Week off

So, it's Wednesday of the week off, and what have I done so far apart from go to the fantastic Jean Michel Jarre concert?
Answer, not an awful lot.
Yesterday I went to be tortured and pampered, then went into Lancaster on the way back for some essential bits , and ..as usual - a visit to the bookshop.
While buying cord to finish off the backpack I am making for Blue, I found some really nice patchwork cotton fabric, it was actually already patchworked on the reduced shelf, so I bought enough for a skirt. Had to buy coconut milk from Mung Mee the Thai food "supermarket"...they sell it at considerably less than Asda. And yes, I bought books, including a dictionary, German, for Sam, she's teaching herself German, and an OS map for Blue.
Today I had to wait in for a parcel to be delivered, so had a relaxing day, and made Kedgeree for dinner. This is something I have long thought I'd make, but never actually got around to making it, thinking it would take ages to make. It doesn't, and it is quite a filling "light meal". I can see why it used to be served for breakfast in posh houses, in times gone by. One recipe I looked at also said it was great for the morning after a heavy night out.
The parcel was a book on keeping sketchbooks, which I think will come in for both Edwin and myself, as I have decided I should keep a record of hand made projects I tackle, especially if I intend to give the results away.

Jean Michel Jarre - Indoors Tour

On Saturday, as I have posted elsewhere I went to the MEN arena and saw JMJ in concert.

To say the show was amazing doesn't do it justice. I just don't know what to say. I think back to it and am still lost for words. I have seen televised outdoor concerts of his on TV, but they in no way prepared me for the fantastic experience of actually being there. Bringing his concerts "indoors" is a first, but one that I think worked very well, and judging by the reaction of the rest of the crowd, I don't think I was alone in thinking that.
As I say, am still blown away by the whole experience, in a very good way. :)

Gig :)

Tired, had a wonderful evening, will put more tomorrow. The gig was truly amazing.

things

A week from now I will be on my way back from my first ever gig...that I have paid for..I don't think free ones count...do they?
5 years back I had tickets to see Midge Ure in concert...small one...and I gave up the chance to meet a bloke instead. The bloke cheated on me....but Midge Ure came back to my home town several times since...alas...not this year
However.....next Saturday night I am going to my first ever gig......!!!!!!!
JMJ at the MEN arena in Manchester. I can ..."hand on heart" say I have been a fan since oxygene part 4 way back in 1977. :)
I have most of JMJs albums...haven't got Metamorphoses...but I will get a copy.
I have the original Oxygene LP...on vinyl.....a present from my bf at the time.
Wouldn't it be cool if I could get that signed?
Anyway...I will definitely post after the gig...am looking forward to it..I just wish I could be there with Darkstormrising as I know he likes JMJs music.

Expenses "scandal"

Here in the UK we are due a Euro MP election, and local council election, and if truth be told, we are about due a general election as well. After all, Gordon Brown was picked to succeed Tony Blair, there was no election, not even amongst the member of the labour party, as is usual when a leader steps down, but usually when a leader steps down they are in opposition, not in power.
A general election has to my knowledge been called at as short a time as 3 years, usually four, the maximum time between elections is meant to be five years I believe, and our current government is getting very close to the 5 year mark I believe. Ok, the usual trick is call an election when you know your party is strong, but if you wait too long, you don't have that luxury, perhaps the time spans should be set? I know this would be an unpopular move, but other countries do it.

Anyway, back to the title! The headline news here for the last few days has been the MP expenses. They are having to declare all the expenses they have claimed, these are then being scrutinised and if the expense is deemed unnecessary, or exorbitant they are being taken to task about it. For example for the last few days in the news there have been reports of MP for X having claimed £XYZ as expenses, one of the cheapest items claimed was £2.50 for a 4 finger KitKat from a hotel minibar! Excuse me, but the wages these people are on, surely they can buy their own snacks. Anyway, David Cameron, the leader of the opposition has told his members that undue expenses WILL NOT be tolerated. Following on from this there has been a mad scramble to pay back wrongly claimed expenses, from MPs of ALL parties, one MP continuing to claim against his second home....after the mortgage was paid off!
Now what I am going to say now might sound controversial...BUT......in any other walk of life, claiming payment for something that you shouldn't surely constitutes the breaking of a law. After all, if the MPs were claiming for these things, wrongly, and working for a run of the mill company, they would be charged with fraud. And if there is a general election, these people should not be seeking election, as they have proved that they can't be trusted.

I know this post is controversial, but....it is headline news here at the moment.

"wow"

That was Blue's comment when she saw the photo of the first scarf from Knitting New Scarves.

I picked the one I think is the simplest, Tilted Blocks, to get to grips with the USA terminology. The scarf is by no means finished yet, but it won't take long, and at long last I have found something that the yarn I'm using actually works with. [Yarn is a J C Brett yarn that is discontinued, called Funky Chunky.] I have a feeling it was designed to be used to knit accessories rather than garments, because despite it being described as "Chunky" it would not knit up to any of the chunky patterns I tried.

Ah, well....someone will be getting a very nice scarf, dunno who as yet, but I have enough wool to make at least two of the little darlings.

The vagaries of power companies.

As I was listening to the news earlier on, I noted that one of the power companies is cutting the price of their electric to the general public. It made me wonder why....gas and electric prices go up in the colder months, and the companies are able to make price cuts during the warmer months? I know it is a case of supply and demand, but surely people would stay loyal to their chosen company for longer if the price was cut over the colder months of the year when the householder uses more? Mind you...what a very silly thought, they wouldn't then be able to make the huge profits they are always reporting. After all, they never report they have made a loss....and when their raw material prices go down, the price of electric or gas doesn't immediately drop....no...they wait a good while to pass the saving on to the householder.
That's it...gripe over for now.
Just wouldn't life be simpler if it worked the obvious way, rather than the way to make maximum profit, for the least number of people?

