more Mull

I'm pretending New Year isn't happening, well as I'm in bed with new pajamas on it seems pretty certain I'm not going anywhere. However Chocolat is on in a little while and it's a film I've always wanted to see and never got round to. I may watch that treat myself to the chocolate fondant recipe I listed in the advent calender and have some of Mum's homemade sloe gin.
I have planned my Rainbows for next term and got everything planned for next week. I'm also about to cast on a new lace project while I wait for my mittens to dry so I can check they fit before I cast on the second one.

Meanwhile some more Mull



This was the view out of the front window. We'd put leftovers out for the birds every morning and one morning we saw a buzzard/eagle on the front lawn. the debate has rang all week. If it was a buzzard it was the largest one we've ever seen, but it seems unlikely you'd get an eagle on the lawn eating leftover sandwiches!


Between us we spent most of the holiday ill. I travelled up on Saturday with a fever and generally feeling like I was going to die. I still wasn't up to much on Sunday so we just went for a walk around the cottage, and met some cows on a beach.



After that everyone else one by one fell to a vomiting and diarrhea bug, finishing with my Dad the night before we left, as a result most of the things we wanted to see before we left went un-seen. We'll be back!

The bottom fell out of his boat

If you hit refresh a few times, or if you just got lucky on the previous post then you'll have seen a few pictures of a rather broken boat. We found this on the last day on a beach quite close to our cottage. We think it had been wrecked during the dreadful weather that Scotland had a week on Friday, as the engine was still leaking fluids, and everything looked very fresh. The only thing that had been taken out was the electronic equipment in the cockpit, even the brass propellors were still there. We think the people responsible will be back to salvage more after Christmas week ( we were there on Boxing day).




He must have hit the rocks with the propellor still running, as you can see from the scrape marks. We followed the path it must have come in over as you could see marks left on the granite rocks.



The ship was called Boy David and we've tried to find out more about it but with no luck. It must have been a terrifying experience for whoever was on the boat. A real reminder of the power of the sea.

Some photos

There are nearly 100 photos from Mull, many of which look very similar, all of which show what a beautiful place it is. I'm going to write a few posts about specific things over the next few days, but for now, here's a random selection. If you hit refresh you should get to see a new selection, or you can click and go to my Flickr site.

www.flickr.com

I'm home

I'm still ill, everyone else has been ill, and we spent most of the week curled up in front of the fire in the (unheated) cottage... WE did however venture on to a few beaches, Mull in December is beautiful, pity we didn't see more of it!

More tomorrow, I'm off to indulge in another coughing fit!

December 24th

December 24th is the final day of our advent calender, I don't hold with this new fangled idea of advent calenders that go up to the 25th.
To me this seems the perfect time of year to think of others, many of us will be cutting back this Christmas but in many ways we are so very fortunate. At the time of writing this back in November millions are homeless in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I can't see that will be over by now. Think about the possibility of giving whatever you can to whomever you want to support, Medecins Sans Frontier is an excellent charity, you can donate via a link on the sidebar to the left.

Decemeber 23rd

December 23rd is time to settle down and relax. By this point I will be away on the Isle of Mull
I thought it would be nice on our penultimate day to appreciate the beauty of the world around us.


Loch Ba on Rannoch Moor, Scottish Highlands
Originally uploaded by storeknut

Isle of mull by moonlight
Originally uploaded by clivephoto

calgary bay isle of mull
Originally uploaded by norman atkinson

December 22nd

December 22nd brings us more yarn porn, this delightful sock yarn is from Violet Green , and having fondled some of this I can say it's truly gorgeous!

December 21st

December 21st is time for another Etsy seller, I always get some small sums of money at Christmas and I like to spend them on something concrete rather than just put the money in my bank account and spend it on something I normally buy!



This lovely little ring came from this delightful etsy shop.

December 20th

December 10th is time for another distraction. Christmas= hoping for snow, one place where there's lots of snow is the Himalayas, home to Yetis!

December 19th

December 19th is just enough time if you're still knitting to make this adorable guy, who wouldn't love to wake up to one of these each morning?

You can find the pattern here

December 18th

December 18th is time for a bit more video relaxation. I'm not a mountain biker in any sense of the word, but I have friends who are, through them I discovered this film, here's a little bit of it that leaves me open mouthed everytime I see it. I hope you feel the same.

