Adventuring

I never thought I'd look forward to taking a break at a motorway services. Of course, often I have looked forward to arriving at motorway services and dashing into the loos, but today I've actually decided to pause, blog, catch up, ponder and otherwise have a break. A novel experience but one that may yet repeat itself. Even the experience of the other people who are also breaking their journeys (for whatever reason) is friendly and almost enchanting. Services are strange environments, very specific in their existing and very functional in their purpose but this evening I'm finding the whole atmosphere pleasant in a way I never have done before. Curiouser and curiouser.

It's hard to believe that it's been just 3 days but my, what a three days they have been. Chronologically or memorologically, it's been utterly utterly fantastic. Part of the difficulty in understanding the "just 3 days" bit is that I completely mashed my time perception on Friday morning, further mashed it on Friday night / Saturday morning, was baffled by time on Saturday and today and have given up caring that I haven't a clue. I have various devices which tell me what time the rest of reality thinks it is as and when required and in the mean time I can potter on in my own little world.

The weekend's adventures (and they were adventures, oh yes they were) were all precipitated by my friend Pippa getting married. I knew her at Cambridge and our paths then crossed again while we both found ourselves rather unexpectedly in Accenture since when we've managed to keep in touch, quite often through the marvellous mode of Real Letter. The theme of the weekend was "what happened to the last three years?" quite often (and there's a simple answer to that but that's another story) and it was hard to believe that she's been with her now husband for 4 years (somehow it still feels like the very recent past that I was getting the low down on The New Boy) but their wedding celebration was utterly marvellous - and their vows moving, touching and very beautiful. The ceremony itself having happened earlier in the day, the reception was held at Bodiam Castle and involved an "Exciting Birds" display (I'd like to say birds of prey, but they weren't all birds of prey, one being an owl and another being a vulcher), a ceilidh, a fabulous marquee (bedecked in mediaeval type decorations which, in a certain light, sometimes morphed into bedouin tent type decorations, creating a rather marvellous blend), a pie and cheese phase (what a brilliant idea! Not just cheese, but hot pies as the evening draws in), tromping around the castle and playing with real armoury and dozens and dozens of MARVELLOUS costumes. The invite had specified mediaeval costumes were optional but about 85% of the guests had opted for the option and there were so many great outfits. A brilliant ice breaker, it also meant I got to handle a couple of real swords AND wear a real chain-mail helmet! Rather sweetly the owner of the chain-mail let me try it on but wanted to rescue it from me again rather swiftly as he was concern the oil on it (to keep it in perfect nick) would get on to my outfit. What a hero.

A wonderful group of people, being held at the castle just added even more awesomeness to the events. In particular throughout the evening the mist got thicker and thicker around the castle creating a stunningly picturesque and beautifully ethereal atmosphere. It was a truly stunning venue and I'm so pleased to have been able to be there and celebrate the start of Mr and Mrs Wainwright's married life. Brilliant brilliant brilliant. (Even more brilliant: the joy of facebook means that although I took rather few photos myself, every time Pippa gets tagged in a photo by friends who WERE taking photos I get to see them - and they're just starting to come through! Ace)

As part of the preparation for attending the wedding I discovered (having not really thought about it) how close the venue was to...the seaside! Being an utter seaside fanatic (I think I always have been but possibly in more of a "closet" way - it's certainly loud and proud these days) I found myself a B&B on the seafront in Hastings and got booked in. A hiccup with the postcode meant some brief shenanigans finding it but when I arrived not only did they have some keys ready for me (I'd let them know I would be disappearing before their usual check in time for a wedding but they'd agreed to let me pick up keys) but my room was ready too! The previous 12 hours had been rather exceptional - more on that later - but having my room was an absolute blessing as it meant I could humanise myself with a shower and freshen up. I'd also hoped to blow the cobwebs away on the front  - but it turns out the cobweb blowing ability of Hastings has *nothing* on Morecambe... ;) My room was very snug but had everything I needed...AND a sea view and a balcony! Really landed on my feet with that one and should I ever end up that end of the world again I could quite enjoy staying there once more. The best was yet to come, however, with my B&B choosing skills...

I had never been quite sure how today would pan out (post-wedding breakfast? Dashing off on more adventures? Sleeping and sleeping and sleeping and sleeping?) but as it turns out I found myself awake and ready to enjoy the GLORIOUS sunshine (good work, weather Gods - two gorgeously sunny Sundays in a row!) with plenty of time. An old friend of mine who lives in Brighton had also popped into my mind and I thought I'd find out if he fancied a visit. Turns out he was in Hastings with his fiancee visiting her Mum with their 8 month old in tow! Fantastic! Very unexpected but very brilliant, I got to meet said fiancee, Mum and 8 month old (who's called Arthur and is officially awesome) and hang out with Tom before they headed back to Brighton. A wonderful addition to an already brilliant weekend.

Speaking of small people on Friday I spent the day at my parents' in Oxfordshire and as well as digging the vegetable patch and picking apples (I could claim daughterly duty but actually I was clamouring for jobs I could do in the garden - gardening is ace) I spent a lovely few hours with my nephew and two of my nieces who'd been spending a few days with my parents. Children are inspirational - and definitely keep you on your toes! I am feeling rather more confident in my auntie-ly duties these days and it was lovely to see them - as well as my parents! Timing also worked out perfectly with us all heading off for our respective evenings about 4pm (my parents to return the trio to my sister and her husband) and me to jump on an Oxford Tube to London.

