Wonderful Mara

I'm happily back in Bristol, but absolutely exhausted.  Cheltenham is really not good for me, I'm totally run down by it, and it has only been two weeks though.  Halfway.  I really need to get some good rest whilst I'm back in Bristol, making the most of relaxing and chilling out.  Besides work!

And as expecting, waiting back in Bristol for me was the red slip from the postie, so I literally put my bags down and then rushed straight out again.  And this is what was waiting for me:

 

It is so beautifully soft and such wonderful colours - a perfect choice for me.  I love how dusky and muted they are, and the graduation of colours with the blues and lilacs, reds and pinks.  Absolutely gorgerous.  And a homemade card, from Mara, saying she was happy to enable my yarn habbit.  She also explained that she sent the solid pink to go with the multicoloured, so I could be adventurous and make the heels, toes, and cuff of the socks in a co-ordinated but different yarn.  I'm soooo excited to get working on them soon... I suppose I just have to pick a pattern first.  Mainly debating if I should have a fairly plain sock with minimal stitch patterns, or to go for something more "busy" like the ones I just finished. I still just can't believe someone would send a stranger such a wonderful beautiful yarn.  Such wonderful generousity. :)  Thank you very much Mara, and thanks to Ravelry for allowing me to meet her.

And I won't spoil the specialness and excitment of the yarn by saying anything more...

Well, what is there to say?

Sometimes I really ponder the point of this blog, I really just seem to fill it with needless waffle for want of something better to say.  But is that really a problem?  I sometimes wish I was one of those people who always had deep, thought-provoking, philosophising (if that's a word) things to say... so this blog would be interesting to those who read it and somehow touch their lives.  But I'm not.  And I treat this blog very much as a form of a diary, that I suppose I really don't mind if someone else happens upon.  Not very interesting, but who says it has to be?

But then again, there are some days which just aren't really worth commenting on.  The blog definitely helps me reflect on my day, and see if there's anything special or worthwhile that has happened, and I like that.  It has helped me be more grateful, and has helped me find joy and fulfilment in the little things that make up everyday life.  I suppose a lot of this waffle is a reflection of my not really enjoying Cheltenham.  I'm finding it tedious and a little depressing.  Life is on the cusp of changing pace and focus, with the inevitable shift towards preparing for finals and all that implies.  But I don't really feel ready for that change.  And I know that part of this is pure avoidance of reality - it will become harder and harder for me to ignore why I'm here.  Why I'm having to do this all over again.  I failed.  I let myself and all my nearest and dearest down with my actions.  Starting finals prep will be a horrible and constant reminder of that fact, in a far more intense way than repeating the year and going through the motions of being on placement.  It is after all what I've done for so long now, that it just seems to be more of the same.  But exams are different.  Exams will remind me of all that has passed over the last year, and I know I will struggle with this.

It's all really well sitting here moaning about it, but I really do need to act.  I need to find the strength and the focus to do it all over again.  I need to find a way of coping with all the negative emotions that I have managed to suppress.  But I'm just not ready for that at all.

But anyways, on to the day to day...

I had one very boring tedious lecture.  Then nipped to the post office on the way home to send Sarah some more supplies.  Oh dear, I've really enabled her growing addiction!  But she isn't complaining too much.  And then I came "home" and on the whole had a very restless morning.  I sat chatting with my flatmates for quite a while, the the while beavering away at Ru's wristwarmers.  I really am not making the sort of progress I'd like, and I can't quite tell why.  At this rate I'll be working on them for at least another couple of weeks, unless I can really blitz them over the weekend.

I love the pattern and the effect.  It's a little fiddly, but I've now figured it out, so I don't need to look at the pattern or pay too much attention.  I've got about another inch to go before I start shaping for the thumb hole.

Then this afternoon I went to the cinema (oh temptation!) and saw Brothers.  It was really good, and very moving.  Definitely not one to see if you want something light hearted, but was definitely one of the best films I've seen for a while.

And then this evening?  More knitting, chatting and watching dvds, in amongst random wool surfing, wishing I had endless money and endless time to make stuff out of all the gorgeous gorgeous wools out there!  But I'm being good and most certainly have more than enough wool to keep me going.

And that's it.  Another one of those days of nothing in particular.  Back to Bristol tomorrow, and I can't wait.  Back to a reasonable temperature room, back to a comfy sofa, in front of my week's worth of sky plus stuff.  Back to my Bristol friends, who I really want to try and see this weekend.  And most excitingly, hopefully, back to a package of yarn sent from someone who's never meet me, but was inspired to share her wonderful stash!  So very excited!

Rules, what rules?

As y'all can probably tell, it's gone one in the morning and I'm only just starting to think of going to bed. It's all very well, I've decided, making rules, but you have to follow them, and this is where I come undone. I have virtually no self-control.

I'm going to blame Cheltenham. I'm not sleeping very well here at all. It's either too hot (waking up sweating and unable to cool down) or too cold. If it's too hot and I turn down the heater as much as possible and open the window (what a waste of energy!) then it's really noisy as we're on a pretty busy road. What's a girl to do? I had the afternoon off today, and I ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. I was that tired. Which also probably explains why I'm still awake now. I am getting tired now, so hopefully will manage some good rest.

I spent lots of time buying yarn today, but it wasn't (all) for me. I feel it's a little more justified if I'm helping out a friend, and poor laid up Sarah has really taken to her crochet, so I'm really excited, and have even got her to sign up to Ravelry. I feel slightly less like an absolute nerd when one of my friends is part of it too. Lol, I know that sounds silly but there you are. So I got Sarah some more yarn today, which will be winging it's way to her tomorrow, once I get round to going to the post office. Something which I was going to do this afternoon.

Lalala! Screw it, I refuse to apologise or feel guilty about my nap. I clearly needed it and I enjoyed it. So rules, shmules. For tonight at least.

The fabric shop idea has faded in my mind somewhat as I tried to look it up online today before heading out there, and all I could find out about it was that it sells furniture, upholstry fabric and curtains. So I'm less enthused about the idea of it now. Don't know if I'll bother, which is just as well, as much as I can vaguely justify buying yarn, I really can't justify fabric, I really wouldn't have the time or resources to do anything with it. And driving all the way there just to look is not exactly environmently friendly. So I think it's on the back burner for now. But that may change if I get bored! Lol!

*yawn*, yup definitely time to go to bed now. Nighty-night!

Here-Hereford (say it fast and you may get the pun!)

Hereford really is the back of beyond, but happily took me less time than my "worst case scenario" that I had been imagining. In fact it was actually a very pretty drive. I still have no idea where Hereford is, but fortunately Ken-Ken (my Aussie voiced sat-nav) did. Still not sure if it was worth it for the three and a half hours spent there.

A positive thing (well depending how you look at it!) was that as I was heading out of Cheltenham, I drove past a place claiming to be the UK's largest fabric shop. Guess where I'll be heading tomorrow afternoon... lol, not sure if I actually will buy any material, as I have no idea what I'd do with it, without a sewing machine and a somewhat lack of time... well... but it can't help to look, can it?

Finally making a little progress on Ru's wristwarmers, getting the hang of the pattern, much easier than I orignally thought! So am pretty happy with that. It's been a slow start to it, but hopefully will pick up pace a little now.

