On the move

No photo today, folks. Just a very quick post from St Pancras International as I wait for my Eurostar to Paris on leg 2 of my great summer holiday adventure.

Last night was leg 1 on the Caledonian Sleeper from Stirling to London. To be honest, I'm not quite sure why they call it the Sleeper, there wasn't much sleeping getting done for me. And not for any exciting reasons either - just the slightly sick making motion of the train, the grinding of the wheels on the tracks and the really quite unnerving banging, jolting and clattering as they joined a few trains together at Carstairs Junction.

But it wasn't too bad. I arrived safe and sound this morning, fell out of the train (walked about 6 miles along the platform to the exit - how many coaches???) and stumbled across Euston Road to Friends House for a lovely breakfast of coffee, fruit salad and gluten free carrot cake. Mmm!

And then it was here to St Pancras to drop my bag in left luggage and back along the road to the British Library. 2 hours of entertainment - who would ever have thought a library could be so engaging!

and now I'm sitting waiting for my train to be called and within the hour I'll be leaving the UK and heading for the continent. Adventures here I come (just not too many of them please!)
 

Packed

And packed!

I've now got myself packed for my holidays AND got my big sister's birthday present finished and parceled up to send across. Phew!

Now only one more day at work to get through.

Speak to you all from Spain!

You say tomato...

I say tomato. But whichever way round it is I have finally had to resign myself to the fact that my carefully nurtured crop of cherry tomatoes are going to ripen when I'm away on holiday. Darn!

So as well as finalising my travel arrangements, worrying about whether the BAA strike will leave me stranded at the end of my holiday (oh, please!) and trying to get organised enough to pack, I now also need to work out who to leave my tomato plant with.

I'm also battling to finish my big sister's birthday present before I go so I can post it off in the hope that it hits the right month if not the right day. With Royal Mail and Canada Post on my side, I'm not confident tho! Sorry big sis.

Nothing for it but to make another cup of coffee, sit in the sun and write a list. That will help!

Dreaming of ravelry ...

Well perhaps not quite, but I did pop up to Stirling University campus this afternoon to have a wander round Knit Camp market place and drool over yarn.

And I was by no means the only one either. I hadn't quite appreciated how big a deal Knit Camp was. I was surrounded by hundreds of dedicated (and sometimes frankly scary) knitters, all intent on finding the perfect yarn bargain. And, I'm pleased but nevertheless suprised to say, they weren't all women either.

Perverse as ever I went to Knit camp and came away with crochet patterns. I didn't buy any yarn either! In my wisdom I chose patterns calling for cotton, and there was a definite wool bias in the market place. Apart from the possum fur fibre that is. Hmm.

So for me, it was back on the bus and a stop off at Macaree's on the way home.

And now I have a project for my holiday - and a really bad case of startitis! Watch this space for progress.

The photo? Oh, it's of a world record attempt being undertaken - sheep to sweater in some ridiculously short space of time. Boy, did those fleeces smell!!

And the post title? Anyone recognise it?

On falling down

The bookmark pictured here is by the very talented Gorjuss! I bought it last year when I was supposed to be birthday or Christmas shopping (I forget which!)

Anyway, the writing on the bookmark says 'I haven't fallen down in a while' and for quite some time I'd been congratulating myself that it was true. Until last weekend that is, and then it all went a bit Pete Tong as they say!

I found myself incredibly sad, and for no reason I could work out. There was nothing particularly different. There'd been no disasters. Nobody had been cruel or thoughtless to me. But still I found myself crying my eyes out and as low as I'd been in a long time.

As you've probably gathered, I'm feeling much better now. Again, nothing has got significantly better, in fact I'm probably dealing with tougher stuff this week than last. My hormones aren't significantly better either. So what's made the difference?

To be honest, I don't know. I do know, however, that I have fantastic friends. And when I do fall down, as we all do from time to time, they're always there ready to pick me up again and make me feel good about myself.

I am truly blessed x

Ok, I know I'm childish ...

But I pass this tree every day on my way to and from work. And it just makes me giggle.

 Anyone else see what I see?

Perks of the job

Just occasionally I get to do something really cool through work. And today was one of those days!

Tomorrow the Scottish Cabinet is meeting in Stirling as one of their summer 'out and about' meetings. Tonight in preparation for tomorrow they hosted a reception in the Great Hall at Stirling Castle to celebrate Scotland's Year of Food and Drink. In return for listening to politicians speak (sorry guys!), we invited guests got to sample some of the best local offerings from Stirling and beyond whilst marvelling at the fantastic venue that is Stirling's Great Hall.

I personally particularly enjoyed Scotbeef's mini beef wellingtons (minus the vol-au-vent for me obviously), Macrae's smoked salmon, Graham's organic ice cream and (my absolute favourite of the evening) CookRoom's yummy gluten free chocolate muffins! I also noticed that the fabulous Mhor Bread was there, but for obvious reasons I didn't try them out - not with it being a school night and me being in polite company!

All in all, a good evening. It's tough work sometimes, but I want you to know I take on these challenges selflessly! (Heh, heh!)