Feeling the heat

Like me, Yarnstorm has been struggling with the unseasonal heat and its effect on her garden. Our tulips are already over, and I'm sure last year they were still on the go in May. We're having to water every night at the moment, which you just don't expect to do in April! It's got up to about 25° several days this week, which is just about over the limit where I feel comfortable (I get sunstroke pretty easily so can't really stay out in it for very long) and way past the point when the OH feels comfortable. So instead of a nice long spring full of fun visits to places, it looks like we're going to be stuck indoors forever.

I had a lovely weekend last weekend though, as I went up to Lincolnshire to visit Mum for a couple of nights. Once we'd got past the nightmare train journey on the way up (the return trip was fine, and I was 30 minutes early getting home again!), I had a great time, doing a lot of catching up with Mum and various other people on the Sunday. On the Saturday we went to a friend's wedding, of someone I was at school with, back in the mists of time (it feels like a VERY long time ago being back at school!).

She looked absolutely amazing and the service was wonderful. I was rather impressed that they both stood for the entire service too - we sat down for the readings and the sermon. I don't think my knees would have held me up otherwise! It had extra resonance as it was the first wedding I'd been to since ours last summer so I kept remembering that the last time I'd heard those words it was me/the OH saying them! (soppy, me?!). I had wondered in advance whether it might be a bit upsetting - this is the church where we used to go for school carol services, which my Dad used to come to, and there's always the "she's got her Dad to take her down the aisle" thing too, but when it came to it, it was such a joyful occasion I didn't really think about it.

Bizarrely the church was a lot smaller than I remembered (I was 18 when I last went in it) and also a lot lighter and brighter, but I suppose that's the contrast between chilly December and sunny April. I'm also mystified about how on earth we squashed the school orchestra into the small space at the front. The space looks tiny now, but I can recall both playing my 'cello and being able to breathe so it can't have been that bad.

It was also a chance to catch up with a lot of my old school friends, some of whom I hadn't seen for over a decade! We were all still recognisable, and I think I even managed to remember everyone's children's and partner's names...

Oh, and I got to hold a baby belonging to one friend whilst she sorted her bag out, and the baby promptly snuggled up and went to sleep on me - so cute!

Even more amazingly, our old form teacher was there, whom I hadn't seen for about 20 years. She must be in her 80s now, but still looked just the same (!). It was so nice to see everyone, as these are people who really helped me out when I was a small, terrified 11 year old, just arrived at secondary school and feeling very lost and bewildered. And then a bigger , marginally more confident, 18 year old heading off into the big wide world...

It was a pretty exhausting weekend, but fortunately last week was a four day week with the bank holiday for Good Friday, so it wasn't too bad going back to work. I have had a few dilemmas in the garden - does anyone know what these plants are? I'm a bit mystified.

In which many houses are sold, a book is given up on and someone gets stuck in a wedding dress

The OH and I (and the rest of my family) have just finished a completely mad round of house moves/sales/purchases. My Mum sold her house last week, which was the home I lived in until I was 18 before I left to go to university, and where I temporarily lived again for a while in my mid-20s. This is the last bowl of pears I'll have from the pear tree that was planted in the garden when I was born.


I wasn't there when she moved out, so the last time I saw it was in August, when we were up in Lincoln and got engaged. So it feels slightly odd knowing that it isn't there any more to go back to.

And to add to the chaos/stress/impending feeling of a little bit too much going on, the OH completed on the sale of his flat on the same day as Mum sold her house, and I completed the sale of my house five days after them. So a bit of a manic whirl of solicitors, estate agents and utility companies, not helped by the Royal Mail going on strike and holding half the correspondence up. But all is now finished! We'll be looking round for a house to buy now that we've sold both places and, of course, this means that wedding plans can inch slightly further forward too.

Before anyone gets too excited, wedding plans so far have consisted of me reading various insane books about wedding planning and getting very annoyed with them. Oh, and trying on a dress last week in Monsoon and getting stuck in it.

And speaking of books... I've just been attempting to read "A short walk in the Hindu Kush" by Eric Newby, and I can't get into it at all. I dragged myself through about 100 pages, as it's my next reading group book so I wanted to show willing, but just had to give up when I realised I was actively avoiding picking the thing up. I'm not sure what annoyed me so much. The jolly hockeysticks feeling of the writing? The slightly fuzzy typeface? The blurry maps at the beginning (it's a travel book, surely the idea is you can see where they're going?). Anyway, not the book for me, so it'll be interesting to see what the rest of the group made of it when I see them next week.

Lincoln adventures

Well, now I've calmed down a bit from the BIG Lincoln adventure - the getting engaged bit of it, which was definitely the MOST exciting part. And got fed up with answering questions about dates (no idea), wedding dresses (don't care, but I do want to knit a shawl), where it's going to be (not in Lincoln) etc, it's time to blog about the other bits of the Lincoln adventure. Thank you for all the comments on my previous blog post - I think that was a record number received! I *think* I've managed to reply to everyone I had an email address or a blog address for.

Ever been back to the place where you grew up, and viewed it as a tourist? This visit to Lincoln was a bit like that. We did lots of things I'd never have done on my own, like wandering up to have a look at the cathedral at night.

And wandering around Castle Square. And going for a drink in one of the pubs around there - can you believe I've never done that? I didn't go to secondary school in Lincoln, so I've never really socialized there at all, despite living there for about two thirds of my life.

One day we went round the Castle, something I haven't done since I was a kid. This is the cathedral from the top of the Observatory Tower.

And the view from the entrance turret into the castle, with the Crown Court in the centre and the old prison buildings to the left.

Another day we went round the medieval Bishops' Palace, again, something I haven't done since I was extremely small. There was more to it than I remembered, and it was once an incredibly important building, bearing in mind that Lincoln diocese, until the mid-19th century, stretched all the way down to the banks of the Thames, close to where I'm living now.

Above is looking up what was a hallway towards the entrance tower, with the cathedral in the background. Below is the inside of the Lower East Hall, at ground floor level, which was built between 1186 and 1200.

Another trip we made was to Belton House, near Grantham, which is where some of the BBC Pride & Prejudice was filmed (Belton starred as Rosings Park) and is also where I once worked. I actually got the phone call inviting me to the interview for my current job whilst standing in the cupola on the roof here - the only place I could get mobile phone reception!

The OH enjoyed all this immensely - he'd never been to Lincoln before and is even more history-obsessed than I am so he had a whale of a time. This is him looking at the fountain at Belton. We also enjoyed visiting Jew's Court in Lincoln, where the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology have a bookshop stocking loads of local history.

Another view of Belton, the lake, which was always a little bit too far away to reach on a lunchtime walk!

And the Arboretum, where we went for several walks.

Oh, and on the way back from Belton we had a slight run-in with a 4x4 after a moped appeared out of nowhere at a junction and I couldn't stop in time. If we'd hit a normal car nothing worse than a dented bumper would have resulted, but as it was a 4x4 Oxo's radiator was punctured by its tow bar, the bonnet and bumper damaged and the number plate smashed. And we hit at less than 5mph as the airbags and seat belt locks didn't activate! Poor Oxo had to be loaded onto a truck and returned without us to Staines (we still haven't got her back from the garage over two weeks later!) and my Mum had to transport us south the next day with all of our stuff. A bit of a pants end to a lovely holiday.



We've managed quite successfully without a car for the last two weeks. Fortunately we both go to work on the train, and there's a supermarket within walking distance, and my church is only 15 minutes walk away. But it will be nice to have her back again!

I'm off to Cambridge for some of next week, attending a conference, so not sure when I'll next be posting. And next Saturday is the Iknit Weekender!!