December 17th

December 17th is time to explore our natural world, Charle Darwin said-
"The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree... As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications."

I love looking at the huge variety of living things out there and seeing how they are realted, I hope you find this site fun and educational.

December 16th

December 16th is time to show some love for our UK wool suppliers, I have a shade card from these guys and it seems like it's lovely stuff that I look forward to using. The price is pretty competitive for 100% wool and is spun in a UK mill, we really need to keep these mills open so please try to support them.

December 15th

December 15th is time for some distraction, right about now I'm starting my last week I'll take any distractions I can get as I get the feeling I'll be going crazy right now!
I loved playing this game last year, I even bribed classes with it!

December 14th

December 14th is time for a bit of last minute decorating. Wouldn't these stitching patterns look awesome on a stocking, or as a decoration.

December 13th

December 13th is a time to think about the big picture, where do we all fit in to what scientists like to call our universe.
Won't take long, and I promise this site will blow your mind.

More climbing photos

Some photos from last weekend so I thought I'd share them with you. enjoy playing spot the Katie in the second one!
Also a while ago I mentioned that someone broke their leg on a weekend trip away. she put her X-ray photos on Facebook and they're pretty amazing, though not for the faint hearted!


I would show the one with the pin in it but it has her name in very large letters so I don't think she'd appreciate it!

December 12th

Wedding Ring Blanket
Originally uploaded by knitityourself

Today is a day for admiration, this is one of my favourited projects on Ravelry, I'm totally in awe of it, I'd love to make one like it.

December 11th

December 11th brings a web site, right now I'll be eagerly looking forward to my holiday, I'll be in a cottage in Mull over the holiday where there is no TV signal, I will need entertaining!
I found this site a while ago, but never got round to finding an audio book to download. Basically it's a library of free audio books recorded by members of the general public. They don't have every book but the selection is pretty wide.

December 10th

December 10th already, how did that happen?
Today brings some photo goodness from an old friend of mine.

He's got a photo site here if you want a further look.


Grrrrr why is my blog screwing with pictures and how do I fix it???
If it wasn't for the fact that I'd lose my lovely progress bars I'd be over at wordpress before you could say "blogger is a piece of uncustomisable crap".

A Christmas meme

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Pretty certain Egg Nog has cinnamon in it, and cinamon is the spice of the devil!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Why do some people not wrap their presents???

3. Coloured light on house/tree or white?

I am a lover of white tree lights, coloured ones somehow look more Blackpool illuminations than festive imo.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Possibly would if I got oranised enough to buy some!


5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually around the 1st of December.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Sausages wrapped in bacon, they’re yummy!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?

I really don’t have one, lots of memories but none I’d really label as favourite. Maybe going skiing in Austria, that was pretty magical.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I have no idea, I just know that one year I knew he wasn’t real.


9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Never!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

Lights then tinsel, then decorations, then silver sparkly stuff!

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?

Love it, would love it even more if it happened some time over the next 2 weeks so I could have a day off!

12. Can you ice skate?

No, just no… my bum will thank me for it!


13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

Maybe my first bike… or my first mobile phone!


14. What is the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Right now, the thought of 2 weeks off and not having to go to school, a couple of days in to the holiday I’m sure I’ll say spending time with my family!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Sticky Toffee Pudding, closely followed by trifle!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
We like to change things round at our house. We always used to stay home, then we has a phase where we visited relatives, then one year we went skiing, and recently we’ve been going to holiday cottages. This year we’re off to the Isle of Mull, next year I’m fancying the New Forest.

17. What tops your Christmas tree?
At the moment nothing…

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

I love the act of deciding what t get for someone and then getting it right!

19. What is your favourite Christmas song?

Little Drummer Boy or if I’m being non traditional, A Spaceman Came Travelling.
20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?

All that sugar? Yum!


21. What do you want for Christmas?

I think I’m getting some new climbing ropes, but I’d also love some sock blockers, oh and my camera is slowly dying!

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party?
I always go to the climbing club Christmas do


23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's?

Christmas Eve I’m usually out walking, so usually dressed up in lots of layers!

24. Do you own a Santa hat?

Oh yes, and I wear it!

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?

Family


If you want to have a go then please do, and leave me a comment so I can come visit!