Things about me [2]

Something else, besides having nothing to read, bugs me to bits. I hate it when my hands have nothing to do. At some points in the past I have fiddled like mad with my puzzle ring, to such an extent that I can almost put my puzzle ring back together without even looking. Came in very handy a few years back when I was in a jewellers, and a man came in...with a gold version of my ring...undone...I put it together in less than a minute..after the assistant told him there was nothing she could do.
But....I digress! I hate not having something to keep my hands and brain active. That is probably why I enjoy needlecraft. If you dropped me on a desert island with the requisite cookery book, some books to read and some needlecraft...I probably wouldn't even notice I was alone. Chuck in something to write on as well...and you might be able to leave me there.
Should I be letting you know all this? You know just how to torture me now....***chuckle***

Not my fault!

Ok, I just pulled some knitting back that just didn't seem to be going right.
So...instead I decided to start a scarf from a book I found on Chronic Knitting Syndrome's blog.
I don't know which to tackle first, except I can see me tackling a few of them. I have never really knitted on dp's, but have used circular needles, so knitting these scarves will be a learning curve for me, I hope not too steep.
I have started one of the scarves, a very simple one, with staggered blocks, in the blessed wool that has been driving me around the bend. I think I will probably just end up knitting squares for the leaf blanket I keep knitting a bit for every now and again.
However, I will tackle scarves from the book, and share pictures of them here.

Curious?

I live in a coastal town in the North West of England, and something has puzzled me for quite while. Being a "seaside" town, there are quite a few hotels and boarding houses. This isn't something that has struck me over night, but something that I have wondered about for ages. The are the usual names, such as Sea Crest, Sunset, and a whole gamut of late Victorian names, such as Marlborough, Wellington. Those I'm OK with, but it is some of the others I really wonder about. There are some called names such as Luxor, Newlyn, St Ives and other far flung holiday destinations. Yes....there are one's called Lakes View, or Fell View, but they can actually be seen.
It does make me wonder if somewhere in Luxor there is a bed and breakfast establishment called the Morecambe.......what do you think?

Just curious, that's all.

Things about me [1]

Thought I'd occasionally put things here, just about me. So, here goes.

I love to read, and can't remember not being able to read. At primary school I do remember flying through the school "reading scheme". So much so that I finished it by the time I had finished year 4, I would have been no older than 8, as my birthday is late on in the school year. From then on I was allowed to read whatever I wanted from the school library, tiny, and helped by listening to the remedial readers. I also read all the books in the village library for children, back then the children's books were very limited in range.
By the time I started secondary school, aged 11, I had moved on to adult books, and started reading my way through a lot of Jean Plaidy's books, most of John Wyndham's, and I know that I read practically every book on the CSE literature reading list.
When I started college I still read on the way to college on the bus, and the way home. Same thing starting work. For two years I worked in Lancaster, and used to travel from home in Catterall and back every day, reading to pass the journey.
Whenever I go on holiday I pack my current book, and at least two others to read. When I went in hospital to have my ankle operation, books and something to keep my brain occupied were as important to me as a dressing gown and nighty.
My idea of hell is somewhere with nothing to read. I once was invited to a friend's house, I thought just for tea, but they asked me to spend the night and next day there as well. The only thing I could track down in the house to read was my friend's mobile phone handbook. I got very fidgetty. My friend asked me to play on the PS1 with them, but they were playing a role play game, and I was crap at it, I prefer puzzle type games.
So now, if I go somewhere...I nearly always have a book with me. Perhaps I should leave on in my car in a glass case, with a little hammer beside it...you know...like fire things have...saying...in case of emergency...break glass.
So.....there you have it, am a self-confessed bookacholic! And I NEVER want to be cured, I can think of much worse things to be.

Spring Bank Holiday Monday

Tomorrow is Spring Bank Holiday Monday, perhaps I should say early Spring Bank.
Our bank holidays could do with being a little more spaced out, but they aren't. They are like buses, you wait ages for one, then several come at once. Seeing as I work in a school in the UK, I'm not that bothered at the between times from late Spring Bank and August Bank holiday, just the long stretch between going back to school in September is broken only by the autumn break. For people who work all year, and only get the standard 4 weeks holiday allowance, this is a long slog, without a break, right up until Xmas.
If they were to create another bank holiday I think it should be, perhaps in November, to break things up a little. I mean, here in the UK, we celebrate Guy Fawkes night/bonfire night, and have done for years, why not make that a bank holiday? I know there is a group trying to get St George's Day recognised as bank holiday,but March/April/May already has 4 bank holidays, and if Easter falls late, as it can do the two would collide, as my sister was born on Easter Monday, (a bank holiday here,) so which would we "hold"? Or would the extra day be tacked on. I am not arguing against that idea because I don't recognise St George's Day. After all,, having my sister celebrate her birthday, having been in both Brownies and Guides, and my Dad having been through the scout route, right up to Queen's scout, we acknowledge St George's Day. This year I even put a red rose on my cardigan. I'm arguing against it from the point of common sense, this time of year has a glut of bank holidays already. The early one we have tomorrow was first given in 1977 to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and has been one ever since. So....if the men in suits ever see fit to settle on another bank holiday, make it November when everyone could do with a day off just to relieve the monotony of the long stretch between August and Xmas.