Goodbye To Summer...

The thing about the August Bank Holiday in the UK is that it's like this last 'hurrah' of Summer.  Even though for the last week it's been cooler on the walk to and from home each day and it's dark enough each night when I get home for me to leave the outside light on when I leave in the morning, there's something about our last long weekend of the year (not counting when the fat man in the red suit visits) that's a little laden with regret.

It's been a cloudy Bank Holiday Monday too - perfect weather for some daytime telly and an indulgent dvd (Julie and Julia if you must know). This has followed on from much sleeping in, considerable reading and highly-intensive jigsaw-puzzling and as a result, I'm feeling extraordinarily relaxed and reflective as I sit down to tap this farewell to Summer post. 

And then just as I'm sitting down at my computer positioned smack-bang in my front window, a blinding shaft of sunlight bursts through the clouds - making the late afternoon all golden and hazy for a moment - and then it disappears again. The light is soft and beautiful and takes me back to when I first arrived here and how struck I was by how softly the light bathed everything it touched compared with Australia's harsh and brilliantly hued landscape.

I know it's a day early: but today it's goodbye to cardy-less commuting and twilight evenings around the barbie...

...and welcome to my favourite season of the year, the soft, golden hues of Autumn.

Picking Up The Pieces...

Over this August bank holiday weekend I have been indulging in something I haven't done for a while - a jigsaw puzzle.  I always used to do these as a kid on holidays so there's something about doing this that's intrinsically linked to holidays for me. 

It's also the perfect thing for cosying up inside and shutting out world (and some pretty ordinary weather - I think Summer might really be over!) and it's kept me completely absorbed for a few hours over each of the last 2 days.  So Friday night, I  spread the puzzle roll mat out on the dining table, cracked open the bag of pieces and surrendered myself completely...

THE FIRST 24 HOURS (3-hours Friday night and 4-hours Saturday afternoon)
The border is done (I always do the border first) and centre strip (with lots of interesting bits) is well on the way!

SUNDAY 6.30pm (After another 5-hour stint):
Tah Daaaah!!!!  All done!

Fuelled by chocolate and other snack-ettes I have built my 1000 piece world piece by piece and am currently basking in a quiet glow of self-indulgent achievement - like I have achieved something just for myself without the pressure of chores and other 'things to do'.  Now I just have to keep that feeling all through tomorrow and that will be one excellent long weekend!

ps...BTW the puzzle roll thing that its on? Don't trouble yourself with getting one- rolling it all up only produces frustration and disappointment as all the little pieces come apart again. That patent was a real waste of money...

Life In The UK...Neighbours

For the first time in 5 years, I am back to the car-less status I held when I first arrived in the UK..and I had to do my first sans car grocery shop.  The trouble is that now I have to plan my shop and stick to the list with considerable rigor as there are 3 important things to manage:  My items fitting in the 2 shopping bags I take, the even distribution of their weight between the 2 bags and actually carrying said weight to the bus stop and then from the bus stop to home.

You see, the bus back up Kingston Hill is fine but that walk up the hill, down the hill and up the hill again to home is a killer at the best of times and if the shop has gone awry, well, it ain't pretty!  So today, I was ready with my small-ish, well-planned list and on the way, I knocked on J's door to do the neighbourly thing and find out whether there was anything he wanted me to pick up for him.
 
Well...his few items grew and grew until his list WAS bigger than mine.  But it still all looked do-able so off I set, list in hand...but milk, orange juice, pasta sauce and soup (just to name a few) are not exactly light so let's just say there was a bit of mental f-ing and blinding going on as I walked from Sainsbury's to the bus stop and from the bus stop to home.

Next time, I might stop being so bloody independent and 'I can do it' and get him to take me.  We could have a date night at the supermarket!  Or not...

We'll see...

Summertime...And The Blackberries Are Easy...

We went blackberry picking today....hunting out those fat juicy gems in amongst the thorns and undergrowth...in our car park!

For those of you new to Gidday from the UK or those that have simply forgotten, it was just over a year ago that I discovered the joys of plump, juicy, fresh blackberries and bemoaned the fact it had taken me 40 years to do this.

So today, being J's birthday and all (Happy Birthday honey!) and before the little blighters got eaten by other wildlife (human or otherwise), we ventured out into our street and carpark to snaffle as many as we could.  And snaffle we did...an almost-full ice-cream container.  And I have the proud scratches on my forearms and hands to prove it.

We were going to indulge in these tonight as a post birthday dinner treat but I'd already promised to make my first ever apple crumble (after a birthday resolution to master some basic dessert skills beyond cheese arrangement) so the blackberries are being held in abeyance until tomorrow - but are still on hand if the crumble is appalling.

Wish me luck!