And finally, a philisophical end to this post: is it really only just Tuesday? Why, oh why is this week dragging, I keep feeling like it's a Wednesday, so it's extra depressing to think it's still so long until the weekend and my chance to escape back to Bristol! Bugger! Why, oh why!

Two days without posting

I've officially broken my trend.  I had blogged pretty much everyday since I began, until this weekend... and there's not even a proper reason for it.  I went to Bristol, and finished the socks as documented in my previous post.  And then I made Harry's hat, the only model for which was me:

Another delightful pic of me taken (mainly due to laziness) with my webcam

I crocheted the hat.  It look about a day - I'd forgotten how absolutely simple this pattern was and how quickly it came together.  So I was really happy about that.  I've made this pattern for Harry about 4 or 5 times before, and I think that he's managed to loose them all along the way - not sure if he'll ever learn, or me for that matter, I do keep on making them!  I had to be a bit inventive this time.  He wanted a thinner wool (pattern calls for bulky/chunky) so I went for an aran weight and increased the pattern repeats, and actually managed to get it right, first time!  So yay for me, about adventurous as I've ever gotten with modifying patterns!

And now I'm on to making the wristwarmers for Ru.  I haven't got very far, the pattern uses a chart, something I've never done before, and I had a few queries about it, and obviously had to trawl the net for answers as I didn't bother bringing The Knitter's Bible.  Looking forward to the challenge.

Work on Saturday was about as exciting as I was expecting.  I was bored out of my wits, and got glared at and made to do menial, non-essential things when I dared get the crochet out (despite the fact they were all surfing the net and checking hotmail!).  So I took the hint and sat around staring off into space instead.  Oh well, I was at work after all, so it's bordering on being cheeky to sit there crocheting.  The times I've knitted have all be night shifts, so I obviously can get away with it more then!

Sunday was a bit of a write off.  I really wanted to get up and go to one of the local churches, but switched my alarm off and promptly feel asleep again... oops.  But I've been so tired, I've not been getting amazing sleep in here at Cheltenham, so it was definintely a case of catching up on it all!  When I did eventually get out of bed, I decided I'd go have breakfast (well, brunch!) at the local cafe, so I could sit with the free wi-fi and focus on finishing ranking my jobs.  Which I'd almost done when my laptop run out of juice and I didn't have anywhere near my table to plug in, and changing tables wasn't an option since they were packed (in fact people were kinda glaring at me for taking up a four seater table!).  So I ambled home and finished ranking there.  So glad to get it out of the way.  Now it's just a case of waiting about three weeks and I find out what jobs I have.

Then following having Harry and Claire round briefly so he could pick up the hat (and very generously pay for the yarn - yay, so it was guilt free wool shopping!), I decided to follow up on an idea that Sarah gave me last week.  I roasted a chicken, and had a lovely roast dinner, something I generally don't get round to doing as it's such a waste when I live alone.  And now I've got loads of leftovers to do stuff with.  I had a jacket potato with lemon-mayo chicken, I'm going to do a salad with the other breast, and then make up some soup with whatever's left over.  I may yet be able to get another meal out of whatever other meat is left over before I make the soup.  It was a really good idea - it works out quite cheaply (even splashed out on an organic/free range chicken), I have meal plans for most of the week, and I had a nice easy to think up shopping list.  So it really ticks a lot of the food rules boxes.  So thanks very much Sarah.

And then a quick dish wash and back to Cheltenham.  Had a really busy day today - 9 to 6.  So absolutely knackered right now.  It was a fairly good day.  I was with the consultant who had lead our ethics teaching last week and pretty much the first thing he said to me was that I had had a lot to say last week... I guess I was memorable!  Lol!  Not that I had several arguements or anything like that during ethics!  Lol!  He's quite a nice consultant and made sure I got to see lots and get a bit involved with the team.  In the afternoon, we spent time in the radiotherapy session, which was cool, as it's something I hadn't done before, and I was able to see all the stages.  I like to do things like that, then if I'm ever asked by patients, then at least I can have some grasp of what goes on. 

The most exciting thing to happen this weekend was when I got "chatting" to someone on Ravelry about the socks, and I had a look at her stash, and man did it make me lust.  She's got this huge stash of absolutely gorgeous yarns.  So I complemented her a bit and then we got chatting a bit about where to get wool.  And then she randomly asked for my postal address so she could send me some of her hand-dyed alpaca.  I'm so touched by the kindness of strangers.  She was so gracious about it, and wants absolutely nothing in return.  Can't wait to get back to Bristol and see what it is that she'll send. :)

And here I am... ready for bed.  Not a very exciting weekend, so I'm hoping for a better week!

Socks are finished!

Nothing really to comment about today, and am quite tired, but I just have to share:

 

Sorry about the hairy legs, but did warn you that I was tired!  So very proud of myself!  Now on to the next project... a hat for Harry, for which I brought the yarn today.

Blah

Not much to comment on about today.  It was actually a very busy day - in from 9 - 4.30, boring lecture type thing on communication skills in the morning (you'd have thought someone giving a communication skills seminar would actually communicate better, and not make me want to curl up and sleep!) and ethics session in the afternoon, which got a little lively and was quite interesting.

Nipped to the bank at lunchtime to pay the credit card bill, and ended up having a review of my accounts - basically the woman trying to tell me ways to improve my financial commitments whilst I tapped my foot, glancing at the clock, thinking I needed to get some lunch and get back on time.  Hopefully this will have saved me money (in the long term at least) and eases my money worries for now.  I'm always a little skeptical in banks that they're trying to con you, so I asked lots of questions and I think she was genuinely trying to help me out.

This evening, as it was pay day, I decided to try out the cinema that is so tantilisingly close and went and saw Nine.  It was a musical, and quite interestingly shot and had an interesting way of depicting the songs and stories, but I didn't think the songs were very catchy.  All in all, I enjoyed it, but was nowhere near as lively as I was expecting. 

And then when I got back, did a couple of rows on the socks and then went round to one of the other flats for a glass of wine to celebrate someones birthday.  It was a lovely evening, and I'm very lucky to have such nice people on my placement.  There was plenty of chatting and telling of childhood stories (bizarrely enough!).  Was great fun.

And then just washed my hair and now it's past time to get ready for bed, so off I go...

Yet more snow mis-adventures

Today was another one of those frustrating days that I seem to have had quite a few of in the last month - snow destroyed.  As I mentioned, I was due to go to Hereford this morning, for the whole day for clinics.  I duely got up at silly o'clock and as I was munching my brekkie, I looked out the window and start muttering about the rain bucketing down.  And then, as I was finishing my tea, I looked out again and thought, "hang on a second... that rain is different... (squint against the dark gloom)... that's not rain, that's snow!... mmm... interesting, well shouldn't settle following all that rain".  And off I trotted to go get dressed and ready to head off. 

When I was ready, I opened the blinds in my room, and was greeted with white everywhere.  And there was massively reduced visibility.  A glance downwards to the road revealed the worst - slushiness covering the roads.  Cue internal debate.  So I decided to check the weather forcasts for Cheltenham - snow at 9, sleet at 12, snow at 3.  Mmm, checked Hereford's forcast and it was snow more or less all day (switching between heavy and light and then back again) with tempertatures hitting freezing or lower for the afternoon/evening rush hour.  So after debating it with my flatmate, I decided I really should be safe and not drive through it. 

