Bartimaeus

It has been pretty sunny but also with quite a cold wind lately. But it often warms up a bit in the afternoon. I made a plan to visit a friend, who has been on a canal boat holiday with us once before. We were going to meet at an outside cafe but due to waiting in for a delivery,  the plan switched to sitting on her patio. It had been gorgeously hot the previous day but a haar had come in and I was well wrapped up for the visit. Jenny had made up for the lack of a cafe visit by providing frothy milk for the coffee and had baked scones which we had hot straight from the oven with butter and home made jam. The cafe couldn’t have topped that. It was worth the venue change for me but her delivery didn’t show in the allotted time after all!

Her husband had decorated the table in my honour with a metal jug, painted in traditional canal boat style, that had actually come from his parents’ narrow boat with the boat name and roses painted on it. They really must join us on Bartimaeus! Though he may be disappointed the boat is so modern and lack the traditional feel. 

Having sent off the dolls I had a little pause without knitting and then decided to get going with my new year’s resolution to make socks this year. I had bought myself a skein for Christmas and decided to make a start with it. First the skein had to be wound into a ball and I can do this alone but it works better if Shane obliges and he is very good at helping, not merely holding the skein, but angling and moving it in time with the winding and anticipating or sorting  tangles; altogether superior to the back of a chair! So it was as well to crack on with that job this week. The wool has muted shade of green and purple but also some hot pink. It actually looks quite muted in the picture.

Shane has had a frustrating time with his plumbing job and eventually, having tried many times and methods to make a complete seal, he decided the supplied part must be faulty. He managed a spot of grouting when I was with Jenny. He has contacted the suppliers and after a couple of exchanges they have decided to send a spare part “in 2-7 working days”.

When there isn’t a haar it has been very pleasant walking weather and we have been to Arthur’s seat, avoiding the actual top as it looked surprisingly busy for midweek. Taking a different route down , we heard lots of twittering coming from the gloriously yellow gorse bushes. It must be a safe space to hide. We stopped long enough to see chaffinches with pretty pink chests flitting in and out. This route also allowed us a chance meeting with a friend out cycling, trying out her own folding and electric bike.

Today on a totally different walk, along the canal we enjoyed the sight of a couple of splendid wide beam boats taking passenger groups. We also had another chance meeting with a different friend out on his bike, it was great to meet them bit and catch up a little, we hadn’t seen either of these friends for a couple of years.

Another person I haven’t seen for a couple of years is my sister Anne in London. We have been in regular contact electronically, especially this month as she has me the daily poetry prompts and we exchanged our efforts. This week she decided to visit our sister in Dundee and do some hospital visits. While I am avoiding trains, several other family members have been visiting her. I realised that Shane had estimated that we might have reached London by about now on Bartimaeus. I managed to catch a short chat in Princes Street Gardens with her in the half hour between her trains going home. It was so good to meet face to face and she even got a chance to hear some splendid buskers. 

Anne also gave me some wool she had seen and bought thinking of me, though she herself does not knit. It is a nice pink and grey colour combination so I will have another project to think about to use those. It’s a bit chunky for socks, with a crinkly texture and there are several balls so might be enough for a cosy scarf or even gloves and hat.

After she had got back in her train I watched the buskers accompanied by some of a hen party dancing along to the cancan played on the bagpipes. I made my way slowly back home. Shane had been out getting the pre-op COVID test, so it was excellent timing. We have been watching the cherry blossom opening on the Meadows getting fuller through the week. I was one of many people taking photos and I heard one person say “Who needs to go to Japan?” Even with a poor camera you get an idea of how stunning they look.

Like meetig with people, the real thing is better than the electronic version. With the wind the blossom might not last long. I will need to check it out regularly over the coming days.

There are beautiful flowers everywhere in many colours right now so there will be no shortage of colourful flowers even when it goes.

Shane has been preparing for going to hospital and assembling items, annoyed we had left two suitable bags on Bertimaeus. He has looked through a variety of different styles and sizes an so far has his stuff in this one, which is not his usual style. I am not sure if he will fit in his dressing gown as well…might need a bigger bag.