If I was a ... I'd be ...

Season :

I'd be winter. I count down the days until the snow begins and spend far too much time frolicking in it (so if you see strange footprints in the snow in Leicester - there's a good chance it's me!) Plus, I'm one of the strange people who overheats in winter and doesn't require 16 million layers! This winter will be extra special as we celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

Colour :
I would be the deepest shade of blue - the colour of Van Gogh's Starry Night, the sky twinkling with stars - bliss. Hence the colour of my wedding dress.

Scent :
I'd be home baking. I aim to do at least one bit of home baking each month, and usually end up doing more. Nothing is more enjoyable than the scent of cakes and biscuits coming out of the oven.

Time of Day :
I would be three o'clock in the morning. It's the hour where most people are asleep in bed and the world is still and dark.

Food :
I'd be coconut - white creamy goodness that's perfect for any occasion - cocktails, cakes you name it.

Drink :
I would be a tall glass of Baileys, because let's face it pub measures aren't big enough - it has to be a tall glass!

Stone :
I'd be Snowflake Obsidian. I own quite a few chunks of the stuff and I love the contrast of dark and light, plus who doesn't love a snowflake!

Flower :
I would be a Crocus. I love the carpets of crocii at the onset of spring. Although I'm sad winter is over, I love seeing the little champions emerge from the soil and snow.

Place :
I'd be a hidden woodland copse. I think these places are so magical and beautiful because they untouched.

 

Sources : Season, Colour, Scent, Time of Day, Food, Drink, Stone, Flower, Place

I found this post via Silver Pencils and An Imperfectly Perfect Life.

So what would you be?

The Road Less Travelled Part One

As you'll know by now, we didn't get to go on our fantabulous road trip and we're not sure when we're going to get to do it.

So that all the research I did was not for naught, I ask you to come with me on a virtual road trip to show you what we would have done :

Day -1 : Staying at the Premier Inn, Dunkirk, Canterbury overnight ready to catch the ferry in the morning to France!!!

Day 1 : Taking the ferry from Dover, England to Dunkerque, France. Maybe I'll repeat what I did the last time I was on the ferry (and no, for those of you who were with me on that school trip, I will not fall over!) but sing to the cliffs as we depart our fair shores :

Yes, I know, I'm an idiot. Moving on ....

We would arrive in Dunkerque around 11am local time, and drive down to Troyes for our first stop.

So why Troyes, well, whilst I was doing some research on places to go, this site told me that Troyes (along with Lyon and Dijon) was the place to go. As it happened, the route we were taking encorporated all these places quite neatly.

The plan when we arrived in Troyes (apart from some sneaky shopping - sorry Paul but you know it had to happen!) was a little bit vague. When we were making the bookings we encountered two problems :

1 - the (only) campsite wouldn't book us in for one night, however, if we turned up on the day and they had spaces we could stay. So, we had to scout out for other campsites in the area, just in case this one was full and we had to carry on down the road.

2 - the tourism website is only in French, and whilst I can speak a fair bit of it, it's a bit irritating when you're trying to plan activities having to refer to a dictionary every 5 seconds.

However, we decided to follow the Rue des Chats, which took in sites around the town, and just follow our noses to see what was around.

Source

If we were able to stay, the campsite we were planning on visiting was the Camping Municipal de Troyes, as recommended by Cool Camping France.

Source

Next Post - Day Two - Lyon ...

Carried Away to Distant Lands

Recently, I visited Georgia, USA with Scarlett O'Hara and the South American jungle with the Buendia Family.

First of all, a disclaimer, Gone with the Wind is like the film - it's a bit of an epic! (1000+ pages)

I have watched the film, many many moons ago when I stumbled upon it one Christmas eve on the telly, but I don't remember it at all. The book was brilliant.
I enjoy reading books which have a historical context and although the amount of history did get a bit much at times, it was absolutely essential for those of us who haven't been taught about the American Civil War in school.
This book will take you a long time to read, but it is so worth it. Scarlett O'Hara is, to begin with, a heroine most unlikely and not one you want to relate to, but as the story develops, you begin to understand who she is and support her, even if you think marrying Frank Kennedy was a bad idea!

As for the Buendia family, or One Hundred Years of Solitude. This was definitely an interesting book and the family tree at the beginning definitely helping trying to decipher the Jose Arcadios from the Aurelianos.
I admit my attention waned when the story focussed on the male characters.
This is one of those books that sort of documents a history instead of a story. It also has a moral message coming all thr way through which for those of you who are Star Trek fans, would contervene the Prime Directive (yes, I know, geek!)In other words, let people be and don't interfere in less advanced societies, it doesn't always work out for the best.

Out of the two books I'm backing Gone With the Wind the whole way.

I'm now nearly a third of the way through the books, phew!

BTW I have read Catcher in the Rye but I am saving the review until I have been to this Catcher in the Rye seminar being held at work. Maybe another perspective will help me to appreciate it more.

Sad News

As you may have seen from my last post, my father in law was taken ill and we had to cancel our holiday.

Unfortunately, my father in law lost the fight and passed away on Tuesday evening, peacefully, and surrounded by his sons and wife.

I appreciate the majority of you wouldn't know who he was, but I feel compelled to write a little eulogy to honour the past six years I have known him.

My husband's father was a very generous and giving man.
Without his help Paul and I would not be where we are today.
Without his help the Scouting Movement in the West Midlands, I can guarantee would not be where it is today.
Without his help, my husband would not be the man he is today and for that I am eternally grateful to my father in law.