To make up for the lack of clinic-ness, I walked into the hospital here with my flatmate, gettting all soggy and cold feety to go to a library session which I was going to miss in favour of Hereford.  At least I now know where the hospital library is, and I got out and about for a bit and got to have a walk. 

Following this, I came "home" and have mainly been knitting my sock all afternoon, interspersed with lots of tea, and the odd bit of prep for a tutorial tomorrow and sitting around getting to know my flatmates better.  So, all in all an okay day.  Nothing wildly exciting, not for me at least.  I'm very proud of Sarah who is making the most of her time off her feet by learning with amazing speed how to crochet, using some of the goodies I had sent her on Monday.  Hehehe!  I've corrupted her with my devious crochet/knitting addiction.  :)  So going to have to start a crafting group when I next am in Derby where we can sit and do stuff and natter!  Can you tell I'm excited about having a friend join the world of crochet?  Someone I can share the experience with!  Tis truely awesome!

Sock progress for today:

Did the heel and about half of the foot today

It's definitely the second sock - next to the first for comparison

And this is me... being bored by all the stupid snow keeping me stuck, mostly infront of the computer. (and yes, that is my South African rugby jersey!)

Still waiting to be enchanted by Cheltenham (and Hereford)

Well, I'm still alive!  Somehow.  Time is dragging here, and in a bizarre kind of way, I'm actually looking forward to my road trip to Hereford tomorrow (look it up on a map, I had to!  Heard of it before, no idea where it was!).  I've not heard positive things about the drive, but ooooh well, at least it'll be something to do.  Which is better than today.  We had a 9am tutorial and then that was it.  I suppose I could have been more pro-active and hit the wards to clerk afterwards, but I felt like an exhausted zombie, so I plodded home via tescos (no milk = no tea = disaster!) and stocked up. 

And then came home and did a little bit of reading, watched a little "tv" then gave up completely and crawled into bed.  Really struggled to sleep - let's blame the bed, but eventually did nap for a couple of hours, so hopefully I've caught up on the sleep I missed over the weekend and that I've not been getting because of the bedsprings sticking into my sides.  I've gotten so used to my lovely memory foam mattresses (both in Bristol and Derby) that I've forgotten this joy.

I spent a little more time chatting to my new flatmate (whose name I can't remember... oops!) and she's been wonderful and brought along a whole bunch of pots, pans, crockery and basically saved the day, bless her!  And so we can actually cook semi-decent meals.  Although, when at tescos, I mainly stocked up on things that would require minimal pots, e.g. pizza, salad, pies, stuff for pitta bread pizzas (for lunches/other lighter meals), jacket potatoes and fruit.  Miss calculated the number of tea bags I had left, so now I'm down to my last one for breaky tomorrow.  Oh man, I can't live without my tea :(  Lol, enough with the dramatics!

I've spent this evening doing some knitting (almost at the heel of the second sock now) and starting to rank my jobs, which is the next part of my job application for junior doctor jobs i.e. the next (hopefully!) two years of my life.  I've basically got a list of all 272 jobs that will available for junior doctors in the deanery (the collection of hopitals approx within 1hour radius of Bristol) and I have to rank them in order of my preferences as to which ones I want.  It's harder than it sounds, and it feels a little pointless, as I know for a fact I didn't score very well on my application and thus am not likely to get anywhere near the top of my list.  I've ranked all the jobs that have some obs & gynae in them at the top (all 39 of them!) in some sort of thought through order as this is the speciality that I'm leaning most towards.  But it's also one of the most popular, so the chances of me getting one of these 39?  Put it this way, I'm not optimistic.  And then how do I rank the other 230 odd jobs?

This whole thing has been made extra stressful as it's one of those things that I've done before with so much excitement and anticipation... and now... and now I'm not feeling it at all.  It's just a horrible reminder of all that's happened.  And whilst it has quite brought me to tears, I do find that I'm facing quite a mental hurdle to do it.  But it is interesting to see how my reasonings for ranking have changed.  Last year it was Obs/Gynae jobs, then paeds, then jobs which had both years in the same place, and then more randomly.  And I put so much effort into it.  Giving all the jobs a score out of 5 as to what I thought/felt about the rotations included in them.  And of course I got rid of all the paper that I did this on!  And I don't have the energy or inclination to do that again this year, although it was kind of useful.  This year, my priorities are more along the line of Obs/Gynae jobs, jobs with first year in Bristol (would be useful to be able to stay in my flat), maybe jobs with A&E placements (I really enjoy A&E and is prob next on my list of possible specialties after Obs&Gynae - I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something with picking the jobs with the anti-social hours!), and then... don't know.  Not sure if I really care.  I'm going to have to stop for tonight anyway, and maybe think about it on my commute tomorrow.

Resisting temptation

After all the excitement of first thing this morning, I'm cream crackered, so just a quick post.  Yes, I know I always say that and then...

First day of placement today.  Bit of a let down, the lecturer couldn't make it, so we only had some housekeeping issues to sort out.  And then I had the rest of the day free.  I could have done so much like nap, do some reading, rank my jobs, go food shopping, etc. But I didn't get round to any of this.  I mainly vegged in front of my computer, half-heartedly watching iPlayer and knitting and feeling bored and frustrated.  But I don't have anywhere comfy to knit, so I didn't get oooooodles done, but I suppose some is better than none.  And right now, I know I'm feeling extra moany, but that's probably because I'm tired, so I really shouldn't say too much, as I don't know if I'll fully mean it.  But here's a list of my Cheltenham issues:
1) they're expecting me to spend half my time (or seemingly half, tiredness may be slightly, but not greatly, exaggerating this) outside of Cheltenham, just because I have a car.  They're sending me to Hereford (officially can claim 40miles each direction) which apparently would take only slightly less time than it would to get to Derby.  So I'm not impressed, especially as I will have to pay up front for petrol and then claim back, which will undoubtedly take weeks (that last part might fall under the "may not actually mean if I wasn't so tired" category)
2) lack of stuff here - no linen, next to no cookware/crockery.  The accomodation is not really exciting me at this point in time.  So frustrated about it.
3) no tv - there's not much to do in general, unless you want to spend money (e.g. cinema on next street, oh temptation thy name is Cineworld) or it involves sitting in front of a computer screen.  We're almost slap bang in the middle of town, so there's not even anywhere decent to go for a stroll.
4) the heating is crazy - I've had to turn down the night storage heater in the kitchen/lounge and open all the windows as it was like a sauna.  It was too uncomfortably hot to sit in there, which is a shame as that's where the sofas are.
5) there's no toilet paper - we have to provide our own... apparently.  I'm not 100% sure.  But I'm guessing as I can't find anywhere and now we are out.  Mmmm, emergancy run to 24 hour tesco or beg/borrow/steal from another flat. 

Good things (perhaps?) about Cheltenham
1)  I saw three craft shops today on my walk to and from hospital.  Oh temptation thy name is yarn!  I'm pleased to report I only went in and felt (get it!! and before you say anything, I did warn you I was tired) the wool in two of them.
2).... I'll have to get back to you on that...

