A hat n that

This is the new baby B-boy peaked hat I made for my friend's baby girl. It's pretty G like.

"She's ignoring me. Of course, she's ignoring me. I sent her a swastika"

I heard a conversation this morning which was so misjudged it could have been from Peep show.
There's a woman in my office who has cancer (obviously this is horrible). She was talking to a bloke about how she has to go to the hospital during the week.
He said "do you have to go every night?"
"No, 3 nights a week" she replied
"Ah, it's not too bad then..." !!!!!!!
Well, no it's pretty bad. In fact I can't think of too many things that are worse.

Fool.

Passed. And now for a good night's sleep

Yesterday I passed my theory test. I'm not sure if this was due to the 3 days of mind-fucking-numbing reading of the Highway code and theory questions or because I was so nervous my shaking hand was clicking the mouse for me (this is not a euphamisim) during the hazard perception. If only i'd known my nerve damaged hands had a 6th sense for anticipating imminent danger. This information could have helped me avoid several pitfalls in recent times.

Anyway, now that's done with onwards (like William G Stewart) to real grown up driving. And finally having a good night's sleep.
Although last night I did dream that I was at a market near a beach having a debate with Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall and Jerry Springer.

Mirror, Signal, Manouvre

In between watching back to back episodes of 24: Day 6 i've been trying to learn my driving theory for my test on Wednesday.

Now, I don't quite understand why I need to know most of the information contained in the Highway code but should I ever see an incident in a tunnel i'll be sure to re-tune my radio when I emerge and definitely not offer any injured party a cigarette....cos they're mine.

Apparently, for the hazard perception part you can actually cheat the system and because I know this i'm inclined to do it but then I'll proabaly balls the whole thing up and it costs 30 quid a pop! So, no Stacy. This is not a good idea.

Somewhere I'd much rather be....

Hooray!! The snow has finally come. I'd much rather be in the pub than sat at my desk with soggy feet but what can you do.

Now that's what I call music........

On Christmas Eve I vowed that I would not return to Chester-le-Street until Christmas Eve 2009. So far i've been there twice already. Once in January on a mis-adventure to watch Sunderland play Middlesbrough and today on a quest to find my GCSE certificates (they should tell you that one day you might actually need them. It cost £35 to replace them). I found them in a box in the cupboard under the stairs nestled with the really old encylopedia's I loved when I was a kid. There were loads of volumes but for some reason I only ever had a few of them. I definitely had "H" and "P" but "F" was my favourite. There were 2 pages which had pictures of all the flags of the world. For some reason they fascinated me. I think it was an early step towards my relentless gathering of pointless information which some day I will use for good in a pub quiz. It's quite similar to when my Grandad used to test me on all the names of English League football grounds on Friday nights when we used to stay over. This was usually followed by fish and chips and a night of Open All Hours, dominoes and cards. I loved those nights.

So, Chester-le-Street......It's a funny place. It used to be so busy all the time. But now, every time I go back the 'Street' is empty. Last time we went (for the football), front street was desolate. It was the week that Woolworths closed. It seemed to have a weird effect. Like for most of us that shop was always around. I'd buy toys and sweets there when I was little, and then it was the only place you could buy singles in the 90s when buying singles was a weekly occurance and not the rarity it is now. Anyway, I don't like going home. I don't really know why. Sometimes it feels a bit like defeat. By that I mean that I like to think i've evolved from the geeky, shy ginger girl I was then into a taller, awkward redhead! Chester carries a lot of ghosts. I know there are people I used to go to school with who haven't left....ever. They have their kids, their houses and inevitably their divorces. I don't want to be like that. I never have. But going home makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong and they are the ones that got it right. Maybe they did........I doubt it though.

Enough maudlin musings.
Whilst rummaging around in the loft this afternoon I found a big bag of tapes. Oh there were some hidden gems. Now 10!!!! Now 10!!! I can actually recall almost every detail about the day my dad bought it. It starts with Barcelona and I can picture me standing on the sofa giving it some opera....big style. It's a classic.

Right I'm going to stop whinging about nothing and watch a bit more of day 6. Go on Bauer!!!

I'm still waiting for snow. The false dawn of wearing wellies in real life on Monday was ill advised. I don't think i'll be doing it again. Something, however, has to be done about how cold this bloody house is!!! I haven't taken an official temperature reading but it may be about minus-the North Pole.
The problem is the window in the living room. It may as well not have any glass in it at all and instead of masquerading as a window admit to us all that it is just a big space of air framed by some rotting, flaking wood. I think it's giving me chillblains (sic). I had chillblains (sic) when I was a kid and had to wear my bumble bee slippers to school. They looked better than the wellies.
Anyway it's bloody cold and is no coincidence that the hot water bottle to people ratio in this house is roughly 2:1.

Let it snow....

Jon Snow on Channel 4 news is enjoying this weather. He just got to stand behind a graphic saying "SNOW" and then went on to describe how he is bringing London to a standstill.

We haven't even got any snow. We had some on Monday. I went to work in my Wellies. Its the only time they have ever been worn outside the confines of a muddy festival site. They actually still had Glastonbury mud all over them. Mucky pup.



On to boring tales of knitting. I made the greatest thing I have ever knitted last week. To be fair, it was a project which went against everything I have ever held good and true. I made a Middlesbrough Football Club hotwater bottle cover. As a Sunderland fan this was a struggle. But it was much appreciated and in return i'm being rewarded with Carbonara later this week!! Yay!!



And by the way....it was NEVER a penalty!!!!!