It's a book

I'm a very lucky lady and was given a kindle for Christmas. I love it, I love going away for a week and only having to carry the kindle even though I read three and a half books in that time. I love being able to buy and receive books instantly (I'm an instant gratification type of a girl).

I still love books, our overflowing book shelves are testament to that. I got my love of books from my parents, while staying with them we managed to spend a long time browsing through a book shop. My Dad, a local primary school governor, came across this book and bought it for the school. 

Kind of optimises modern day thinking on books.

I cringed when a colleague suggested buying a kindle for her 10 year old daughter. I just kind of think at that age you should still be enjoying the feel of a book and turning a page.

It's a book by Lane Smith (Amazon)

Salts Mill

Last week I had to attend a work event in Sheffield. Instead of staying the week in a hotel on my own I decided to save my employers some money and stay with my parents who live about an hour from Sheffield in Leeds.


It was lovely to spend some time with my parents, even if I did miss O (it has been a long time since we've been apart for that long). My course ended on Thursday and I decided to spend the day with my parents and travel back north on Friday evening.


We spent Friday at Salts Mill, a place we went to several times some years ago but had fallen off our radar more recently for some reason. 



Yorkshire and the surrounding area is full of huge textile mills but Salts Mill was special. Titus Salt opened Salts Mill in 1853, building a whole village (Saltaire) for his workers.The village included a church, school, park and an adult learning centre. Most mill workers lived in absolute poverty, the mill owners having little thought or concern for the welfare of their workers or the workers' families.


Salts Mill was lucky enough to fall into the hands of another forward thinking, community driven business man. Jonathan Silver, bought the Mill in 1987 and transformed it into a wonderful place of art, good food and shopping! Until he sadly passed away in 1997 Jonathan was an ever present supporter of the mill. I remember sitting in the diner having lunch while Jonathan chatted with his staff or came for a drink. The Silver family continues their support of Salts Mill in Jonathan's memory.



The third man that completes the Salts Mill story is David Hockney, who's art collection along with the works of other talented individuals lines the walls of the Mill. Currently on display on the top floor of the Mill is David Hockney's Fresh Flowers - the latest works of David Hockney created on his iPhone or iPad and emailed to the Mill.
We had a lovely lunch at the Diner, slowly strolled through the art galleries, the shops and spent and really long time in the book shop.






A most enjoyable way to spend a lazy afternoon. I would thoroughly recommend a visit. 

pictures from Saltaire Village

My husband the robot

*(source)

I think O might be a robot.

He sheds nuts and bolts randomly** all over our home.

Thankfully he isn't broken despite missing all these bits.

*I loved this book as a child

**I think they might come from his pockets but really why are his pockets so full of 'things'

Spring may have sprung

(source)

I can not tell you how excited I was to see a snowdrop on Saturday.

Even the daffodils are starting to make an appearance. 

I had very good intentions of posting actual, you know, sensible content this evening. Unfortunately I'm having to work so you get a picture of a flower.

Thank you for sticking with me through this rather quiet period. 

Flying is like drinking

(1, 2, 3)

I have decided that flying with a budget airline is similar to getting drunk. Every time I come off a budget flight, I promise myself I will not do it again. Similar to the way that in the depths of a hangover you usually mutter the tell tale words:


“I’m never drinking again” *groan*.

With alcohol I have learnt from my mistakes and misspent youth and set myself a 2-3 drink maximum and that is only on special occasions usually I just don’t drink. However, I just do not seem to be able to quit my budget airline habit. I remember the days when flying was a rarity and seemed so glamorous and I used to feel jealous of those who travelled a lot. Now it feels more like being cattle herded from one place to another and those who travel a lot have my sympathy – I really hope you fly on better quality airlines and are allowed into the lounge!

When did flying become so mundane?

Six Months Left

(source)

With the realisation that it has been six month since we got married came the unpleasant realisation that I have six months of my twenties left.

I’m not one for making lists of life goals and the things I’d like to achieve can happen just as easily in my thirties as they can in my twenties. I don't feel a need to cram experiences into a certain decade - playing devils advocate though this could also be why I never get round to achieving any of my goals because I don't put a deadline on them. 

O and I will be going to Rome at some point this year to celebrate my thirtieth – I've wanted to go to Rome for years (see above!). We don’t know when we will go, although the fact that we have friends with a spare room currently staying outside of Florence until July means probably sooner rather than later.

Any tips of where to stay, where to go and what to do would be very much appreciated. Rebecca thank you so much for your email even if I haven’t actually managed to read it yet.

Tumble update

(source)

So I promised that I would do an update on #2 after her fall. Shortly after I first posted about her fall, #2 went to the doctor and was signed off work until January. During the last 3 months, #2 has slowly started to recover.

She had train track braces put on to bring her jaw back into alignment ensuring that she could bite correctly. She had root canal on her front three teeth as the nerves in them have died. Her broken teeth have been repaired so that her smile is normal - she isn't completely happy with it but has spent so much time in the dentist's chair that she can't bear to go back yet. 

The stimulus overload took a long time to get past but she was eventually able to go out alone. As she explained when you walk down a busy high-street there is so much going on. Traffic, weather, music from shops, and hundreds of fellow shoppers having hundreds of different conversations. When feeling 'normal' you filter all of this out, you focus on the shop you are trying to reach, sometimes tuning into a particularly interesting conversation or piece of gossip. #2 couldn't filter any of it, she experienced all of it bombarding all of her senses. Slowly she has been more and more able to filter to the point where she can now drive on her on - you need to be able to filter and focus all at the same time when driving. 

Her work were incredibly good as part of their health benefits she was entitled to a counselling service which meant she had someone to talk through her issues and frustrations with - who wasn't one of the family. She began on a very slow staggered return to work, luckily she is able to work from home. She started doing an hour or so at home to spending some time in the office to spending full days at the office. 

She never did receive a report from the police about what happened the day of the accident. Simply a letter that there would be no legal proceedings as a result of the accident. 

When we visited at New Year you could tell that she was on the mend. However a couple of weeks ago we got emailed a photo from #2's boyfriend which was her on a bike ride! The first time she had been back on a bike since her accident and a sure sign that she is fixed!

Time flies...

...when you are having fun.

I can't quite believe it has been 6 months already.

(recaps)

Urgh

(source)

Today has been one of those days (there have been several recently) where big fat doo-doos hit the proverbial fan.

Both in my work life and my home life (why do my friends insist on acting like 13 year olds?)

Days like this exhaust me and make me want to crawl into bed and not get up again for a very long time.

Once I've watched One Born Every Minute and acted as a UN peace maker I'll be spending the rest of the evening here.

(source)

I'm sorry I had actually intended to write about something interesting today instead of moaning AGAIN.

My Spare Rantings

Putting siren noises into songs that are then played on the radio when I'm driving should be banned. When I hear the siren I immediately start looking for blue lights trying to figure out where they are coming from and whether I need to give way. 

Haven't figured out how to make an edit specifically for the radio when I'm driving so I've decided that sirens should just be banned from all songs - really what does it add?

Have a good weekend!