December 9th

December 9th brings you another how-to. every year I cut some of these snowflakes out and put them on my window in the hope it will inspire the weather gods to treat me to some snow!

December 8th

WEll December 8th sees me in a contemplative mode, so today we have a video to watch. I don't think I've posted this here before, but if I have then I'm sure you won't mind.

Some slate climbing

I do hope you're all enjoying the advent calender. I'm back from a really lovely weekend where it didn't even rain! As a result I got 2 days of climbing in. I don't have masses of photos, as I spent the 2nd day taking lots of photos on someone elses better camera. As soon as they go up on Facebook then I'll share them here. However here's what I did get taken before then.

The winner of the mitten contest was Abi, I've sent her an email so hopefully she'll get back to me.

December 7th

DEcember 7th has arrived, and I have forseen that you are in need of a treat. This is a Gordon Ramsey recipe that I got off the internet somewhere and is my go to when I need a chocolate fix, so much better than just chocolate by itself! For hassle free cooking I don't bother greasing and dusting the ramekins, what's wrong with eating it straight from the ramekin itself!

Hot chocolate fondant


Ingredients
2 servings

50g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
2 tsp cocoa powder, to dust
50g good quality bitter chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), in pieces
1 free range egg
1 free range egg yolk
60g caster sugar
50g plain flour
icing sugar to dust
vanilla ice cream to serve

Method
Preheat oven to 160˚C/Gas 2.
Butter two large ramekins, about 7.5cm in diameter, then dust liberally with cocoa, shaking out any excess.
Slowly melt the chocolate and butter in a small bowl set over a pan of hot water, then take off the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Using an electric whisk, whisk the whole egg, egg yolk and sugar together until pale and thick, then incorporate the chocolate mixture. Sift the flour over the mixture and gently fold in, using a large metal spoon. Divide between the ramekins and bake for 12 minutes.
Turn the chocolate fondants out on to warmed plates. Dust the tops with icing sugar and serve with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

December 6th

By now the present panic may well of set in, if it has then I may have a solution. I read Moonstitches blog regularly, but I also love this tutorial on how to make a book cover. With some cheap plain notebooks, a bit of skill and time this could be an amazing Christmas present.

December 5th

With only 20 days left until Christmas I bring you yarn porn-

This is a Posh Yarn, it's 80% merino 20% cashmere. Every week Dee uploads a variety of fabulous colourways in luxury yarns, and I have to wipe the drool off my keyboard.

A quickie

Just a short post to say I hope you're enjoying the advent calender and also to remind you that you have until midnight GMT on Thursday to enter my competitionI've only got 1 entry so far so you could stand a chance of winning!
I'm off on another club trip away this weekend hopefully I'll come back ok, I really don't want snow! Cooking Christmas dinner for 35 will be stressful enough!

December 4th

December 4th brings us a picture, every now and again I go on to deviant Art and am amazed by the quality of art work I see. This was one of the pictures on the first page I saw, I'd love to live somewere with a view like this.


You can find it on the original site here

December 3rd

Happy december 3rd. Today I thought I'd bring you a bit of inspiration for a Christmas (or whatever you choose to celebrate) present. I opened up my etsy page and this was the first thing I saw, I think it's beautiful (though a bit out of my budget!)



You can find it here.

Daecember 2nd

Happy december 2nd, I'm guessing at this point you're all starting to think about house decorating if you are so inclined. So today I bring you a link to a site showing you how to make really simple paper snowflakes, what with the credit crunch and all that melarky I'm sure we could all do with some cheap decorations.

December 1st

In the first of your daily advent calender posts I bring you a video. It's the trailer for one of my favourite climbing films, I love the photography in this video and Dave Birketts no nonsense approach to climbing. Enjoy

In the bleak mid winter

Well not quite mid-winter but it certainly felt like it when I woke up this morning to fog and everything covered in frost. I couldn't resist going to fetch the camera to share the scene with you.





PS. I've not had many (aka. none) entries for the superhero competition, seriously people I am on a stash busting mission, don't let me suffer here!

Heroes (and villains)

Last night I was at a fancy dress party with the uni climbing club. We shall not go in to my costume here, it was a joke that you need to know certain people in order to get...
However we shall go in to the costumes of others.

Here's a taster, that would be my younger brother and our chairman.