Sarah and I did however end up chatting for nearly 2 hours this evening, exchanging woes and frustration and having some interesting ponders about the world in which we live, which was a lovely way to kill my boredom, and was ultimately the highlight of my day.  Thanks Sarah, although be forewarned, you did such a good job, maybe back to bug you again soon!

Anyhow's, off to bed now.  Night y'all and here's to a fire alarm free sleep.

Never leave towels on night storage heaters

Had a lovely early wake up call at about 7am today, with the fire alarm absolutely screaming the place down.  My first instinct was to say, "oh damn, someone's burnt their toast... who makes toast at this time of day anyway?".  But as soon as we got out of our flat into the stair well, we could start to smell the acrid, noxious fumes.

We had no idea who was officially in the building.  So we had to hope for the best.  Then there was the debate over if we should call 999 or if it was automatically linked to the fire department, as many university halls are.  We didn't really debate for too long, we just phoned straight away.  And whilst someone was phoning 999, I ended up trying to get hold of the supposedly 24hour security office, in the hope that they would be able to assist us with matters like a head count, if the fire department should be called etc.  And we couldn't get hold of them, despite numerous attempts, especially when the fire crew were trying to switch the alarm off so we could all go back inside.

Turns out someone had left their towel on their night storage heater.  I went to move my car (which was in a time restricted bay) so I missed the big "action" but the firemen managed to remove the towel and leave it on the pavement outside the front door.  I saw the embers when I returned.  Don't think they needed to do anything else, besides help with aerating the block of flats and tell off the girl responsible.  Then we were eventually allowed back in after about 40mins.  Everything still stinks like mad, and it makes my eyes water a little every now and then, but hey, things could be a lot worse.  I'm just deprived of sleep now, there was really no point in attempting to get back to sleep after all that.  So I've just randomly surfed the net instead.  It's all but time to get ready now.  I did take a photo of the fire engines, but it was on my mobile, and I currently don't have the means to upload them, so I'll put it up eventually.

Have a good, fire-free day everyone!

Busy Sunday

What a day.  It feels like I've not stopped since about 8am!  It all started with Harry and Claire wanting to borrow my sat nav, and the best time for them to pick it up was about 8 this morning.  I have a new request to crochet Harry a red hat.  I sense another excuse to do the banned wool shopping!  But he said he'll refund me the money!  Can't wait to go shopping.  I want to get a really nice yarn, and I have an excuse, and it's not random pointless shopping for a vague project in the future, so I can get away with justifying this to myself!  I really struggled to get back to sleep despite the early hour. 

I eventually dozed off for about 20mins then got up to go pick up Ru (who had spent the night with another friend) and go to her old church.  I was quite excited about this, as finding a church is one of my things that I want to do under The Rules.  I think officially it's non-denominational, but it definitely borders on being evangelical, in the big, loud, stereotypical American kind of way.  Which seems a little OTT for me, so I'm not sure if I'll give it another try.  I did like the message and ethos of the church, which had a very "let's get down to business, bypass church politics, bypass distractions, focus on the Word" feel to it.  Which I really agree with.  Too much of Christianity is taken up with needless pointless junk that's been added over the years, but isn't really part of the original message of God and it's so easy to get side tracked with it all, rather than focusing on what a relationship with God is all about and how to cultivate it.  So, all in all, I'm not sure.  I think I will try a couple of other churches, like my local CofE, despite the fact I consider myself non-denominational.

Then Ru and I decided to make the most of our time together and went out to lunch, meeting up with some other people for some Nando's.  I'm really feeling guilty about all the money I've spent this weekend, but I don't think I was overly frivolous, but I really should be more controlled this week to make up for it.

Then it was goodbye to Ru, who I thoroughly enjoyed having around, and home to pack for coming to Cheltenham.  Which is where this is coming from.  I did find someone to give a lift to, so yay for being a little more environmently conscious and car sharing a little.  The accommodation here seems okay.  A little on the small side, and there was no linen, or pillows provided.  I've managed to locate a couple of old, sad looking pillows, so hopefully it'll be okay.  But there seems to be a nice bunch of people here.  The room looks a little like this:

(low res webcam photo, but gives an idea of the size)

I've not even picked up my sock knitting today, besides to pack it, and I'm missing it!  So tempted to do a couple of rows before sleep, but I know I really shouldn't.  I need to be up in the morning, which means according to The Rules, I should be in bed and all but ready for lights out.  And I know that I never really sleep well in strange, unfamiliar beds, so I think straight to bed/lights out is the way forward.

Mmm, a day of contrasts

After a super late night last night, we had a surprisingly early morning with a phone call before 9am!  Needless to say, we both went back to sleep after this!  Then we had a perfectly leisurely Saturday morning, going to the local cafe, meeting up with some people, having brunch, reading the Saturday papers, having random political discussions.  Just really chilled.

Then I found a new project to knit... well, a new project to add to the growing list.  Harry wants me to make him a hat, which I've promised will be my next project once I've finished with the socks.  And then, Ru would like me to make her some wristwarmers.  It was originally going to be gloves, an idea which I wasn't very confident about, since I've tried to make gloves before and they weren't 100% successful.  Most likely because they had seams and were for kids, so the seams were proportionally very bulky.  So at a push I was willing to attempt an adult pair, in perhaps thinner wool.  But when we were browsing through some patterns, Ru was quite taken by some wristwarmers, which I'm more confident about.  It's a really amazing looking pattern, so I'm really looking forward to knitting them.  And of course this lead to a deliemma.  And a trip to temptation central.  We went wool shopping, and it was so wonderful.  I had to resist some serious temptations (which I did successfully) made even harder by the fact a lot of the ones I liked were in the sale.  Darn!  Anyhows, the real dilemma was that I brought the wool.  Just days after saying I wasn't going to buy anymore for a while.  Oooops!  But it was for a good cause...

Then it was off to work for me.  It was a strange shift.  It was quite laidback and not very busy.  But there were some seriously annoying patients.  Two in particular.  Both quite young, and both I wanted to slap for being annoying.  But noooo, you have to be nice to the sick guys.  One was pretty much projectile vomitting just a few minutes before dinner, then decided it was a good idea to down a glass of apple juice, despite us nursing staff saying we didn't think it was a good idea.  And sure enough, up came the apple juice and then some.  And it wasn't just that he was being like this, it was the fact that he insisted on standing over the toilet, rather than bending down (yeah, I know, too much info, but you can see my frustration), resulting in an utter mess all over the toilet and floor.  Which of course muggins here had to clean.  And there's so much infectious gastroenteritis (diarrhoea and vomitting) going round, that now I'm really paranoid that he might have it just starting and thus he'll have spread it to the rest of the ward, and worse still, to me.  So I wasn't particularly amused.  And there was another HCA working (i.e. the same position as me) who decided it was a good idea to patronise me.  This is one of my biggest beefs in life.  I'm not stupid, and I'm not inexperienced.  Don't talk down to me.  It is not the way to create a happy Ashleigh and thus a good working relationship.  And then she spent a lot of the shift (badly) whistling out of tune.  Very annoying and I couldn't really say anything to her.  It made for a very long, boring, frustrating shift.  But at least there wasn't too much physical labour involved.  Anyways, rant over.  They did let me go 10mins early, so can't complain too much!

