Busy week

I have had a super busy week and it has taken me the last four days to get over it. As you know, I did my trip to Fanderson. I then went to visit my daughter in Manchester with my sons. We did some shopping and went on the Manchester Eye. How touristy. As you can see, it was quite high but I managed to stifle my screams. It was quite nice because we got a pod to ourselves.

The giddy heights of Manchester

After our day trip to Manchester we then went to Cardiff to see Dr Who Live. What a great show. The music was great. The monsters lurked around the audience which was great fun. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos once the show had started

Dr Who Live

At the weekend I did my big trip to London with my son. As I think I mentioned before, he won a competition to design an alien space craft for an online game for Sarah Jane's Adventures (a spin off of Dr Who). We travelled up early on Saturday and made our way to the BBC.

Paddington Station

I dropped my son off at the BBC and then, of course, had to entertain myself until 5.30 pm. I headed for Oxford Street. I originally come from Greater London so I get so excited when I go back. It is so vibrant and full of life. I went to John Lewis to buy some yarn (a story about this to follow) and then to Liberty's. I loved Liberty's. I had forgotten how hot it is in the shops there. I had to stop constantly and take on fluids. I got back to the BBC at 4.00 pm and was absolutely exhausted.

BBC White City

On the Sunday, I dropped my son off again but this time the novelty had worn off a little for me. It was pouring with rain and I had forgotten that nowhere opens until 12 noon on a Sunday. After wandering around for a while I telephoned my OH for assistance and some tips of where to go. He pointed me in the direction of the British Museum. I hadn't been there since I was very young and I loved it. I wandered around for about four hours and didn't actually see anything. I went in every room and sat in various places. I had a drink in every cafe there and spent a lot of time people watching. I left there with a couple of books (History of the World in 100 Objects and The Book of The Dead) and a promise to myself to return with the family (whether they want to or not) so that I can share my excitement with others.

Entrance hall at the British Museum

When I collected my son he was so enthused. He had had a brilliant time. He had shared his ideas with like minded people and learned a lot from them. He felt as if he really fitted in. Who could ask for more than that.

I did manage some knitting. I need something to keep me sane. Knitting posts to follow.

To and from

We made it to Manchester. We left fairly early in the morning so the traffic was quite light. Unfortunately, my daughter hadn't made it out of bed. When I had told her that we would be there by ten, she thought I was joking (although I did actually arrive at 9.30). When we left Somerset we had bright sunshine, but at Manchester it was pouring with rain. Just what we needed for loading the car! I was hoping to load the car and start on our way home but I had forgotten what it is like sociable. We had to stop and chat to loads of people, talk about what we were doing over the summer, say goodbye, promise to keep in touch, etc, etc.

Hall of Residence 1

Hall of Residence 2

Hall of Residence 3

As you can see, the Halls of Residence are quite nice. But the car is always a long way from the room.

Finally, we were on our way back home. There were heavy bursts of rain and the traffic stopped completely. Clearly, we are not used to rain in this country. The weather initially got worse around Worcester and Birmingham but then got a lot better just north of Bristol. It made the last part of the journey quite pleasant. There is nothing worse than being on the motorway in the driving rain.

The journey home

When we arrived home my husband had done a fantastic barbeque and the boys had helped cook and get the garden table ready for us to eat. It was great and such a lovely welcome home.

One of the first things I got my daughter to do was to try on the Daisy cardigan I had made for her. You may remember that my tension was wrong and it had ended up being two inches bigger than it should have been which was a shame. Although, she seems to quite like it. I may have to knit another one sometime that is actually the right size!

What a beautiful, if somewhat reluctant, model. So great for our family to be complete again, if only for the summer.

Lastly, I wanted to show you some flowers I bought the other day. Aren't they lovely. They are Sweet Williams and they were always my grandparents favourites. The photo was a spur of the moment thing (can you tell by the hand).

I hope your weekend was good too.

Manchester awaits

Tomorrow I have the long trip up to Manchester to pick up my eldest from Uni. It is quite a long haul from the West Country but a big day out for us. Although it is a fairly straightforward route I always take the Sat Nav because it is like having a friend in the car who knows the way (a rarity in my experience). I love it now because they have M&S in some of the service stations so we are able to have a decent sandwich (and a bag of chocolate covered brazil nuts).

Here are some photos I took of the Uni last year when we went for open day. It is a city centre campus and is much busier when the students are around. It stretches along one main road which seems to go on forever. There is also an area of takeaways and restaurants from all different cultures which is known locally, and by the students, as 'the curry mile'. They even put it in the student leaflets as that. You can get anything to eat there from falafals (I think that is how your spell it) to Italian ice cream, from curry to hamburgers. Every taste catered for.

Hopefully, I will get some time tomorrow to take some more photos to post.

Two knitting books arrived in the post today, both Rowan. One was Studio Book 11 and one was Studio Book 16. The honest reason for buying both of these books is that I want to try some Rowan Bamboo Tape. I have always wanted to give it a try. The Book 11 has patterns specifically for this yarn but there is a cardigan in Book 16 called Cheer by Sarah Hatton that I have seen on Ravelry that has been done in Rowan Bamboo Tape. It is called Philoknits Cheery Cardigan. It looks absolutely gorgeous so I am really tempted to give it a try. Plus, and this is the killer, Rowan Bamboo Tape is dirt cheap at Kemps. I had better hurry up and decide.