Now here's the deal, i have a set of photos from the night that you can find in here, I want you to identify as many characters as you can. When you think you have them all (some are UK cartoons so if you're american you may need to get googling!), send me an email with the complete list of all the characters you can spot. The email is hilltopkatie at gmail dot com

Winner gets a choice of prize, if you knit then you can have a ball of sock yarn your choice of this
or this and I might throw in a few other goodies.
If you don't then after Christmas I will knit you a pair of these, colour will be my choice I'm afraid in an effort to use up all the end balls of sock yarn I have.


Edited to add that the deadline is Sunday 14th December midnight UK time, please feel free to tell others!

A fun day

i have had a really good day. One of those days where nothing (touch wood) has gone wrong and that I really think the pupils have got something out of!
My Year 8's actually allowed me to go through their test without me loosing my voice shouting (turns out none of them can do chemical formulas but this is why we give them tests!), my Year 7's had me in stitches talking about reproduction. In answer to "How do animals reproduce?" one said that the male gets on tops of the female and they do "things".... I did have to fight to keep a straight face! My Year 12's vaguely did some work and actually seemed to appreciate that they are getting some revision lessons, though they're not entirely getting the hang of the actually answering the question part... Still it makes for funny staff room conversations.
Then my last lesson was with a group of Year 8's who for the past 10 weeks have made it very clear that they much prefer their other teacher. Today though we had a great time. They have just finished 3 modules and have had a test, for the week while we mark tests and work out who needs to move up or down sets we're doing a fun week. Today we had to a container preventing an egg from breaking when dropped! I ended up knelt on a stool on the side bench and we still couldn't break the eggs from some groups. It was great to be able to relax and not worry about them learning anything in particular at the end of the lesson!

To end on a touch of realism Tuesday are always a dreadful day....

Christmas is coming

The Christmas knitting is continuing apace, so much so that I have a certain level of confidence that it all might get done! (Though Dad you might have to watch me knit your socks while we're on holiday, at least they'll fit!)
I'm starting to get excited about Christmas, so I thought I might share a little of my anticipation with you. Thanks to Bloggers post on the date you say feature I'm going to set up a bit of an advent calender on here. What will be in each post will vary, just like the content on this blog, I hope you'll enjoy it.

PS. I've written all the posts in advance, if a picture doesn't appear because it's moved I do apologise.

PPS. Thanks Sam, If any of you want to join me in this that would be lovely, so far I've used video, websites, how-tos recipes and pictures, who knows what else

Yarnanimals posted a link to this video in The Garden shed on Ravelry. I couldn't resist sharing it with you. Unfortunately it's not on Youtube so you need to go look on the BBC site to see it as I can't embed it here.

Fireworks

The reason for the posting silence was yet another weekend away with the uni club. Yes I know I've graduated, but all my friends are still students, and besides it's a good laugh.

There were games



and fireworks



and even some walking (sorry no photos, as usual I took my camera and it never left my rucsac, I'm waiting for someone to upload some on to Facebook!)

There was also some drinking, minibus driving, and a broken leg. However we don't want to go in to details about that, it all worked out ok, and it's a risk we accept when we go climbing.

November sunrise

Everyday I wake up at 7.10am, as the day's are getting shorter it's getting darker and darker in the mornings. this morning I awoke to this.


There are some advantages to being up early, if I wasn't up I'd never have seen such a beautiful sunrise, the picture really doesn't do it justice.

We will remember them...

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the guns stopped firing.


Sounds such an innocent statement doesn't it? But at that point in time the carnage of the First World War finally stopped. In total between 20 and 40 million people died (according to Wikipedia), this is soldiers, and civilians from both sides. A whole generation was wiped out. This was the first of the "modern wars" and was all the more brutal for it, it led to the invention of all sorts of wonderful things, but cost millions of lives. at the time it was thought that it was the wars to end all wars, and never again would families live in fear of letter and telegrams.
In hindsight we know this isn't true, many more people have died in wars, that's why at 11.00 today we need to remember, not just the soldiers who fought in a war 90 years ago, but those who have fought in every conflict ever since.

