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

Walking back to happiness...

These photo's were taken on our old coach road walk. E and her friend walking, chatting. J in shorts kicking a ball to M. It turned out to be the calm before the storm. Such is life with big children, dare I say, teenage. I think I gave my parents a run for their money at fifteen too.

Leaving father and daughter to sort out their own mess I did a sort of 'Harold Fry' yesterday afternoon. I stepped out for a sunny walk round the village and ended up having a sunny walk round three villages!

This is quite an achievement for me, on my own, since even for walks round the village it is sometimes difficult to leave the house. The weather was undoubtedly an incentive. I think it was about ten degrees with blazing sunshine. I actually smiled at the sheer pleasure of it. I set off with a thin coat on which was soon taken off, and just like Harold Fry I left the house wearing totally unsuitable footwear for a long walk. My usual every day boots have never given me any discomfort - until I walked six miles in them!

I am now sporting a huge unburst blister on the back of my heel which I am hoping will heal in time for our trip on Wednesday. E and I are setting off by train to Liverpool for a couple of days. She is a big Beatles fan so we will be doing all the related attractions.

Meanwhile M will be ferrying J to and from.... Yes you've guessed it, cricket training! Five solid days of cricket training. The smile on his face this morning says he is in cricket heaven.

Fresh air...

There's a whole lot of walking going on round here. The temperatures are ever so slightly up, the sun is out. It's very uplifting after all the snow, ice, sleet, rain and face freezing temperatures.

These photo's were taken on an old coach lane near to where we live. It is reputed to be haunted too but it's not at all spooky in the day time.

We had a glorious hour or two walking along, with the children and the dog and not an iPod or iPad in sight! There was a football but that was a small price to pay for prising Jake away from the Xbox.

Harvey was pleased to find a large puddle of course!

Simple crochet...

Sooner or later the little cogs in my brain will tell me that I need a more stimulating crochet challenge but for now I am content to triple crochet up and down (triple triple double to be more precise). It grows incredibly quickly which is surprising for quite a dense stitch.

After six colours I will be casting on for the other half of this blanket which will be constructed exactly the same way but with the colours in a different order. I can't quite see it in my mind but I think it will work out ok. Jake is checking the progress daily.

Kermit has his eye on it too.

...and yes that is actual sunshine in the second photograph. Remarkable isn't it?