And then I learnt of Sarah's stressful day, which made me really wish I could be there for her, and give her a great big hug, and offer my support.  So my dear, I'm thinking of you and sending lots of love your way.  As I've said so much of late, you and your wonderful family are so special to me, and I would hate to think of something bad happening.  My love to you all, my prayers are with you and an extra special hug for the one person in this world who calls me "Ackseigh" and greats me so warmly when I come round. 

Thank you God for my darling Ru-kins!

I have found time, all be it a tiny window before exhaustion takes over completely, to post a quick blog, even though it is now 2.11am (Not technically breaking my time management rules, as it's not a "school" night!).  I won't go into my next rule area tonight, I will save that till I have more time to blog about it.  So this is all about today.  Any takers for what I grateful about tonight?!

It was the last day of my placement today, which is strange in a way, and we were all rather reflective about it today as we met up for our last teaching session.  It was good to hear that other people don't think they've been as productive as they could have been - so it wasn't just me then?  We were talking about how we have to get "the fear" going to really get us motivated, and it's so true.  It's so easy to put off things we know we have to do eventually, until suddenly the immensity of the situation overwhelms and forces action.  Unfortunately for me, this fear often comes very late in the day for me! 

Then this afternoon, I decided to treat myself to a trip to the cinema.  I found out this morning that I got some tax refunded yesterday (work always do this, tax me, then end up giving it back soon afterwards when they realise that I won't be earning that much in the year after all!), not much, but still enough to afford to treat myself.  After much umming and ahhhing, I decided to go and see "Up in the air".  It was pretty good.  It's getting a lot of hype and everyone's tipping it for award's season in the US, but I don't know if it's that good.  It was slightly predictable in places, but fortunately not in all, and it was a nice fresh story (there's nothing worse than sitting though, especially if you have paid to do so, something that feels somehow so familiar).  I came so close to staying to see another movie, but then decided to be strong and not.  And then was very tempted to go and treat myself to some sushi at Yo Sushi (my true food achillies heel!), but again resisted, remembering my money rules from yesterday.  So all in all I felt very good about sticking to my rules, even if it was only after a day!  But hey, it's a start.

Then I meandered my way home, and vegged for a little while, deciding that I would tidy up in preparation for my visitor after dinner.  I made a start on my second sock, but haven't got very far.  Then I was just getting ready to heat up my dinner (I've decided to use up all the random leftover meals in my freezer, so as not to waste them, before I really buckle down with the food rules) when I decided to see if Ru had sent any word yet on her estimated time of arrival, when I noticed that being the ditzy fool I am, my phone was still on silent, and I had a couple of missed calls and a voicemail.  It was from Harry and Claire, saying that they had booked a restaurant for everyone, so we could have a little bit of a catch up, having not really seen each other since before Christmas.  Talk about in the nick of time, never got round to switching on the oven after all.  Unfortunately, they had made the reservation for less than an hours time, and it was across town for me.  So the tidying never really got done, just the bare essentials.   It was a nice little meal out, although it was at an Indian, which is not my fave sort of place to dine-out at, but I'm somewhat outnumbered in this view, and the company kinda makes up for it. And I literally just made it back home as Ru was arriving. 

And it's been wonderful.  I've really missed my Rukins.  We have so much in common, she is from Zimbabwe too, and is a medic (who passed her finals!) and is a Christian.  These are all very strong bonds for us.  And we certainly made the most of it.  Hence the writing of this blog so late.  I had with her the first really long proper chat about God and Christianity that I've had in a very long time.  It was truely wonderful and very rewarding to be able to talk to someone honestly and openly about my beliefs without worrying about offending her, or opposing her beliefs.  We also did my Bible study podcast together (WordLive podcast from Scripture Union) which was also something joyous to share.  It was wonderful to experience and grow together in our faith.  So many thanks to God for bring Ru safely back to me and for the opportunity to share with her.

So much for this being a quick/short blog.  It's now 2.48am.  Ooops, definitely time for sleep, otherwise I'll be a grumpy moo come morning!  And I have a shift tomorrow afternoon... and yet I keep on typing... can't stop... what's wrong with me?  Must sto

Hot water bottle

I've finally finished my hot water bottle cover that I've been working on for what seems like far to long, so I'll be cracking on with the socks again.  The hot water bottle ended up being a bit of a crazy mess, but hey, no one's ever really going to see it.  I made up the pattern myself, as it seemed easy enough.  It looks amazing from the front, but it took ages, so I ended up being lazy on the back.  And then I mucked up.  So it ended up being a mixture of three patterns, in a patchwork kind of way, and it's also going in the other direction to the front.  It's truely a unique piece of artwork, and I can't wait to get all snuggled up with it in a little while!

Really looking forward to getting on with the other sock now, it's going to be good to have a whole pair, it's how they're meant to be!  Also feels like the hot water bottle has taken far too long.  I really only set out to do as a quick couple of days, stash busting kinda thing (yes, you have seen this wool before, twice, Rowan's aran cardi and Sarah's wristwarmers).  So job done!

Right, area to tackle tonight is work and money management.  All in all, when looking at the list I've prepared, I actually think this is one that I will find much easier.  Or maybe that just means it's less well thought out and I haven't been strict enough with myself!

• Arrange and work 1-2 shifts a week, and not avoid work like the plague, and something I only occasionally, begrudgingly do.  
• Be more budget conscious.  This is mainly solved by issues discussed elsewhere, like food expenditure.
• Be more money organised - things like making sure my credit cards bills are paid promptly, and making sure that there's always adequate money in my bank accounts (as far as this can be done!)
• No more luxury, un-necessary spending, such as wool, until at least my birthday at the end of February.  I will allow myself the occasional cinema trip (max 2 a month - there's so much on at the moment that I'd really like to see!) but that's it.  No DVDs, CDs, clothes, etc.  I don't really need these things, so I can do with out, keeping the focus on less financial stress nearer exam time.

And that was about all I could think of.  So hopefully I can stick to them. :)

I'm really excited.  My flatmate from last year is coming to visit over the weekend, and is staying with me for tomorrow night at least.  I haven't seen her in months, and I can't wait to have a really good catch up.  She's working as a doctor in Cambridge now, so she won't be getting here until quite late, so I apologize now if my posts are scant over the weekend, I don't want to be rude to my guest.  Have a good 'un everyone.

Deja Snow-Vu

It's just like a few days ago, this being the sight to great me on this chilly morning.  I swear it's a new photo (you can tell, there's less snow this morning, honest!)

Well, in terms of time management today, I think I more or less stuck to it.  Alarm at nine, and up and about by 9.15.  Although, technically, I got back into bed, but mainly because it was cold, and I could grab my laptop and do some reading and be a little pro-active.  And then, as I had to go to a meeting I had pre-arranged with a GP to discuss my project that I'll be doing in a few weeks.  I had looked up buses, nasty winter weather stopping me from doing the easy thing and driving.  And also taking into account the bad weather, I gave myself extra time.  I ended up getting there twenty minutes early, even after taking a leisurely walk through the local park to admire the falling snow and the beautiful calm. 