(In case you're wondering why the poppy? After the carnage of the First World War over the fields of Flanders ended the first thing to start re-growing were poppies. )

p/hop

The sharp eyed among will notice that over in the side bar is a new widget (ps, does anyone know how to put a space back in between my posts and my sidebar, sometimes I know just enough html to be dangerous to myself!)
The fabulous Natalie over at The Yarn Yard has started this. she's persuaded a load of designers to offer up free patterns, in exchange you donate pennies/hour of pleasure, however much you want/can afford in recognition of the hours of pleasure knitting the pattern gave you. All the money raised goes to Médecins Sans Frontières UK, some of you will know that The Yarn Harlot has done so much fundraising for Médecins Sans Frontières under the name of Knitters Without Borders, it would be lovely if we could even do a tenth of much as she has for what is one of the few worthwhile charities I seem to come across.

Speaking of knitting, I shall love you and leave you, I need to get knitting if my Christmas presents are to be done in time.

Grey

The weather is very grey at the moment, if you look over at the side bar you will see I'm knitting something in colours to counteract this, definitely yarn to look at when you have a hangover! Also to counteract this are some photos from a couple of weeks ago when I was climbing in Wales, I've almost forgotten that the sky could be blue(ish!)



On another note, I was awoken at 11.30 last night by a slightly frantic housemate who had noticed water pouring through our living room ceiling. Turns out one of our taps had sprung a leak! After some attempts at a DIY fix we started playing hunt the stopcock to turn off the water. By this point water was starting short the light so we had to switch the fuse for the lights off. All the while we're trying to ring the landlord to find out what to do, with no response. She eventually rang us at 7.30 the next morning, and true to her word did indeed come round with someone and sort out the leak. Unfortunately the ceiling looks a little worse for wear... though it could have been worse, some night's the first we'd have known about it would have been the crash as the ceiling fell through!

It's nearly all over

Thank heavens, hopefully by this time tomorrow the American people will have exercised their democratic right and voted. I won't be sad to see the end of this, this election feels like it has gone on for ever. What I do find interesting though is how this election has captured the imagination of the kids at school. I put BBC news (it's stremed over the internet) on at school in registration today and they knew who all the candidates are even had opinion on who they wanted to win. I bet the same could not be said of politicians in our own country!

Anyway I must dash, I'm taking my rainbows for a night walk in the drizzle... we have sparklers though so all will be well!

why do we teach? Might be something to do with this!

I just got back from a week in mid wales with my parents and some friends. It was just what the doctor ordered, I feel ready to face the next 7 weeks. We got up to an awful lot, I'm going to put a few photos here, if you want to see more then feel fre to click on them to go to my flickr page. If you're beady eyed you'll also notice some progress with the Christmas knitting, not telling who for though!


The cottage had a hot tub... after some days it was very much needed, I've not done this much exercise in ages!

The scenery was beautiful, and the weather even obliged on occasion.


Though you can see from this picture how much it had rained... yes that is a bike nearly underwater.

Oh and it snowed... lots.. enough that we were wading thigh deep later in the day, that got boring pretty quickly so we cut that walk short. It's not meant to snow this much in October!


I also found when I uploaded these photos a couple more climbing shots from the last club trip away, I'll put those up soon!

One down, 5 to go

I have just completed my first half term as a teacher, 8 whole weeks of proper teaching, proper timetable, nobody looking over my shoulder teaching! We're just about to get the new batch of PGCE students in to school, I saw a copy of their timetable yesterday and gasped. I'd forgotten how little I used to teach. I remember all to well how tired it used to make me though!

I'm just off to the end of half term social with all the other science staff. I feel so lucky to be in such a wonderful department, I was chatting with my mentor today and she complemented me on well I was doing, how well I fitted in, and how organised I had been. it feels good to be told I'm doing a good job!

Anyway, the pub is calling!

Another year, another weekend in Wales...

A few selected photos from this weekend. Saturday was spent climbing, for which I have no photos.. hopefully my younger brother will put the ones he took up on Facebook soon. All the ones above are from sunday when the weather was mostly rainy and windy so we went to Dinorwic slate quarries just above Llanberis. The abandoned industrial setting is both bleak but in it's own way beautiful. Seeing the quarries when they were being fully worked before the age of true mechanization must have been amazing.

The tyre shot is what happens when a minibus tyre tries to argue with a rock and looses, luckily they're double wheeled so we made it to a car park before we even realised anything was wrong!

I'm keeping it short and sweet for this post, I'll be away on holiday for all of next week, if I don't squeeze in another post between now and then it will be because life has caught up with me again...

