of days off work I tidied the front garden and planted them out to add a bit of colour until everything else flowers.

This week on of our local garden centres has opened again for home delivery so I have ordered some more compost. I'm going to grow some tomatoes as it looks like I'll be at home to water them. I still haven't cancelled our long weekend in Cornwall at the end of June even though in my heart of hearts I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen.

I did a load more pottering about in the garden over the fabulous Easter weekend. Just generally tidying & weeding pots, digging up weeds and washing seed trays, empty pots and the garden furniture.
The garden is a losing battle really but there is beauty even in all the ivy covered overgrown everything.

I love how this clematis has used the knackered bird table to scramble over
We wrestled the sun lounger frames from the spiders in the shed and sat out reading. I must say another plus of the last few weeks is I have actually made a dent in my book mountain in probably the first time ever.

I decorated my Easter branch, this year using the apple trees in the garden as my source which turned out to be doubly good because they were coming into blossom so I had gorgeous fragrant blossoms too.

By far the best bit of Easter was finally getting to see my Dad for the first time in 4 weeks. We hadn't been able to get through to the care home as one of the phones was broken and when we finally could they said we could bring down treats for Dad and drop them off so my brother and I arranged to coincide at the door (keeping our distance from each other of course!)
When we got there one of the staff had the great idea of wheeling Dad onto the balcony so we could stand in the car park below and call up to him. It was only meant to be for 15 minutes but we ended up being there for 45 as most of the staff came out one by one to chat too. I guess it was nice for them to have new faces to talk too.

I'll finish with my latest bag purchases, I have one more due to arrive at some point. I had a little flurry of online buying. Easter Monday I spent the day cleaning and mending my quarantined bags and trying to find somewhere for them in my collection. I really am going to have to stop slow down my bag buying I have finally run out of space!

I read something by Caitlin Moran saying you will become obsessed with the birds in your garden. I was pretty obsessed already but it has been wonderful to see who visits throughout the day and another plus point of a madly overgrown garden is it is full of nesting pairs.

The New Usual.

I had planned a blog post this week, (well to be honest I had planned one earlier but we all know how that seems to go with me these days!) it was going to be full of two exhibitions I had booked but instead I have been sensibly holed up at home.

I went into London for work on the 11th March, shortly before things really started to lock down. It felt quite strange and I did arm myself with a travel size anti-bac hand gel which I used after travelling on the underground. For the first time ever on one of these trips, rather than being wedged into a stranger's armpit I actually got a seat! Quite a strong indication that things were a-changing. I was chatting with some of the staff at the hotel we use for meetings there, and they were saying how many cancellations they had had. At that point I fully expected to be able to keep my meetings booked in April.
The next week I had the Monday to Wednesday booked off as holiday, I couldn't wait, I have been feeling very jaded and tired, work has been hard lately for various reasons. The plan was to sleep lots, read lots, empty the little conservatory and clean it and go to an exhibition.

As you may recall this rental house was found at the 11th hour and was only meant to be a short term stop gap as the owner was going to build. Well his planning application got turned down and he decided not to appeal it, so three years later we are still here!
We never really bothered to unpack as we thought we weren't staying, so the little conservatory was piled full of boxes. I have now been through them all, taken a load of stuff to various charity shops, been delighted to rediscover some bits and pieces that are now out on display (my beloved golden elephant is back in pride of place, Himself hates him but I love him so I win!)

 I carefully re-packed what was left.

I even found a brand new set of solar powered fairy lights I didn't know we had so I put them up! 

The reason for this clearout was we are due to have some major work done on the house. It was meant to be next week, I'm not sure when it will take place now but no harm in being ready anyway.

This is our kitchen wall. Basically the 1950's concrete guttering has failed and when it rains the water from the roof pours down the inside of the wall. The kitchen is tiny and we have had to shift stuff around and stop using one set of sockets because the wall is so wet so it's a bit of a struggle. Having said that I'm not hugely looking forward to the work being done, we have been warned it's going to be very messy! Apparently they have to put up scaffolding, take the bottom two rows of tiles off the roof and then angle grind the guttering off the wall, which I'm guessing is where the mess comes in. I just hope they offer to clean the windows afterwards, or maybe I'll have to brave the scaffolding and do them myself (Eeek)

Anyway I was meant to be going to see the latest exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery on Wednesday last week, 'Cecil Beaton's Bright Young Things' but like everything else right now it's closed, thankfully they have offered the option to use my tickets on another day so at some point I will go.

I treated myself to the book so I can at least look at that until I get to see the pictures in person.

Instead I cancelled the day's leave and went into the office to get my laptop and work phone set up to work from home which I have been doing ever since. Strange Times.

The whole stockpiling madness that has taken place has been a pain in the arse. We don't have a car and walk to our local supermarket once a week to shop for the week ahead.
We have been absolutely stuffed these last few weeks as the shelves have been pretty much bare. I ended up having to go several days in a row just to try and get something.