 

 

How can something so bleak, so harsh, so cold, so extreme be so beautiful and awe inspiring?

And then it was back to the hospital for some teaching then home in the slush.  It may have snowed for about 16hours nearly non-stop, but it was much warmer than last week, so really didn't last.  So the journey home was slushy, dirty, slippery and completely unmagical.  The bad side of snow!

So todays action plan setting is for food.  I know that this one, in a way will be harder to implement, especially as from Monday I'm no longer in one place.  I'm off to Cheltenham on placement, and I know from experience that being somewhere strange, with unknown, unpredictable facilities always make it much harder.  But here are the aims, for what it's worth!

• Plan meals for at least a whole week at a time and stick to it.
  
• Create a shopping list, stick to it and do only one food shop a week.
• Eat healthier (I'm not talking about being a food Nazi, just better than I have been recently!)
• Cook proper meals, not just throw it in the oven and remove thirty minutes later.
• Shop local, especially fresh produce, and get more locally sourced and organic food, thus doing my thing for the world I live in.
• Less snacking, less junk, less chocolate, fewer sweats.
• Prepare (and take in!) my own lunches for most days (say 4 days a week) - I'm spending too much money buying unhealthy junk.

And that's it.  I know what will be more difficult, especially when just cooking for one, when I spend half the week in one place and the other half in Bristol, is the planning and buying of food.  I always end up buying fresh produce that ends up going off because I can't eat it in time.  The answer to this will mainly lie in the careful planning.  Which I suppose makes my excuse just pure laziness!  Lol, oh dear!  It really shouldn't just boil down to that, should it?

Anyhows, must head off to bed, I'm already slightly over my 11pm bedtime, so must head off.  Nighty-night everyone.

Not a good start

Well it's currently just after midnight... this is not a good start to trying to get my life sorted.  My first action plan group was about time keeping... yet here I am.  Where is my self-control?  It's been one day.  And it's not helped by the fact that I forgot to set my alarm properly last night, so woke up when I recieved a text at 11 this morning.  Fortunately, I didn't have anything on at the hospital this morning, but I was going to clerk, so I feel like I really let myself down.  I'm so annoyed at myself.  And I know that I wouldn't have slept in so much if I hadn't been staying up so late recently.  I know that I haven't fully outlined my plans, just talked about the things I'd like to work on, but still.  I should be doing better than this.  So it really highlighted to me why I need to buckle down on this stuff.  So... I've decided over the next few days, I'll take each of the areas and outline the things I'd like to work on and improve.  So since it seems to be the topic of the day, I'll talk about the things I'd like to achieve under the time management category.

Ultimate goal here is to keep more regular hours so that I don't walk around feeling so tired and unmotivated.  So to do this, I would like to:

• Aim to get my daily recommended 8 hours of sleep a night.
• On week nights/uni nights, I aim to be in bed by 11pm, with lights out by midnight.
• I aim to wake up at latest 9am, and OUT of bed by 9.30am at the latest on mornings when I'm not required to be anywhere in particular (e.g. weekends, uni days with no morning commitments).
• I WILL be on time to things, even if it's just meeting up with friends!

I know it sounds a little silly outlining these things as things I need to work on, they're such basic simple things which I'm not sure anyone else really worries about.  But I do.  And getting them down on "paper" is making a commitment to improve.  I do see them as weaknesses.  Especially the nearly always running late thing.  It will eventually get me in trouble that I won't be able to blag my way out of.  And the sleep rules are to help me feel more human.  It's so easy when living alone to just stay up until exhausted and then be all grumpy the next day.  There's no one to be considerate about and there's no one to tell you off, or be concerned with unhealthy habits. Maybe it's a reflection on my loneliness.  I don't consider myself lonely, but sometimes in the wee small hours, I do feel it more than at other times.  And when I look at the things that I do during these hours, they're always mind numbing, like watching utter rubbish on tv, or surfing the net looking at utter junk!  Or I'm just mindlessly knitting and not realising the time.  Then hey presto, the next day, I'm finding it really hard to suppress yawns during particularly boring tutorials.  Arrrgh, I really do need to make a change.  So on that note, I will go to bed now and not stay up rambling rubbish.

New Rules

I've decided that I need to organise my life.  I've been very disorganised recently.  And whilst I don't think that any serious harm has been done, it's not exactly been beneficial either.  I've had a long think about it, and I need to be more structured in several areas, and here they are with my reasons.

1) Time management:  I've been really bad as of late with keeping regular hours.  This is leaving me tired and unmotivated during the day.  Time management is going to be a much bigger part of life once I start work, but I think that I may as well start being a bit better with it now.  I also believe that it will be the first step in being more organised all round.
2)  Food:  My diet has been appalling as of late.  I really need to eat healthier.  Ideally, I'd like to start loosing weight again, as I've now more or less put back on everything I lost a couple of years ago.  I feel a bit like I've let myself down with regards to this.  I don't think I'm going to be uber-strict - I know that over the next couple of months, I'll be getting more stressed and this is always a snag as I'm a dreadful comfort eater.  I want to eat healthier, and be more active with my meals.  I want to start proper cooking again, not just throwing together random stuff and hoping for the best, quickest, laziest meal.  Eating better, and planning my meals better will help me feel better, more energetic and save money, as I won't be nipping to the shops so much and buying random, whatever-takes-my-fancy junk.  I also think I should be more conscious about my food choices.  Things like organic food or local produced food can help me do my bit for the world!
3)  Work and money:  I need not to avoid work.  I'm fairly good about this, doing a shift a week.  I need to keep this up to reduce money stresses later on.  If anything, maybe I could do with doing a couple more shifts here and there to really keep on top of it.  And I also need to be more thoughtful about my spending.  I need to cut back on luxury things, (especially designer wools!).
4)  Uni/Revision:  I need to clerk more often, and really start focusing on this.  I also should probably be doing more work at home, reading up about things, etc.  I don't think I need to start revising anytime soon, but I could be doing more.  I need to remember why I'm here and keep that end goal insight.
5)  Housework:  I really have been letting myself go, as it were, around the flat as of late.  I need to keep it tidier and more organised and cleaner.  I have no excuse not too.  And I know that if I have a tidier home, it'll help me focus and be organised on the other things on this list.
6)  Exercise:  I'm not talking about any crazy, hit the gym kind of exercise.  But I need to lead a less sedentry life.  I'm nearly a doctor, I really shouldn't be such a hypocrite when telling patients that exercise is good.  I know it's good, and I know that even doing small things, such as increasing my walking, are not only cheap/free but will ultimately help me feel better.
7) Spirituality:  I know this will be a slightly contentious issue for some of my friends.  But my relationship with God is something that is deeply personal and very special to me.  And it's also something that I've been neglecting a lot in the last year.  I've recently started to really enjoy coming back to God recently, having my quiet time and an opportunity to reflect and meditate.  I've realised that this is a very important aspect of my life and definitely goes a long way to helping me feel more balanced in myself.  I really need to culture and strengthen this and I know this will make it invaluable during the difficult times that I know lie ahead. 

