Ten on Tuesday

10 Things to Bring on a Camping Trip.

hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Anyone who knows me, and those who know me online, will be grinning at this one. The timing is perfect - on dear old Ravelry we (we being some of the British Knitters gang) are planning to do the West Highland Way next year, a 95 mile walk spread over 7 or 8 days.
The subject of tents came up - NO WAY!

So, without repeating all of that very funny and often surreal discussion, here goes - my 10 things to bring on a camping trip:

1)  hot running water and a private bathroom
2) a bed - note, not the air variety - a real bed
3) duvet, bit fluffy pillows and very good quality bedding, ideally from Laura Ashley
4) electricity
5) something to sit on that is not the ground nor of the folding variety
6) food - not from a tin, not heated over a fire, not burnt, not eaten with a plastic fork from a plastic plate or covered with flies
7) walls, floor and ceiling - of the permanent variety and a door that locks
8) clothing, toiletries, hair dryer, tooth brush and tooth paste, fluffy towels, changes of clothes, slippers, all thats ort of thing
9) a variety of books, knitting, my laptop, sketch book and pencils, more books and my beloved camera
10) nope, i think that just about sums it up!

Shallow? Moi?
I love the great outdoors and am really looking forward to this proposed hike - and to the many many practise walks I am going to have to do between now and then because I am seriously out of condition. I love taking ym camera out and about with me, I would rather read than watch telly - but a tent? No thanks - tried it once, in Wales, in beautiful surroundings - and it rained so much that we ended up transferring everything to the van at 2am before it all floated away never to be seen again.

Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday topic for 7/13 is 10 Things You Like About Where You Live
So here goes.

I don't like living here, never have liked Leeds and never will - so trying to find 10 positives is a good thing for me to do. I could find 100 negatives probably ...

1) transport - being able to get around the city pretty easily by bus (yes they are expensive, sometimes grubby, often late but they do make travel without a car very easy), being able to get pretty much anywhere by train (Leeds has a big mainline station)

2) following on from the above, being able to get out and about - which is something I haven't done in age and really want to do - I am in dire need of a day out and some fresh air and new scenery. So a trip to the bus station soon methinks

3) food. I personally think Leeds is a bit iffy for meals out - there's plenty of choice, but if all you want is a good pub lunch then it's hard to find. I don't like many Leeds pubs, they are dirty (maybe I am just getting too old for that now, I don't know) and haven't found many I want to eat in. BUT the market, and supermarkets - but particularly the market - is excellent for food. A handful of fresh chilli, garlic and some mushrooms cost me 96p last week. Huge choice because of the cultural diversity of this huge city, all very affordable.
More and more of the inside market is shutting down - wake up people of Leeds, make the time to use your market before it vanishes.

4) my gym - not because I am some mad sporty type, far far from it - but because it has a lovely pool, and swimming is my very favourite thing.
Where I used to loive, a small country market town, the only pool is the public one and although fairly new, it's not very nice - definitely not private. The one I use here is lovely, plus it has a sauna, spa pool, steam room etc. Yes, definitely one of the things I love about living here.

(yes that is the actual pool).

5) oh it's so shallow - but SHOPPING! If Leeds doesn't have it, then do without. Unless you are looking for crafts, a wide range of material, or good wool - none of those in the city centre. There;s Hobbycraft a bus ride away, and a couple of wool shops outside the city, but very lim ited otherwise.

But for clothes, shoes, bags, perfume, makeup, coats, menswear, all that sort of thing - spoilt for choice! From Harvey Nichols (go on, treat yourself to at least a wander round - snigger at the prices of the clothes, spoil yourself in the small food hall, and the makeup counters are excellent - MAC, my favourite) to the smaller shops tucked in side streets, there's pretty much every high street name (no John Lewis as yet).

This is the Victoria Quarter, home of many designer shops (Viv Westwood for example) and home of my very favourite shop of all, Rose&Co.

6) ok, this is getting tough now! I don't have any interest in the night life, or in many of the out of town places. Nor is there enough open land to interest me. The canal - I like the canal, and the part that runs near me (very near me) is pretty, but it isn't really the safest of places for a woman to walk alone. So a bit of a quandry - there are green spaces in and around Leeds, but Roundhay Park leaves me cold, and many others just don't feel safe.

7) cinemas - not exactly thrilling, but again this is something that I didn't have access to where I used to live. Museums too - I don't go very often to any of them, but they are around and are pretty damned good. Aha! The art gallery, I love that - we have an excellent gallery (I am biased - the first time I walked in I came face to face with an enormous John Waterhouse painting, bliss). I love the sculpture gallery the most, haven't been in a while but there used to be several gorgeous Barbara Hepworth exhibits.

Under the gallery is the craft centre, where most things are for sale, jewellery etc by independent artists, well worth a look.

8) OK, I am really struggling now. I think I might have to come back to this, as I am stuck.

If nothing else writing this has underlined just how little I go out, which is a mixture of work and health issues, and how little I have got out of this big city.

Give me the countryside, or ideally the coast anyday!

Back.

Tentatively. Still functioning at about 50%.
But things are OK, and crafty goodness has sort of been happening, in fits and starts.

If confirmation were needed that I am not in a normal state of mind - I decided to knit this Precious in time for Knit Camp. Twit. Fekwit. Black Kidsilk, on small needles, with 1,000 black beads, mainly to be knit on an evening. Fekwit of the first order.

The first front is almost finished, I was aiming to do it tonight but things got in the way, so should finish this and start a sleeve tomorrow - sloooooow going, and possibly the most fiddly thing I have knit but I do like it so far ...

I had a really good walk around the full outdoor market the other day, instead of the usual mad dash - and really enjoyed it. Leeds has a great market - brilliant for unusual foods - but it is falling into disrepair and in danger of shutting in a few years as more and more stalls close. But the outside market was pretty busy this week, possibly helped by the lovely weather.

I picked up these - the ribbon s have 60metres per roll, the embroidery thread (which is a gorgeous deep cerise pink) has 5,000metres - and they cost me a fiver! I also found some really nice black material, to make this:

(thank you for the heads up about cheap patterns Marianne (I can't get the blog linky thing to work). It has been posted (from America) and I hope to get it finished in time - you guessed it - for Knit Camp. We will see.

And very late, Ten on Tuesday, which I thought I would join to keep me bloggymotivated - it is now Ten on Thursday, but better late than never.

So - Ten Ways to Celebrate Summer!

1) eat ice cream - it is a law. Ideally proper ice cream, swirled in a cone from the ice cream man. Dribbling down your chin,

2) walk barefoot on some grass - ideally dog poo free - I really really miss having a lawn

3) make a daisy chain and wear it with pride until it wilts - and then continue to wear it

4) sit outside and read, be it on a lovely garden bench, on the step, in a park, on the steps of a museum - just get some air, and read

5) swim! be safe, if you swim outside, but get a swim, its good for the soul

erm - unless you are this cat.

6) paint your toe nails a really fab colour! Mine are electric blue most of the time, and are currently VERY metallic blue - I love them!

7) paddle. Get to the sea if at all possible, sit for a while and watch the waves, and get in there, roll your trousers up, tuck your skirt into your knickers and get those tootsies wet - paddle, jump in the waves and be 5 again

8) grow something to eat, even if it's a few leaves of lettuce in a pot or a window container, or tomatoes inside - anything, just for the pleasure of saying 'I grew this!'

9) enjoy it - summer doesn't last long over here, and every warm day is precious. Soak it up, and enjoy,

10) wear flowers in your hair - great big flowers, clip them, tie them, headbands, anything. Get some flowers in your hair and feel the love.