Hello, did you miss me? I know it's only been two days, but it seems so long since my last post. Let me tell you all about it ...
On Tuesday we went down to Northumberland, to meet up with Malcolm's sister Jennifer at their Dad's house. We are gradually clearing out all the accumulated junk and getting the house cleaned and organised, ready for selling. Jennifer and I had a session of sorting out curtains and bedspreads. Almost everything is floral - wallpaper, curtains, carpets - so we are trying to introduce some plain fabrics to tone it down and in doing so make the rooms look more spacious. I have moved house so ofter, I could do all this standing on my head - and perhaps even teach the 'House Doctor' a trick or two! I'll take some quilts and cushions to 'dress' the rooms and hopefully create the look of a wonderful home, so that someone will fall in love with it and want to buy the house. It's not going to be easy selling it in the current economic climate, so fingers are firmly crossed. In the afternoon we went in to visit Malcolm's Dad. He is settling in well in the home, and has some of his own furniture and bits and bobs in his room. Jennifer got him a tiny fridge, so he can even have somes cold cans of beer!! His room looks out on to a busy road with a bus stop, so he can spend time people-watching (don't worry, the double-glazing keeps out the noise).
When we got back home, I just had time for dinner before I set off down the road to the village hall in Chesters for this month's 'Rural' meeting (Scottish sort of WI). The speaker was a local GP, Emma, who told us about all the long years of studying and training you have to undertake before you become a GP - and if that wasn't enough, she gained a few extra qualifications along the way. She and her husband also spent a year in India, he helping local businesses, she helping in the local hospital. They finally moved here and she settled in to a part time job in one of the local surgeries - oh, and along the way she also found time to produce two children! The thing that struck me most, though, was that she said it's not the academic qualifications that make a good GP, it's the ability to listen to your patients - and most importantly, to listen to what they're not telling you! Very often people come to see her with a seemingly trivial complaint, but very often they hesitate on leaving, and that's when she knows there is something else to be said - that they have something much more serious to tell her. On a lighter side, she then judged the competition - this month we had to bring along our favourite cup and saucer ...
... mine is the black and white set - I was most upset not to win! It was too late when I got home to do a post, so ...
that brings us to yesterday ... we knew the power was going to be off for a large part of the day for maintenance work on the supply, but it was off much longer than expected, and when it finally came back on and I tried to log on to aol - it had gone awol. Malcolm phoned up this morning and finally got it sorted out - the long break in the supply had done something to the broadband router - all too technical for me. The aol account is in my name, so before the lady in the call-centre would deal with him, she had to speak to me, to get my security password - it's just as well it isn't a video phone, as I was lying in the bath at the time (reading a book and drinking hot chocolate!
So you are getting yesterday's post today - and here is the last bit. Yesterday was knit'n'natter afternoon - I've been having a bit of a rest from knitting because of my sore arm and hand, so decided yesterday I would do something with bigger needles and thicker yarn, as it would be less of a strain ... so I started this cushion cover (another make it up as you go item!!) ...
I love the colours in the yarn and the random size of the stripes - and it's nice to do something which knits up quickly!
Now that I have caught up with my blogging duties, I have to go and do domestic stuff - especially the ironing. If I don't reduce the mountain in the ironing basket soon, we won't be able to get into the utility room!