Mr Right

(source)

This picture is so far from reality it made me laugh.

O is always right, I'm sometimes allowed to be slightly right, but never 100%.

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

Sofa bonding

O is in training for a big tournament in his stupid sport. This means that he is out every evening (hoping he might take Saturday off). However it is kind of a blessing in disguise. January TV listings seem to have heard my lonely cries and come up with the business. So for most of January you'll find me bonding with the sofa watching any of the following:


The Good Wife
Hustle
CSI: New York
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Glee (although O watches this with me)
One Born Every Minute
NCIS
Brothers and Sisters


Yup I need to get a life - can anyone help me?

Wherever I lay my head that’s my home….

When I talk about going home for the holidays or the weekend I’m talking about going home to Leeds. For the last 20 odd years my parent’s house has been my home although I’ve not lived there for the last ten years and O and I have owned our own flat for the last 3 years. I think this may largely stem from the fact that they’ve been in the same house for the last 35 years and so I was essentially born and bred in that house. Where is home for you? And if it isn’t still your parent’s home then when did this change?

O is home with me for Christmas for the first time, this is our first Christmas together - I'm quite nervous/excited I hope he will enjoy himself.

*I hope you don't get this about 3 times it published before I was ready (like 4 days before I was ready)