Bartimaeus

During the cupboard clearing and reorganising, I decided to use up, rather than storing indefinitely, a rather unusual item. Rab and Gail came to our rescue when we needed a house watcher for an indeterminate amount of time, and they did some house improvements while they were here, and opened our mail for us. They could see from the medical letters that looking somewhere else might be useful. Packing a whole house is hard but finding your own stuff in someone else's is even harder going. Every so often we find a towel or some other item and think it is theirs. They had left a humourous toilet roll behind and when I offered it back they insisted we keep it. Eventually I had decided this was the time to use it, no particular occasion - we hadn't run out even. To my surprise the first one on show was about Clare! 

As part of our rearranging we went looking for furniture. There are a few antique shops on Dundas Street. We saw nothing ideal but one shop owner took our details in case he saw something that suited our requirements. We continued down to the Botanics, where we met Kate, who we had known from when our children attended Woodcraft. She was with a friend of hers we didn't know and Kate explained to her that Shane always wore red. Shane unzipped his jacket and revealed he was wearing 5 layers of red clothing over his chest. It is helpful when I am ordering at a cafe counter and they ask what table I am on - I can always say "the one with the man in red sitting at it", whatever he is wearing.

We had a meal out recently for my friend Peter's birthday - a curry to warm us up on a cold damp evening. We went to Kalpna, which is a vegetarian Indian restaurant that has been in Edinburgh for over forty years. I had their special, stuffed potatoes on a cream and tomato sauce. Shane made a spectacular choice, the thali. It was a three course meal for one with five curries in the main course. There were four of us at the table, Peter, Helena, Shane and me and you might be forgiven for thinking this was for more than one of us.

We were brought 4 desserts, on the house. We pointed out there was already one on the thali tray, but she gave us four anyway so I got an extra extra pudding, as Shane didn't  think he could manage another - just as well I hadn't ordered a starter. I was pleased we had had a night out with Peter, as he was about to head off to Grenoble, but not for a jolly like us, as he has lectures and workshops to lead. The téléferique is not normally working in January but I recommended some other attractions we had visited, if he has spare time.

We met up with another Woodcraft couple, Cath and Michael the next night to find that Cath had lived in Grenoble for a year back in student days. It was rather a long time ago, so the places she remembered were not necessarily still open. They was also asking for some holiday advice as they are going to the Netherlands and we have been a few times so we had a few recommendations, along with our beers (another good Dutch experience). Michael twice got a pint when he had meant to get a half, but was coping admirably. I was having more beer than usual too.

Shane coped admirably with some wild cycling weather that weekend. Storm Ingrid didn't stop him. As usual, they had made careful plans to take a train out and cycle home with Ingrid on their backs, and out of their faces. I was staying in during the day with plenty knitting to occupy me and it was the Big Garden bird watch weekend. I wasn't sure much would appear in the front garden with the windy weather but the blue tits came to the fat balls a few times. 

A blackbird and a dunnock paid brief visits. There was a flurry of activity as two coaltits chased each other, flirted and were making attempts at mating it seemed. They didn't stay still for long - I tried photographing but they were just a blur. That was more activity than I expected on a dull cold day. A robin also put in a late appearance. 

I had just been brought a large supply of wool which was an offer I couldn't refuse. It included a started adult cardigan (the back and half a front) and the pattern for it so I am trying to finish it - matching the tension is quite a challenge. I have had many attempts using different sizes and types of needles. The wool is called Grampian and has a flecked appearance which I hope will mask the change in stitching from one knitter to another. It is a very 80s pattern of a double breasted design, so much of one ribbing will be hidden by the other. I don't know if it will stretch over my tummy. I should have put the buttonholes over a bit perhaps.  

I have also been made recently aware of a pattern called Melt the ICE hat that is a resurrection of a much older pattern based on the hats Norwegians knitted in the 1940s to show silent solidarity and opposition to the occupation. The hats were banned. Knitting calms the knitter but riles the one who wants you scared and cowed, not strong and resistant. I've bought the pattern but not started it yet. I don't have red Norwegian wool (I have a ball of Norwegian blue) but I have the right amount of Swedish in red.

It is a good hobby for a wild windy day. The front door was blowing open reminding me of the Burns song about his birth day: "twas then a blast o' Janwar win', blew hansel in on Robin". We had a haggis on Burns night and enjoyed a substitute root mix for neep which was nowhere to be found in my local shops. I used some of the root veg the next day, continuing the Scots theme with some Scots broth. It is a long time since I had a guid bit o' barley. We had another outing to the antique shops and found items as old as Burns himself at Georgian Antiques, a huge five storey warehouse crammed with furniture, foxes, and many other curiosities. 

Animal parts were made into tables and chairs in this section, but these were not what we were looking for. There was plenty to choose from but we were not purchasing yet. It was like a museum in there. You can pass hours wandering the floors on a wintry day. It keeps you dry but not warm. The staff had big padded coats on.

I asked to use their toilet before I left and was amused to see their toilet roll displayed/stored on an item of furniture I associated with a Victorian parlour.

Meanwhile we have finished the limerick toilet roll. Some scaffolding has gone up in our back garden, for work to be done in the roof, so there is currently a possible view in through the unfrosted upper pane to the shower room and toilet, where it is normally safely private from prying eyes. No peeping Toms so far but I will be preferring the other windowless bathroom for the time being.

There once was a shrewd man named Shane,
Who installed a frosted lower pane,
Till a workman's erection,
Meant a toilet inspection,
Had a view that was perfectly plain.