Blue finds...

We had a gloriously sunny day here in the UK today. Still very very cold but the sun makes such a difference. I had planned a big clear out but the sun was too good to waste so I decided to go for a walk. A city walk this time, rather than a country lane one.

It did take me a couple of hours to actually leave the house (so frustrating!), but I still had plenty of the day left. I drove to the old part, the Cathedral area and parked up. Having pretty much skirted the entire town, the long way, I was still feeling energetic so popped into a couple of charity shops on my way back.

I can never resist a good basket or a coastal read. I usually like my baskets more rustic but the chipped blue paint on the metal handles of this 'find' won me over. It would be perfect for filling with Easter gifts but we tend not to do Easter in a big way so it's probably destined to be a bread basket for the dining room table. The paint matches the colour of two of our mismatched dining chairs.

I also bought two more random pottery mugs for my collection. They have survived the dishwasher so they are good to use. I must photograph these some time. Chunky pottery is a love or hate thing it seems. Dad wouldn't enjoy drinking out of them, nor would my Nan have done, she sought out a proper china cup and saucer for a holiday cottage we once rented which only supplied chunky pottery mugs. Nan always did have class.

The book has planted the idea of a visit to the coast on M's next day off. A bracing walk then back to the car for a flask of tea and a picnic. Promise of a good picnic is all it will take to persuade M!

Waffling away...

It's amazing how quickly this blanket has grown. You can just about see here that I've got to finish the charcoal grey stripe before I begin to make the exact same piece all over again, with the colours in a different order. Mmmh, this is beginning to feel like second sock syndrome; it's never as much fun, but I think I will be spurred on by Jake's enthusiasm for the finished article.

I like the stitch so much I am planning a new cowl with some black aran wool I've had lying around for a while. The advantages of the stitch are that It is double sided, works up quickly, creates a gentle waffle texture that is nice and warm and interesting to look at. Another bonus is that you could easily leave the edges without a border and it would look tidy enough. I quite like the fact that it isn't (to the untrained eye) too obviously crochet.

Ticket to ride...

I forgot to tell you about our little run in with the ticket men at Liverpool station. Bear in mind that I won't even hover on a double yellow line for two seconds let alone try and cheat on a child's rail ticket!

I went through the gates first showing my ticket and stepped to one side, out of the flow of people, to wait for Ella. She was right behind me but had been asked to step aside to a third ticket inspector. I quickly went over and explained that she was with me. He politely asked how old she was and there was a worrying pause while he looked her up and down before he decided to let us proceed.

It never occurred to me that they would question her age. I suppose she does look older than 15 at times. Sixteen is the cut off point if you're not familiar with UK rules. Is this the same in other countries? Do let me know. If they had decided not to believe us we had absolutely nothing on us that would have proved otherwise.

Would Mr Chubbs, discretely travelling in her E's suitcase, have been enough to convince them? He was mighty happy to be back home and lying comfortably against his favourite bear cushion, occasionally flicking through E's latest reading matter. He doesn't know what Ella sees in John. He thinks Paul is far better looking.

Half term treats...

Ella and I both had a little pocket money saved for half term. We rarely shop, and when we do we usually have the men with us. It was nice to have that space and to go slightly mad just this once. I am usually the one in our household who watches the pennies. M is slightly more extravagant. Though I am a firm believer that there are some things not worth buying cheaply.

We didn't plan to buy footwear but Ella has been deliberating over buying her first pair of Dr Martens for some time, worried that they would make her feet look huge. When we came across a Dr Martens shop we agreed she should try a pair on for fun. Walking up and down the shop in them she said, 'Drat, I love them!' Her feet have been the same size for the last two or three years so we reckoned they have stopped growing. My daughter is so much cooler than I was at her age!

I certainly didn't expect to buy anything in there myself but then spotted the boots of my dreams! Wow, so comfortable! I rarely treat myself but with Ella's encouragement we both walked out of there with big brown paper bags and big smiles all round!

Liverpool part two...

Where to begin? I went through a bit of a Beatles phase when I was much younger and played singles on my grandparents record player. They didn't have many by the Beatles but it was the start of listening to music that I could actually make sense of ie. music that didn't drown out the voices. Stories to tell. It introduced me to 40s, 50s and 60s sounds which I then secretly listened to for years, whilst all my friends were listening to much cooler stuff like The Smiths, Eurythmics and Prince.

Now of course I am so glad I did listen to that kind of music as it has a timeless kind of quality with a feel good vibe. My ears work less efficiently now so I rely on my memory to fill in the gaps so to speak. It means I can still listen to the Beatles, Roy Orbison, Cat Stevens... And a few others, and still make sense of it. Other music sounds like machinery to me. When Ella played her music through speakers in our hotel room I instinctively looked towards the kettle and couldn't understand why it wasn't showing a red light. That's what I assumed the noise was.