We tried an online shop, and could only get a slot at 10 - 11pm on a Sunday evening. We included a packet of chocolate biscuits and some wine to bulk up the total, and when it arrived we got a packet of chocolate biscuits, two bottles of wine and a bag of potatoes, everything else was out of stock!?! So that was a complete and utter waste of time and money.

We did belt down there at 8am on Tuesday morning this week and it finally seemed like there was more stuff. We managed to get fruit and veg and even a pack of toilet roll. Absolute madness.

These last two weeks have just been a list of cancellations. I was due to go to the V&A today for this

I will try and go when the museum re-opens. The other exhibition I was planning to see on Handbags has been postponed to September.

My friend Charlotte and I had tickets for Chelsea Flower Show in May which we can hold over to next year and even our hotel booking for September has cancelled. I actually was ready to cry when that happened. It was just too much on top of everything else. My Dad's care home is in lock down which whilst only right and proper was handled very badly, my Mum was very upset. Thankfully she is keeping herself busy at home and Bobby the cat has been a godsend. Himself's Dad is at risk and is also meant to be self isolating, it's a worry being so far away. I found myself getting so stressed watching the news every day I have been deliberately only watching every other day.

I did go to the Theatre last month before all this started, a sort of late valentine's outing . We went to see Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie in London.

I know the film version well, but the play is much darker. I loved that they actually had this production in a real court room it was so atmospheric. The members of the audience who's seats were where the jury would be, actually had to act as the jury for the production. Sadly not being wealthy our seats were in the press gallery, but at least it was a good view.

I shall finish with the main reason I haven't been blogging so much over the last 8 months. I usually type up a post in an evening but for the last several months all my spare time have been taken up stitching like mad. You may recall I sorted out my sewing/stitching/embroidering stash a while back. In doing so I found several embroidery kits that I had bought back in the day when my Mum worked in a wool shop and I could use her staff discount. So basically I've had them sitting round for more than 25 years!

This one was certainly a 'project'. I did actually open it when I bought it, but took one look at all the colours and the complex instructions and put it straight back away again.This time I was determined, I mean how hard could it be?
Well it nearly broke me, by the end I was actually hating it with a passionate loathing, but by then I had done so much I was determined to grit my teeth and just get the damn thing finished!

I am planning on having it framed. It's huge though so I might need to save up for that, it will need to be a custom frame. I do actually like it again now I'm out the other side.

2020 so far...

As ever time seems to be galloping away from me and I have been meaning to do a blog post for about 6 weeks now, in fact I’m only doing it now because I have work to do and I’m procrastinating!

Christmas was lovely though I didn’t do any of the things I thought I would with my time off because come the 27th December I was struck with the lurgy that everyone seemed to have, and so spent most of the time feeling sorry for myself whilst drinking tea and either reading or sewing.

We took my Dad out to a local Indian restaurant on Christmas Eve for a family meal, there were 12 of us in all and I managed to impress with what I ate, clearly travelling to India for work is paying off and I actually can bear to eat something vaguely spicy these days! It was certainly too hot for others in our party.

Christmas day we had a blissful lazy morning Himself struck gold buying me a Snoopy mirror for my collection and the 1st five seasons of Quantum Leap on DVD. I used to absolutely love it when it was on tv and have been eyeing up the DVDs for years but they never seemed to go down in price. 

We met Mum at Dad’s care home in the afternoon but didn’t stay long as Dad was worn out from the previous night out, he was still getting over a chest infection so I think it was all a bit much.

We went back to Mum’s for a couple of days and got to meet the gorgeous Bobby. 

He is such a beautiful boy and so cuddly. Even though he had only had his leg amputated 5 days before he was charging around the house in his cone of shame and jumping up on your lap for cuddles. He doesn’t like closed doors so barged our bedroom door open each morning and jumped on me in bed for snuggles before breakfast.

 He is also an extremely vocal cat and Mum says he does like to sing the song of his people at all hours of the day and night which drives her nuts when she’s trying to sleep!

It’s not meowing or yowling but actual sort of chattering talking, think Charlie The Cat from those old infomercials of the late 70’s  early 80’s! (Youtube Charlie Says https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDu7yYHxZr0  )

January the 2nd I was back at work and we headed into silly season with over 200 more applications from potential students than we were expecting. 

So Himself and I decided to have a day out in London, Hampstead to be precise. Now the reason for this trip was down to an old music hall song! We were channel hoping and caught the end of an episode of The Good Old Days which was a TV show in the 1970’s where celebrity acts of the day, among other things, sang old Victorian music hall songs to an audience dressed in garish 1970’s versions of Victorian outfits.

 It always ended with everyone belting out a music hall classic called ‘Down At The Old Bull And Bush’. 

This lead Himself to google the song where he found a crazy version by The Muppets as well as the original by music hall artiste Florrie Forde. Whilst listening to both, we debated what the song was about which lead me to google it and find to my utter delight it was a REAL pub!! Not only that it was still open, no question we had to go! 

It turns out the pub is on the edge of Hampstead Heath and back in the day those from the East End of London used to go out for ‘a day in the countryside’ to Hampstead Heath and once they had filled their lungs with fresh air would retire to The Old Bull and Bush for a proper cockney knees up which is how the song evolved. 