I don't hold any specific religious beliefs but wherever he is, I hope he is happy, safe and free of pain.

We love you xxx (ps i've let thorntons know they need to reduce their toffee production)

Absent Blogger

Apologies to all bloggers who I read and comment on, and for those that read this site.

As we speak, life in our household is upside down.

My father in law is very ill in hospital and we have had to cancel our roadtrip, which we would be going on tomorrow.

If you message me, that's fine, just don't expect an immediate response

Diary of a Phoneless Week

Day 1 – Tuesday

My husband had ordered me to keep my phone on me in case of emergency, which was just as well. He came to pick me up and the car battery died, I had to phone him to find out where he was. However, I then switched the phone back off and didn’t touch it.

Very odd not ringing my mum to discuss the day’s events, particularly as this week I have been working on my family tree and I needed some gaps filling in and wanted to report what I’d found. didn’t get a chance to ring them from the landline later as was at my in-laws house for a meal and we didn’t get back until bed time.

Day 2 - Wednesday

Tonight was date night, the plan being we would go to see Harry Potter and then out for dinner. However the traffic situation conspired against us and we missed the showing. Instead we spent a lovely evening with dinner at Le Bistrot Paris and cocktails at Hakamou. On the way back to the car, I decided to have an ice cream from a vending machine, which was so cold I left part of my cheek stuck to the lolly. Once we got home, I then took advantage of the landline to speak to my dad about the family tree project.

There was only a few bad points about not having my phone on today, one was that my driving instructor had to Facebook me to rearrange my lesson and two, was when I was waiting for Paul to pick me up I couldn’t just give my parents a ring. I sometimes phone them out of security if I’m not feeling too safe and just want that bit of comfort.

Day 3 – Thursday

I forgot about the roadworks! I needed to pick up a few last minute essentials for our upcoming holiday, so after picking up some new shoes and walking trousers (both on sale – bonus!!!) I made to catch the bus home. Normally, Paul would ring me on the way home to find out where I was on the journey and if we could meet up so I could be with him in the car on the way – however, no such luck with the Phoneless week.

Currently they are resurfacing the main road through our village and I am having to walk an extra 20 mins each way to get to the nearest bus stop, so instead of meeting up with husband for a nice drive home, I had a lovely walk uphill ahead of me.

I was already knackered from A-Level Results Day and promptly arrived home, got changed into my pyjamas and crawled under the blanket on the sofa – he can cook for once!

Day 4 – Friday

Husband off on stag weekend in Newcastle today. Missing him, especially the text messages to break up his journey. Hobbled home after new shoes wore holes in my heels – definitely need to buy some heel grippers tomorrow. Had to wait until Paul rang me for an evening chat, boo! Spoke to the parents on the landline and debriefed them on my family tree findings, with a few extra nuts to be added!

Day 5 – Saturday

Wandered into Hinckley today, to-do list included visting the library, buying some heel grippers and visiting the carpet store. Mum rang me when I got home to tell me about the 1940s Festival she’d been to and got scared to death by fox fur (eeurgh!) so didn't really miss the phone today as I find it rude to go up to the tills whilst you're on the phone, you also lose that interaction with the staff.

Day 6 – Sunday

Was woken up at 8.30am by a caller who didn’t leave a message – very frustrating.  Went to check the voicemails and found one from my bus stop friend offering me a lift to the bus stop in the morning, Wednesday morning that is – whoops! Found out later the phone call was from my MIL who was in hospital with FIL and trying to get hold of husband. On the plus side, at least he wasn’t on a phoneless week.

Day 7 - Monday

Having the phone off made things difficult again as husband was with his parents trying to sort out when his dad would be transferred to Hammersmith Hospital. I got home from work not knowing whether he was in London or Burton. Normally he would text me with updates so I'd know where he was and what was going on.

So what did I learn?
Erm, in hindsight this was probably not the best week to have turned the phone off in terms of little emergencies and the like, but then once upon a time, we had to cope with them without the use of mobiles. Things were definitely made easier using Facebook and email.
Would I do it again? To a certain extent I do it each time we go abroad as I'm too cheap to pay calls and texts (this is the Yorkshire side in me!) but as an experiment during "normal" times, probably not. I didn't realise how much I used the phone until it was gone. I can't think how anyone who gets their email/millions of texts/frequent phonecalls would cope with the loss.
Now that's just one more thing off the list, done!

An Intellectual Debate with Holmes and Langdon

As I'm writing this post I am thinking of the million and one things I need to get done in this next week so apologies if it's brief.

Right, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Three main points came from this book :

1 - Didn't know Sherlock Holmes enjoyed cocaine - it's in there, trust me
2 - Definitely would read to my children (minus mentioning the above point!) as little short adventure stories
3 - The one negative point is that some of the stories felt a bit predictable, but is this due to the template Conan Doyle created being used in other examples of the crime genre? Either way, some of the stories I guessed the endings to, but not all.

When I was reading the book I was reminded of the series I watched several years ago, Murder Rooms : Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes, if you can catch it, definitely worth a look.

As for Robert Langdon, now infamous as the main character in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

Yup, this one lived up to the hype. I've never been to the Louvre and the description in the book had me walking through the galleries alongside Fache and Langdon. I only wished I hadn't seen the movie and spoiled the identity of "The Teacher" but other than that, it drew me in and wouldn't let me go until I'd finished it - damn my day job!


And no, Agatha Christie is not on my list! Diary of a Phoneless Week coming soon ...