Anyway, back to Liverpool and an over emotional teenage Beatles fan. She was practically in tears with excitement when we descended the steps into The Beatles Story with Hey Jude playing loudly on outdoor speakers. We stopped and read every single last word, and there were a lot of words. The early years were most interesting and towards the end Ella actually saw and heard John Lennon speak for the first time. She was mesmerised.

I can't tell you what The Fab4D Experience was like because when we got there it was out of action due to a technical fault. There was however, an exhibition of Beatles photographs which had never been shown to the public until now which was pretty good.

The third photo shows the inside of the Yellow Submarine. I took some great 'proper' photographs of Ella in there, with her digital SLR camera but she's not keen to be on my blog.

It was quite difficult to photograph anything at all due to low lighting levels and the many German and Russian visitors we went in with. They all chose to use the audio commentary devices so they seemed to drift through the exhibitions like Zombies which was rather eerie. We were the only two without headphones on and able to chat to each other!

The most exciting site we visited had to be the Cavern Club. It was impossible to take a photo, it was quite busy when we went and there was a live act on stage with crowds watching (he was rubbish according to Ella!). It really did feel like stepping back in time.

So we return with a few souvenirs. Ella has fabric patches, stickers, postcards and a sweatshirt.

So much for a day of recovery yesterday. I spent four hours just cleaning up after the men. I can't even begin to describe the state of the house and why they thought it was all acceptable. It's a mystery to me.

I will show you our non Beatles purchases tomorrow.

Liverpool part one...

I write from the comfort of a superkingsize bed with fluffy feather duvet and large cushions. I have never ached more. As my good blog friend T warned me; there's a lot of walking in Liverpool!

People seem to spend a lot of time complaining about the train services in this country but we only found it to be a good experience. It was a little busy at times but it is half term; lots of small children visiting lots of big museums.

All our trains were on time. All were clean. All the staff were helpful, friendly and polite. Not all the passengers were a delight though. The worst being a badly behaved 5 year old who only had to stamp his feet for anything he wanted. One of the things he wanted was an overpriced KitKat from the buffet trolley which was given to him without a wrapper to prevent the chocolate melting all over his hands. Since his spatial awareness was non existent we had to quickly move magazines and belongings from the table to prevent a sticky disaster, and what did the Mother have to sort his hands out with? One tissue. Useless. Surely everyone knows wipes are an essential piece of survival kit with children until they are at least ten!

I last visited Liverpool with Ella when she was seven, which was eight years ago. Since then they have built Liverpool One which can be seen in the photos below. An architecturally stunning shopping area which I imagine is even nicer in sunny weather as it is a sort of indoor/outdoor type thing with some grassy areas incorporated. It was nice lit up at night too.

Whilst the shopping area was unrecognisable the dockside hadn't changed at all and we were able to identify the spot where Ella was photographed at seven years at Albert Dock with a big ice cream in her hand.

Beatles attractions don't seem to be promoted by leaflets in Liverpool which is a bit of an oversight since we didn't learn about the magical mystery tours until we were there and had already planned our itinerary. Mind you, tours on coaches or open top buses are useless for me unless they have a printed version of the audio commentary.

It was perishing cold for the entire trip which meant we actually purchased a thermal layer for Ella. Even so it was a very bracing walking alongside the river from The Beatles Story to The Fab 4D Experience. You cannot walk anywhere in Liverpool without seeing a Lambanana. Don't ask me what these are all about, it passed me by last time too! (4th photo)

On the subject of cold again, you can see Ella in the final photo wearing a fleece all in one (a onesie) as she defrosts in our hotel room. She was so cold out walking that she announced she was going to buy one of these and wear it on top of her ultra cool clothes just to be warm, thankfully she waited until after a hot bath!

It was a nice chance to have some quality Mother/Daughter time. We played a card quiz game one evening and laughed our heads off. We did face packs another night and laughed even harder. Mainly though, we read our books and savoured the lack of disturbances that the men and dog usually provide!

I will post some of our Beatles related snaps in the next post.

Beatles crochet...

E and I are off to Liverpool tomorrow. We have done this exact same journey/trip before when E was about 6 or 7. There was some kind of children's week or children's festival on with lots of events all over the city, including a fantastic gruesome body type exhibition with a gigantic nose that seeped green slime. Just perfect for children of that age! I can't believe I was mad enough to travel all that way by train with a small child but I suppose the train journey was one of the most exciting aspects for E back then with everything of interest along the way pointed out!

This time, instead of sitting opposite a small girl with golden brown wispy curls and bright purple clothes (she wouldn't wear anything but purple at that age) I will be sitting opposite a teenager with jet black straightened hair wearing a black leather jacket and black converse creepers on her feet. Thankfully no tattoos or facial piercings.

These days E likes journeys wearing headphones. This suits me fine. I have a big thick book to read, and I am also thinking of taking a project that requires just one hook and one ball of yarn. Maybe something appropriate...

A crocheted record album!

Image 1 from: http://blog.makezine.com/craft/crocheted_record_albums/

Image 2 from: apartmenttherapy.com