I was rather pleased with my parking spot and was all ready to jump straight on to a bus but I seemed to have hit Oxford at peak time for people getting the Oxford Tube so two went past absolutely ram-jam-full before I managed to get on one. A friend was having a birthday celebration in London and the fact I was "in the area" made it a complete no-brainer. Even better, Sci Fi London were having their Autumnal festival in the same end of town and, without really planning it more than about an hour beforehand, I decided to pop in there and say hello too. Sad not to have magicked all my SFL favourites to be there at the same time, but I saw a great number of old favourites and some fresh new faces to boot while reminiscing about old times. Good fun.

Another friend (who I lived with a long while ago, introduce to SFL and now looks after all the volunteers) was also heading to the birthday drinks so we headed off that way and I managed to raise plenty of "Tigger! I didn't expect to see you here!" which was great. Given the festival detour, we only arrived about 10pm and it became clear that the prospect of yoiking back to Oxford and then out to the sticks for a few hours' sleep wasn't particularly appealling...and so I just stayed out with the gang until about 4.30am until I made tracks to pick up the car and drive down to Hastings. Frustratingly (although in hindsight not incredibly so as parking in Hastings is a nightmare!) I missed one of the hourly buses by about 30 seconds but amused myself with a samosa, being confused by time and reading one of the free London newspapers until the next bus arrived. The magic of sleep deprivation won me the perception of having had a good few hours of sleep (got on the bus in the dark, got off in the light...so CLEARLY I'd slept for a good few hours - except it was actually about 70 or 80 minutes) and my body co-operated (I have no idea how) in sustaining me through until providing a taxi service for 3 folk getting the last train back to London from the wedding and seeing me head back to Hastings. That drive back from the castle was probably the hairiest bit of the weekend - the beautiful mist that had descended on the castle had also descended on the local roads and wending my way through unfamiliar country roads in patching heavy mist / fog was rather more exciting than I'd been expecting but just added to the mystery and brilliance. Passengers deposited I got back to the B&B for an excellent night's sleep before awaking to beautiful sunshine this morning. Stunning, stunning, stunning.

So there you have it, an adventure-tastic weekend. Brilliant, wonderous and exciting, and the intensity of brilliance all enabled by the Golden Chariot. Happy Tigger.

AND - how could I forget - an evening with my Space Twin to start it all off! Chats, great food and yet more revelations of the brilliance of the medicine of Touch this was a weekend and a half.

Mud & Spectating

The absolute highlight of today was getting properly muddy. I've recently got involved in a "garden share" scheme and have been linked up with a garden about 3 min walk from my house - result. Today was the first time I was free to do some digging since being linked up and, I found myself without much of an idea as to what I was going to do other than pot on some strawberry runners and plant a rhubarb root kindly donated (OK, coerced) from my parents' garden.

I've done some gardening in the past but wouldn't call myself an expert by a long shot. However, patience, a hand-fork and more plant-knowledge than I thought I had saw me getting on with the main border in the garden. It's a front yard and has a couple of narrow "borders" plus lots of big pots. There's plenty already growing but it's been left to its own devices for a while and I'm aiming to increase the number of "productive" plants growing. At first glance the main border seemed to be mainly weeds but as I got closer it had a lot of orange-flower-plants (which had been pointed out as useful for something, but I forget what and I forget what they're called: any pointers gratefully received - I think they're the ones pictured), parsley, strawberry runners, clover (good for nitrogen fixing while I'm working out what I want to grow) mint and a couple of hiding potatoes (I think they were potatoes...I wouldn't like to be sure). I rescued the plants I could identify (oh, and there was a clump of what I think was a lupin which I relocated) and then dug over the patch before replanting with a little more organisation and making one of the empty large pots into a parsley pot (much more accessible). How the plants will fare remains to be seen but it reminded me I do have *some* gardening skills and there's plenty of scope for learning more. The other pots have chives and forget-me-nots, among other things (and more strawberries!) and now I'm on the hunt for new and exciting edibles that I fancy eating and can get my hands on.

The morning was cold but while I was keeping active I was plenty warm enough and it was particularly brilliant to bring some parsley & strawberry plants home with the idea of potting them up and having them here. The potting has been done but I'm now somewhat short of suitable pot containers (so when I water them they don't spill everywhere) so shall just have to get through some more tofu (which comes in rather handy pot-trays, which some may consider plastic packaging...)

So yes, mud & gardening - brilliant.

The main reason gardening happened today was because I'm spending a whole weekend in Morecambe - for the first time in a good while. Last night there was an arts event in the streets of Lancaster (Light Up Lancaster - part of Lancaster Arts City) which I ended up at and today, being the Saturday closest to Bonfire Night, there were a couple of different fireworks displays going on. By accident rather than design (timing wise, at least) I arrived in a quiet back street of Bolton Le Sands just as their annual fire works got started and I had a great view from the comfort of the Golden Chariot and often silhouetted trees between me and the lower-level fireworks. So for two nights in a row I've been out and about, along with other people, watching things. And I think I've come to the conclusion I haven't done particularly well in cultivating my "spectator muscle" having preferred to be Doing. Last night there was one performance which was rather more interactive - a scaff-tower with various metal bits hanging off it which was used as a large percussion instrument, and which the assembled crowd was encouraged to have a play on as well. I didn't need to be asked twice. And I enjoyed both evenings - but there is a definite sense of wanting to Do more. There's a plan in there somewhere...