And that's it.  Seven points that I need to work on.  And there's alot of "I need"s on that list, but that's just the way it is.  I do need to do these things to improve myself.  Over the next couple of days I'm going to come up with and fine tune an action plan to achieve this.  I'm always being told it's all about list aims and objectives and then make an action plan.  And that is what I'm going to do.  My ultimate aim is to be more settled, balanced, contented, organised, productive (in more ways than just knitting!!) and successful.  I don't believe in New Year's Resoultions, so this list is not that.  It's not something I'm saying on a drunken whim, but instead more of a well thought through set of ways that I can be a better me with.  So be prepared to hear alot about this in future posts and regular progress reports!

And on to other news.  I had a really great teaching session today.  At times it felt a bit like House (but a more jovial, less grumpy version!).  We were discussing cases with a consultant, and then bouncing ideas off each other, and discussing why we thought things were more or less likely, what was in keeping, and what wasn't.  It was so much fun, and so intellectually stimulating - things like: "well, the fever followed a few days later by aches would be in keeping with malaria relapsing, but the rash, and the prolonged time elapsed since original infection make it far less likely" and "well, bilateral arm weakness in an 87 year old would make me think of some sort of para-neoplastic syndrome version of Myasthenia Gravis... which is called... erm (prompted by the consultant) Lambert... erm... Eaton Lambert Syndrome" which made me sound soooo clever, even I was impressed with me!  Somethings I was just getting wrong (but I didn't really feel embarassed about my stupidly wrong blurting outs!), and there was loads of going off on tangents.  But it was so much fun!  I couldn't believe how quickly time just flew by!  I wish that more of our teachers and lecturers could be like this.  It really helps me feel really positive about learning and education. :)  Sometimes it's just great being the eternal student!

One down, one to do, with a quick break in between

I've finished my first ever adult sock, and I'm so impressed with how it turned out!  It looks amazing, and very colourful! 

 

 

And that was the highlight of the day.  It was yet another day of shivering around the flat, and not doing much.  I've decided to take a quick break from the socks to whip up the hot water bottle cover.  I'm beginning to think I should have just decided to knit it up in garter stitch, plan, simple and quick.  But noooo, I wanted to have some fun with some cables, which always end up taking so much long.  I didn't want to spend too much time on it, but will prob be working on it for the rest of the week.

In a way I'm really looking forward to heading back to placement tomorrow, as I'll have company and stimulation, but I'm so unused to the early mornings, and this weather doesn't make it any better.  I know that after a couple of days, I'll be back in the swing of it and I'll be quite happy, but it'll be a lot of effort over the next couple of days.  I really need to make the most of this week and be pro-active.  It's the last week of this placement, then I'm off to Cheltenham for four weeks to do Palliative Care and Oncology, which is a different pace and focus.  And it'll be back to commuting to Cheltenham.  Yay, more money wasted on petrol, but I've already spoken to someone and we're gonna try carpooling a bit, so I don't have to feel too guilty about wasting loads of fuel on just me.

And that's it.  No ground breaking stuff to talk about or to ponder over, just a boring, quite, slightly lonely day in, knitting and watching telly (Two and a Half Men marathon on Comedy Central).  I really need to find better ways to spend my days off, but without wanting to spend money or have to venture out in rubbish weather... I'm slightly limited!

Slippery Saturday

So work... well, have to admit wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I thought I'd do the responsible thing and research bus routes and timetables this morning and was happily surprised to find out that there was a bus that runs from just outside my flat to about a minutes walk from the hospital.  Yipee, minimising time spent shivering at cold icy bus stops.  And quicker home.  The ice was something crazy.  Down Gloucester Road, the pavement was fairly clear, but near the hospital they were nightmarishly slippery.  Really thought I was gonna end up on my bottom and covered in bruises.  Fortunately, somehow managed to regain my balance and continue on, paying even closer attention to my steps.

Work was interesting as only work can be... confused old man proclaiming very loudly "You are detaining me with a clamp... on my face" repeatedly much to the irritation of the other patients.  And there was very little we could do.  When ever we tried to talk to him or console him, he just got more aggitated.  And then there was the patient who wanted me to help ease his constipation in a somewhat manual way... they don't pay me nearly enough to even have that conversation let alone do it!  Yuk!  And you thought it was only kids that say weird things. 

I'm a bit conflicted with my knitting at the moment.  I brought myself a new hot water bottle, with the intention of making a cover for it.  But I'm so busy with the socks (not huge amounts of progress there today, but some!).  I decided to kinda make up a pattern (basically it's a couple of rectangles with some cables thrown in for good measure) and use up with some of the wool left over from RoRo's aran cardi.  But what do I do?  I obviously wanna use the hot water but not likely to finish the cover anytime soon.  Maybe I'll finish the first sock then quickly do the hot water bottle cover.  Anyways, this is hardly world defining stuff, so I can't belive that I managed to write a whole paragraph about it.  My life is really that mundane at the moment!

And finally, today's sock progress, taken again with the webcam due to pure laziness!  I have done quite a bit more, all things considered, although it doesn't really look like a huge amount.

Another quiet day

Not much to say about today.  I spent it in a very similar way to the last couple.  I'm getting very bored of this rubbish cold weather, although being forced to not do very much is a bit like having the holiday break that I missed out on over the Christmas break through being ill.  It's been lovely and relaxing, and for a change my flat is actually looking fairly neat and tidy.  Well, I did say fairly! I still have masses of paperwork everywhere that I really do need to sort through and file, which I've been putting off for ages, despite the best of intentions to keep on top of it all!  But I did vaccum, I'm on top of dishes, the wool and various other crafting stuff is neatly packed away (besides the current project clearly!). 

I did wonder out for a little while, as I thought a walk and some fresh air would do me good.  I decided to go to a local oriental market on Gloucester Road that usually does fresh sushi on Friday afternoons, but they had either sold out really early or didn't do it today, which was frustrating.  And ultimately I really should have gone out as I ended up buying some more wool.  It is sock/4 ply and is hand dyed and absolutely gorgeous.  Couldn't be bothered to take a photo, so here is an idea of what it is like (an image I knicked off google image search, so sorry if this has offended anyone).  It was too gorgeous to resist and I found it quite cheap somewhere (well cheap compared to prices I've seen on American websites).  But that's it, I really am going to resist the urge to buy any more yarn until I've used up all the stuff I've brought recently, and perhaps even made a dent in some of the stash I was showing off yesterday!  This is an expensive addiction which has to stop! 

Tonorrow is going to force me to really face the world again tomorrow, I've got a shift booked.  And I'm really annoyed about it.  It's not at the hospital that I usually HCA at.  It's at one that's at the other end of town.  And it's going to mean two buses, in each direction, with no simple connection linking the two.  Which will be wonderful at 9 o'clock at night after my shift in sub-freezing temperatures.  This particular hospital is one where I've refused to work at for a few years now, following some awful shifts there, and due to the extra effort that it would take to get there.  It just never felt worth it.  But work has changed the way we book shifts, and I no longer have a choice.  Which is very frustrating.  They've taken out all the flexiblity that made the job so useful.  I really wish I was in the situation where I could tell them where to shove it.  But I can't.  I need the money, now more so than ever before, so that I can be organised and not have to work too near exams.  This sucks!  Grrr!  Part of me has really wanted to cancel this particular shift, but I would feel somewhat guilty as I know in this bad weather, people are struggling to get to work, and I really shouldn't make such a fuss as we are there for the patients.  And I really do need that money.  Oh why, oh why do we have to be slaves to money?