I'm off to unravel a sock heel that took me 2 hours to knit, because I was in denial about how large the heel needs to be on a mans sock.. this thing is child sized, why it took me so long to come to my sense I have no idea!

We have a winner! (and a loser)

Well the winner part is Han5nah T. the Manatee, I used a random number generator to pick a comment number and then just counted from the top and hers was the one I got to. I'll put them in the post as soon as I get an address.

The loser on the other hand would be me, the reason for me falling off the face of the blog last week was a crazy busy week made worse by the lack of a car. My brand new car broke down 1 week after I got it, and then spent a week in the garage due to the part that arrived being faulty! I finally got it back today, and managed to drive all of 500 metres before I got stuck in the middle of the junction with no power in a repeat of the same problem that was supposed to be fixed.... I'm ringing the guy I bought it from tomorrow. Spending £700 on a car I only just bought has broke my heart!


Hopefully tomorrow I'll post some pretty pictures of my trip to Wales this weekend, tonight I need to sleep, cooking for 60 people and driving a minibus about all weekend will do that to a girl!

A giveaway

Bought to you via Crochet and Knit Giveaways
Giveaway Item(s):One pair of ribbed handwarmers as shown below.


How the winner will be chosen:All comments left will be given a number and I'll use a random number site to pick a winner


Giveaway Begins:Today


Giveaway Ends: Sunday 19th midnight UK British Summer time


Winner will be notified on/by: 20th October via email


Rules: No duplicate entries/comments. No spamming. Giveaway is open to everyone. Winner MUST respond within five days, otherwise they forfeit their winnings, and a new winner will be announced.


How to Enter:Just leave a comment here, please tell others about it, and go and check out the other blogs who are doing a giveaway.




Find other Crochet and Knit Giveaways to enter!


Here's what you could win, they're knitted using superwash sock wool, which I think has some nylon content (not entirely certain as it didn't have a ball band when I got it), so should be find machine washing at 40 degrees centigrade. They fit me, I have small hands, but also fitted on my Dad's hands, and would fit a largish clild as well. If you wnat them please leave a comment and I'll pick a winner. I am happy to pay for shipping, and no I don't mind sending them internationally.

Edited o add- there are a few comments below where I'm not sure if they're entering or not. If you do want to enter then please make it clear in your comment. Also can you either leave your email, or make sure your blogger account is set up so I can email you. I'm going o presume all comments before this do want to enter, if I discover the person who wins didn't mean to enter then I'll redraw.

This could be the straw that breaks the camels back...

I've just finished a really upsetting phone call. It was from one of the wonderful Guiders in my district. she has been running her unit for just over a year, and has had enough.
Really it's a combination of factors, she's started a new job, she feels inexperienced and feels like she's not planning a good enough program, the parents don't support her when she needs an extra adult, and the behaviour of the girls is very poor.
She's said she can stay until Christmas and after that she wants to carry on as assistant but no more.

This is the 2nd Brownie unit in my district that will be or is currently without someone to run them. I also have a guide unit with 40 girls currently being run by just 2 guiders. There is not a unit in the district that I feel is running to the potential it could be due to a shortage of regular helpers who could help share the load. There are 300 girls in units in my district, and so many of their parents view Guiding as a right. Despite many pleas for help the stock answer is that they are too busy. I long to wave my diary in their face, tell them what my week has been like, tell them just how few hours I spend at home between leaving for work, arriving home, leaving again, and coming home and collapsing in to bed. Tonight is the first night I will have in this week, next week is much the same.
I run my own Rainbow unit, am district commissioner, catering officer for the climbing club, am a first year teacher and I would quite like to actually see my friends and family occasionally. If I can do it, anyone can, for the most part we don't even want someone to organise meetings, we just someone who will turn up regularly for just an hour and a half a week.To me it's just another example of the selfish nature of society at the moment.


/rant over, normal service will resume tomorrow with a giveaway!

A delightful surprise

I had a wonderful surprise this morning,I collected a parcel from the post office and the contents were amazing. A while ago I won a caption competition over at Yogic Knitter. My prize parcel arrived today.

some lovely goodies


and a ball of fabulous sock yarn.

Thank you so much!

PS. If you fancy getting a nice parcel in the post come back on Saturday when I will have my own little giveaway.