Summertime rolls

Well, the last couple of weeks have been non-stop; teaching summer school and running various entertainment for the under-sixteen's out of school hours, plus escorting minors (the under-age kind, not the underground kind!) to the airport. There has been lots of sickness though; there is a Cough circulating round the student hostels and this morning I feel a little cough-y and sore throated as though I might be coming down with it too. The Swine Flu is a big concern here in Britain, we have lots (hundreds of thousands) of diagnosed cases but no-one’s sure if that’s because people are being diagnosed by phone with medication being collected by a nominated healthy person. There have been quite a few deaths here as well, though mostly people who have lung problems like asthma or immune problems. M and I are trying to avoid it of course, as he’s asthmatic and I have Lupus, so we’d be buggered if we caught it! Suspected cases amongst the students have resulted in the potential invalid being kept in isolation! The students have been quite sweet this year, look what I received from one of the Russian students:

It’s a lovely painted and lacquered spoon and a big bar of Russian chocolate! It’s difficult to see here but the wrapper on the chocolate is all metallic bronze and gold, with beautiful little embossed ivy leaves scrolling round the edge. I don’t really want to open it, it’s so pretty! And I’ve lost a stone and a half, so I don’t really want need the temptation at the moment. It was bad enough that I discovered Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food half price in Tesco's! I met up with the girls on Wednesday; another potential diet disaster - we went out for lunch and I’d made a deal with myself that if I walked there and back, I could eat what I wanted. Needless to say the day was dreadful! Black skies and torrential rain and my route to the restaurant was a half hours walk through the fields and across the canal! But a deal is a deal, so I popped on a pair of jeans under a dress and headed down. We had the meal (lovely), popped to the local craft superstore which was conveniently near, and then into a big clothes store where we challenged each other to dress in bad taste outfits in the dressing rooms which was hilarious! By the time I got home though, the driving wind and rain (and my desire to keep my lovely craft papers dry) had resulted in me being absolutely saturated! The jeans, being naturally too long for me because I am after all a short arse, had acted like wicks and had soaked up not only all the rain falling on me, but also all the rain in the puddles!  

All this work has meant that I’ll be financially solvent for the summer though and not completely brassic! M and I have actually booked our holiday this year! It’s been over two years since we’ve been away for anything longer than a couple of nights. We’ve booked a pitch on a working farm that has five spaces for tents or caravans. It’s an idyllic spot in the Cornish countryside near Liskeard. We’re gonna visit the Eden Project, some tin mines, the Carnglaze slate caverns, Tintagel, stone circles, aquariums, we’re going to walk along the craggy Cornish coastline and explore some quaint little fishing villages! I can’t wait! Cornwall is one of my favourite places in England!

Crafting wise, I had a moment of weakness people! I blame ...ummm…..the bad weather! Yes, that’s it! The weather! It’s been dreadful here! So what have I done? I present my moment of weakness:

Tada! I bought a new overlocker! *whispers* She’s not really new but don’t tell her! She’s a Janome MyLock; old, but she works perfectly. She needed a bit of a clean up, poor old thing, she’d been left in a right old state, very grubby and full of fluff, so I’ve given her the once over, and as soon as I get some oil, I’ll give her a bit of a service too. I’ve been getting to know her and getting a few alternation jobs done, t-shirts (mostly necklines, sleeves and hemlines) and various items of clothing have been beautifully (and almost professionally looking) reconned. Oo I actually started a sort of apron top too, only I’ve run out of black thread now, so I have to wait till I’ve been shopping to finish it! I actually went to get some thread yesterday because she can’t half eat through reels of cotton, and spotted a bargain bin full of Gutterman threads at the low low low price of 25p! So of course, I just couldn’t pass up that opportunity! Forgot to get some plain thread for the overlocker though!

When I got to the tills, she charged me just £3.50 for all these! Don’t they look beautiful all lined up in a row there!

I’ve been working in my garden alot recently and I’ve actually been knitting & crocheting too! I’ve done a little more of my garden blanket, a little more of my BPT and some of this:

A secret project! More will be revealed soon! I’ve been working on some stuff for the IYP (Invite Your Partner swap on Craftster) and drawing up ideas for my partner Javede! Naughty me, I signed up for the Sealife swap too on Craftster; all those hours playing Endless Ocean on the Wii have influenced me I think! Right, time to sign off for the evening, M and I have the Grudge 3 lined up for our Sunday night viewing, and I think Pippin has reserved my lap for recuperating purposes; she got a slapping last night from one of the local bullyboy tomcats and her front leg is swelled up and sore today! I’ll leave you with last nights sunset!