Progress on the socks?  Well, again since I couldn't be bothered to photo it properly, I found an alternative by taking a rubbish-ish photo using my laptop's webcam.  But here is how sock number one is coming along:

I've finished the leg bit, done the heal flap, turned the heal and am busy working on the "gusset" (all these new terms that I'm learning!)

Packing up Christmas, stash sorting and sock making

Another day of being effectively snowed in.  In fact, when I first looked at the weather report this morning, it claimed that the current temp was -7 degrees.  I found it a little hard to believe, but then again, I was inside under lots of clothes and blankets with the heaters firing up.  The snow is still lying around thickly (well for the little patch of the world that I could see out of my window).

Since I was skiving another day, I decided I should be pro-active around my flat.  I took down the Christmas tree (only a day late!) and it was sad in a way to be packing away everything that I had spent so much time making, but I'll be able to dig them out for this year's Christmas too.  And maybe make some more if I have the time.  So here they are, tucked away for now:

I had a bit of a desperately needed clean of my flat, unpacking my suitcase properly (only took two shameful days!) and did some putting away.  It's still a tip, and I never got round to vacuuming like I wanted, but ooohhhh well, it's nearly the weekend, and that means a little more time for these things.  I also had a good sort out of my yarn stash.  It's almost a little shameful to see what I have accumulated in just a few months.

pre-sort

mid-sort

the wool I brought on Monday in the sale, which I'm thinking of (eventually) making a lace shawl with

I also made a bit of an effort with my dinner tonight.  I was going to make some soup, roasting some sweet potato and butternut squash.  But as it was roasting, I had a change of heart, and I went for shoving it in some pasta with some pancetta.  It was very tasty and un-soupy!

And my final activity of the day (wow, it's been a fairly lazy day!) was to make a start on my socks, the first of which looks a little like this:

I'm loving the colours of the wool, a bit brighter than I usually go for, but it's so pretty and I love the combo.  Really excited about them :)

Snowmen and skullcaps

This was the picture that greated me as I looked out of my window this morning, having listened to the radio about how the city had ground to a halt and buses weren't running.  My first instinct?  Curl back up in bed.  But decided that this would be too lazy.  Gave it lots of thought whether or not to try and trek into uni today, but decided that it wasn't worth the possible 2hour, potentially dangerous, slipping walk in, just to find out that it had been cancelled and then have to come all the way back, cold, wet and uncomfortable.  I think that if I didn't live so far away, I would have attempted it. 

So I curled up in front of the telly instead, with my knitting.  I've now completed my new hat which looks a little like this as a work in progress (trying to gauge the length, hence the needles sticking out of my head):

And it looks a little like this when finished:

It's a beautiful varigated pure wool yarn, which was lovely to work with (not too harsh on my hands, some of the pure wools I've used before have left me with dreadfully dried out hands) and I'm very happy with the outcome.  Thanks very much Sarah and the Clarks for your wonderful Christmas pressie.

I also ventured out briefly to get some food (all lovely warm, wintery things - rice pudding, hot choc, pies, breakfast oats) and was amazed by the winter wonderland that greated me.  And the fantastic spirit of the community, such as cheeky little kids throwing sneaky snowballs at me, and everyone all bundled up and in their wellies (would have been useful things!)  And there was beauty everywhere and wonderful art creations.

Just out my front door, reasurring me I did the right thing not attempting to walk in on those pavements!

Snow sticking, somehow, to one side of the trees.  Very pretty effect.

A true masterpiece watching the world walk by down Gloucester Road

And this one was huge.  I bumped into his creator too, who was busy trying to figure out the hair do (pet bedding straw, held in place by long pieces of metal bent into u-shapes).

I've just checked the current weather conditions, and apparently it's about -5 out there, so very grateful to be snug inside with good heating and cosy blankets.  I really need to make the effort to go into uni tomorrow, but I just don't think the weather will be much better than today, although they aren't predicting any more snow over night, they don't think it'll be warmer than -1, so the pavements and transport links are just going to be hideous, but hey, wouldn't life be dull without these little challenges interferring with our attempts to just get on with things?

First day of term two

As predicted, this morning was fricking freezing.  Fortunately, there hadn't been any snow overnight, so the walk in (yes, I was good and walked!) wasn't too perilious!  And I was very proud of myself, I was actually running early!  I got in to the med school with time enough to get a drink, which I was in dire need of.  I was actually rather hot and bothered after my fifty minute walk, the last twenty of which were uphill, which was fine by me, no longer cold!  This morning however... mmm, was very similar to what we were told this time last year.  It's very frustrating, it's all about getting ready to begin work as a doctor, and it's all rather tedious.  Then it was home (admittedly on the bus, don't wanna over do it!) in the snow.  It was really pretty to watch it falling as I was all dry and warm on the bus.  And then when I got off, it was really coming down.  It was so magical, there really is just something about snow falling, just calm and serene.  Luckily, it wasn't cold enough for the snow to settle, so it was just pretty to watch.  We've been predicted crazy weather overnight (apparently upto a foot of the white stuff), so I may not be liking the snow quite as much tomorrow when I have to trek in through it. 

Fortunately though, the afternoon thing was cancelled (someone somewhere got snowed in!) so this left me an opportunity to catch up on some shopping - I'm in desperate need of new hospital trousers, I've been wearing the same ones week in, week out all of last term.  Washing them regularly though, naturally!  So I thought that since I got my student loan yesterday, I could make the most of the sales and get some new ones, which I did manage to do, for £5 from Marks and Spencer.  I also got a cheap pair of jeans, since my last pair had started to fall apart on me (literally!).  It felt like a shopping slurge!!  I also decided to treat myself to some Yo Sushi, for the first time in months.  It's pretty much my fave place to eat, and it didn't disappoint!   Mmmm, tasty non-fishy sushi. 

Then on the off chance, decided to wonder round the wool section at John Lewis, in case they had any January bargins, and they did.  So I just had to get some.  There were several that I was very tempted by, but the voice of reason reigned and I only got one type of wool, a really pretty double knit with dusky, muted tones of pink and lilac.  Really pretty, and now added to the stash, and I kinda have an idea what I want to do with it, but I'll decide for certain nearer the time. 

And finally to round off my shopping spree (mmm, I know I'll be moaning about being broke soon enough!) I went and saw Avatar, in 3D.  It was stunning and very well thought through in terms of how it looked and felt, and the 3D was very well used.  However, I thought that the story was a little preachy at times and it wasn't the strongest plot.  Having said that, I'd still recommend it, and I really enjoyed it.  It was definitely a great way to end my day out.

And then it was home, and time to get cracking on making my hat, which is coming along nicely, can't wait to see what it'll be like when it's done and I can see the pattern properly, but it looks very promising indeed.  It's also somewhat strange to be thinking about the recipient.  It's for me, which is strange, I don't normally bother making stuff for me, and I do sit and think about whoever it's going to be for, but none of that now!  Very strange indeed.

And now, it's off to bed, I did resolve to earlier bedtimes this year, so can't start failing on that just yet!  Night night!