Himself and I decided to do the same and on a damp, windy and very grey day tramped a huge circuit round Hampstead Heath with what felt like most of the population of London before retiring to the pub. 

It was gorgeous, oh how I wish it could be my local! It had a lovely atmosphere with a roaring log fire and a very decent bar. The food looked great too, though we didn’t eat. The only downside was it was very busy, we eventually got two seats at the bar where we drank beer and met Jeff the dog. 

I loved that the pub had kept it’s over the top etched glass bar even though it didn’t really fit with the more modern decor the pub now sports. 

It also had a huge range of ports which made me chuckle as a line from the song goes “come, come, come drink port wine with me.”

I also caught up with Soo and Jenny in January to exchange a mixture of birthday and Christmas presents, gossip and eat cake. Soo trawled various charity shops first where I bought this fabulous Chinese style jacket for £7, a little blue cardigan with white swallows on it, a pair of brown jeans and a straw bag. 

Jenny bought me this awesome book light which looks like a book when closed and them lights up when you open it.

The first weekend in February I did Lou Lou’s Vintage January Sale fair at Oxford Town hall with my friend Alex. I had bought us early bird tickets but there turned out to be much confusion when  we arrived as the website had the wrong time on it and the fair wasn’t even set up let alone open. The poor lady on the desk at the town hall was very harassed and as she couldn’t leave her desk so I offered to nip upstairs and find out what was going on. It turned out there was no early start and the early bird ticket just meant you could go in first from 12 noon, the girl upstairs at the cash desk for Lou Lou’s was very annoyed at the mix-up but did they bother to stick something on their Facebook page or Twitter to correct the error? er No! 

I came back down and explained to the lady there and Alex and I headed to the covered market for a delicious hot chocolate drunk sitting outside in the freezing cold, hence my rather strained smiling but freezing face!

I usually hate the stuff you buy in cafes as it’s way too sickly sweet for me but this place had an option for 90% dark chocolate one that was fab, (would you say that’s a lion on the top or a baboon?)  

By the time we got back to the town hall they had ended up having to call in their security guards to turn back all the pissed off punters expecting an early entry and try and get them to queue in an orderly fashion outside until it got to 12.

Anyway we finally got in and Alex found this gorgeous green coat literally on the first rail she looked at for the princely sum of £10.

 It got very very busy very quickly which I guess was great for the sellers but not so great for browsing especially as you inevitably get those people who barge in. I did manage to buy 3 bags, 2 dresses and a brooch before we decamped to get tea and cake. 

From the town hall we went down to Christchurch College and walked a circuit of Christchurch meadows. I fancied a cup of tea so asked if we should go and get a drink somewhere which somehow ended up with us ensconced by the open fire at The Lighthouse pub drinking large glasses of wine. I am going to miss Alex so much when she moves away from Oxford as is her plan for this year.

I have been to the cinema a few times, last post I mentioned going to see the new Star Wars film which I ended up doing 3 times before it closed. I loved it and it definitely benefited from  second viewing there was so much in it. We also went to see David Copperfield and enjoyed that too.

I haven’t really done the sales, I’m being more thoughtful about my spending habits and especially on clothes. I bought a lovely polka dot dress from Collectif for work and also nipped into Debenhams to get a birthday present and ended up buying a dress and a dark purple biker style pvc jacket in the tail end of their sale. I had to throw out my black (non leather) biker jacket last year as I had literally worn it until it fell to bits, I hope to get similar wear out of my new one.

Otherwise February has been about keeping out of the mad weather as much as possible. We did venture into Oxford last Saturday as one of the students I had helped Grace had invited me to a piano recital at Christchurch Cathedral where she was playing a piece by Liszt. By good chance the rain had stopped enough for us to get to the train station without being completely drenched and the trains were actually running. We had Dinner at Gino’s where I rather overdosed on cheese by having a cheese based starter and main! before battling through the elements to Christchurch college. It was a wonderful and intimate recital, mostly due to the weather putting people off I should imagine, in a beautiful setting. It also turned out another of our students was playing too so I stayed to chat to them both at the end. This meant by the time we left the storm was properly raging again outside and we got absolutely drowned going home. I guess at least when you are heading home the plus point is you can cast off your wet clothes and jump in a hot shower, we were both in bed with a book and a glass of wine within half an hour of stepping in the door!

I am so done with this endless rain and my heart breaks for all the poor people who have been flooded, having one soaked wall and a leaking window pales in comparison.  

I shall end with my frock and bag purchases. 

These two are from the Lou Lou's fair, a navy with white and yellow polka dots and a rather loud apple print!

The bags are lined up in bag quarantine right now. Any I buy go there first to be inspected, cleaned and mended if necessary. The orange one and two smaller black ones were from Lou Lou's fair, the straw one charity shopped with Soo and the other 3 are Ebay purchases.

The dinosaur was bought with some Christmas money, I just could not resist it! The toucan straw bag was from the New Look sale.

Until Anon, hopefully I won't leave it so long next time...