I have to admit that it was the cover of this book that first drew me to it in a charity shop several years ago. I'm a complete sucker for original design Penguin books and I still always first do a visual sweep of charity shop shelves to see if there are any orange or green spines that I should look at first.The title of this one also appealed. Ever since I started reading Enid Blyton as a child, I've always loved mystery, and later detective, stories.Originally published in 1951, An English Murder is, as the title suggests, the story of an English murder. One ... read more
I despair!
I've seen something this evening that just makes me despair at some of the people who live around me!Mr C and I live in a block of flats which means that we have a communal bin store in which we have four of the big refuse bins and some recycling bins. This area is only supposed to be used for "normal" rubbish and if anyone has anything larger to dispose of they're supposed to deal with it themselves and take it to the local tip.Many of the people here just seem to ignore "rules" like his and we've had everything left in there from baths, to ovens ... read more
What I am, and what I’m not
It's strange, but at time I get this impression that I want to be some sort of power hungry business woman type. Going to work in my suit and high heels, chairing meetings, giving presentations and trying to run my project to deliver everything that is supposed to deliver. At the time I seem to think that I'm enjoying myself. Then it all gets a bit on top of me, and I realise that actually I'm not enjoying it at all.It's all too easy though feel caught up in it all and to forget what I really enjoy. I don't really want to be Mrs Corporate, but it's sometime hard working ... read more
A walk by the Ver
Despite the forecast for heavy showers, Mr C and I set off after lunch for a walk along the River Ver, from where we live in Sopwell, along to How Wood. We used to do the section of this walk down to Park Street quite often, but yesterday realised that it had actually been quite a while since our boots had taken us in that direction. Normally, we're fortunate enough to see one of the kingfishers darting along the river, but alas not today.In fact, one of the few bits of "wildlife" along that section was this cow that has obviously decided that the river was the right place ... read more
Housewife, or househusband’s, choice
I spent Saturday night staying with my Mum which meant that Sunday morning I was able to indulge myself, by staying in my dressing gown and reading the Sunday paper with a cup of tea. I luxury that is impossible at home for the simple reason that we don't get the paper delivered.One story stood out and had me puzzling for a while though. The Sunday Telegraph article entitled Don't call me a "housewife" - I'm a Chief Household Officer had me slightly enraged in parts.It talks about how women who run homes are having to apply skills that they use in ... read more
Missing needles
After a long day in the office I was quite pleased to be getting my sewing machine out this evening, even if it was initially to mend a T-shirt of Mr C's. Once that task was complete I moved on to the fun stuff and my attempt to turn an old pair of jeans (again Mr C's) into a bag that I've got an idea from. All was fine with the cutting out and some initial sewing on a single thickness of the demin. Then it all started to go a bit wrong. I wanted to over sew a seam of the original jeans, meaning that it was about a triple thickness section. It was too thick for ... read more
The Franchise Affair – Josephine Tey
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey is one of the books that I found here in the flat back in November. I went through a phase hen I was a teenager of buying up as many of the Penguin Crime Classics that I could get my hands on. I read a few of them at the time, but then managed to shockingly forget that they existed until last year.The Franchise Affair is one that I did read before, but even still I remembered it being good enough to easily read again - and I'm glad I did.Written in 1948 the book is about two women who are accused of kidnapping a ... read more
Embroidery goodies
I've spent most of this weekend up north with my Mum as her guest at the Embroiders' Guild East Midland Region's Regional Day in Lincoln.The format of the day was that there were various demonstrators showing a variety of embroidery and textile based crafts, along with stalls selling goodies (always important), exhibitions of work and a lecture in the afternoon.I've not had much experience of the EG before, so it was nice to see what they all get up to. I do get the impression that they are much more geared towards people who are professionals within the embroidery and ... read more
Exciting news!
Some very exciting chez C news to share with you tonight. Mr C and I exchanged on the house we're buying today! As a result I am ludicrously happy!Admittedly there is still a chance of things going wrong between now and completion, but I at least now feel so much more confident that come the end of July we should be in our first family home. And we feel that, finally, we can now let ourselves get excited. It also means that we're allowing ourselves to start planning ahead and start thinking about the things that we want to do as soon as we move in, and to start looking at how to buy as ... read more
Completed anniversary socks
It's taken me nearly as long to blog about these socks as it took to knit the second one!In the end it was only slightly over a month to complete the whole pair after starting them whilst on holiday in Cornwall. They were significantly easier to make after the practice on the first pair, although there are still a couple of techniques that I need to master. It was certainly nice to be able to sit in some strange hotel room earlier this week and know that these handmade beauties were keeping my feet warm. The only problem is that Mr C's now after a pair of socks, and seeing as his ... read more