Recuperating

Bex is getting over a really nasty chest infection that has needed serious amounts of prescription medicine. I've managed (so far) to escape that, but am still not all there physically. I had a really nasty muscle spasm in my leg two nights ago. It was a burning cramp-like pain, but not the sort of cramp you can stretch out or massage away. It affected my upper and lower leg at the same time (so not a spasm in a single muscle, which is what cramp usually is), and was so painful it made me cry. I couldn't move my leg for hours, and all the next day it was really rigid - I couldn't bend my knee or put any weight on it. Today my ankle is stiff and weak at the same time, and my knee is still a bit sore, but it does seem to finally be loosening up. I may have to break out the walking stick again. I haven't had to use it since last summer, but I have important meetings tomorrow, so HAVE to go to work.

As I was resting yesterday, I was able to finish off another baby garment for Tori - this time it's a cardigan, with a lime / jade speckle. I managed to find perfect matching buttons, which make it a little "out of the ordinary". I'm really enjoying this knitting. Next up is a little hoodie jacket. Watch this space.

It's cold again

Not the boiler as such this time. We can't turn it on though, because Thames Water in its wisdom has chosen the weekend to do water mains repairs in the roads nearby. Yesterday was the turn of the next street away, which meant that OUR water was going to be turned off (why?). Today its the turn of our own street. The letter put through our door stated "your water will be turned off between 8.30 am and 6 pm" - so no water for most of a whole weekend. In the event, I was out all day yesterday and Bex was ill, so spent the day wrapped in a blanket anyway, but today I am at home and IT IS COLD! It also means we can't wash (ourselves or the dishes or our laundry), and we won't be able to cook vegetables unless the water comes back on early enough. So far this year we have had about two properly "civilised" weeks. I'm beginning to take it personally.


I have started teaching again, so am busy, busy, busy - but am still finding time to knit. This is the most expensive baby jacket I have ever made (it's cashmere), and I probably won't make anything like it again, but Tori's baby deserves at least one classy matinee coat.

Back to work...

Had to brave the elements today. The pavements are still ankle-deep in snow that has now frozen into crunchiness where it hasn't been compacted into slides. I managed to get to the bus stop OK, and on to the first of my two buses. My change point is at a large shopping area, where the actual road surface had not been gritted, and where the buses had dug deep ruts. I had to cross this hazardous road, and must have been a very amusing sight as I bobbed up and down across the various ice ridges and slush ruts, trying to keep my balance in my old , very comfortable but smooth-soled boots. My second bus was completely empty (apart from the driver and me, obviously), and it felt really odd travelling alone on a (normally full) bus. When I got to work, the driveway hadn't been gritted, so it was another hazardous step-slide for a hundred yard or so - normally a nothing distance, but it felt like a marathon today. I also discovered that the snow had seeped through the uppers of my boots, so my feet got damp and really cold. Not only was I alone on the bus, but I was alone in the building until quite late in the afternoon. But I did manage to get my whole to-do list done, so it was worth while going in. We have parakeets in the grounds of the campus, and it was strange to see them against the snow in the tree branches. Sadly, I couldn't get a good picture of them, but I did get a great snowscene from my office window. Ain't it pretty?

It's snowing

We don't get a lot of heavy snow in this part of the world (surprising really when you consider how far north we are - on the same latitude as Siberia, I think - it's all to do with the Gulf Stream keeping us warm). Anyway, at the moment we are getting some of that Siberian weather, and all our buses are off the road. This means that thousands of people have had to stay home from work (including yours truly). I have to say that six inches of snow looks really pretty, but it is a pain not being able to get to work at what is a really crucial time for me. Bex is annoyed too, but for a different reason - she had booked some time off, only to discover that her organisation has closed completely because of the weather, and everyone else has time off too - without it being taken from their annual leave allowance.I made the mistake of not checking the news this morning and struggled up the hill to the bus stop, slipping and sliding on the ungritted pavement. I stood for quite a while by myself, waiting for a bus. A guy tramping by on the other side of the road called out to me that no buses were running, but I found it hard to believe. Naturally there was no information at all on the electronic noticeboard. I struggled back home down the slidy hill and put the TV on (after Bex had gone out and cleared the snow which was blocking the satellite signal) to find that it was true - ALL London buses were cancelled and 10 of the 11 tube lines were shut down too (not that that mattered to me - I can't get to work by tube). It does seem crazy that we can't cope with what to most cities this far north would consider a sprinkling of snow. If the gulf stream switches off (as is predicted as part of global climate change) it would be like this all the time in winter, and that could happen overnight, apparently. Shouldn't we start preparing?

Happy thought for the day. The boiler is working :-)