Easter...

Easter and Christmas never seem to feel like proper holidays after a few years of working in retail, which sucks. Not that I celebrate them, being agnostic, but it's hard to enjoy your time off when you only have a day to enjoy, rather than the long weekend that everyone else has off. However, I do get a day off during the week and an afternoon off on a Friday, which makes it easier to get doctors / dentists done and out of the way without having to worry about work.

This year, I've got 3 whole days off, which seems like a luxury. Then I'm in for 3 days, then I'm off for 4 days. I am working on the day of the Royal Wedding. Mostly because a) I'm not bothered on watching it and b) I get paid my normal rate for working a Friday (so for 4 hours) and then time and a half on top of it. It seems daft to turn it down. Plus I'll be going out Friday night :)

Soon, I'll have to start working every Saturday, which is going to put a kibosh on going out (all of once a month!), seeing my boyfriend on the weekend (which tends to be the only time I get to see him) and doing knitty things on a Saturday (we often have get togethers). Frustrating, but hopefully I will be able to do something about that soon. It could have been worse. I could have been made to work Tuesday evenings (so no Stitch and Bitch) and Sundays as well.

24 hour society sucks sometimes. I don't see why supermarkets want to open on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. Mostly they are open 24 hours or until late anyway. I seem to recall that our mothers coped, but then I guess that we have busier lives now. People are also expecting us to open as well, so seem to go mad stocking up with bread and milk, when quite often the shop is only shut for one day. Even if I am visiting relatives over Christmas, I will try and take something edible as a gift to the host and if I will be there a few days, I will take the bread and milk I have on the go, because it seems like such a waste to leave it go off at home when I am not using it. It's easy enough to pick up a fresh loaf and a pint of milk on the way home.

One of the things that I love about knitting is that it's slow. It helps me to disengage my brain from the stress of day to day life. I had been feeling particularly low these last few days and the simple act of sitting out in the park with a few friends and some knitting, helped unwind the tension (which was further unwound with a few beers later on in the evening!). It's the same with camping. I find that when I go camping, I begin to focus on how to cook a nice meal, when I have 1 gas ring and getting the washing up done, which seems weird, but somehow, taking it out of the home makes it more pleasant.

It's been a lovely hot Easter. It's days like this that I miss being in Wales. In particular, I miss the beaches. Even when they are covered in snow.



I used to love going to watch the sun set. I love the vivid colours you get when the sun sets in the summer. Intense hues of yellow, oranges, red, purples set against light blue skies and maybe a little bit of white or grey cloud.



Something I have noticed now that I am a knitter is the quality and hues of colour. I always knew there were particular hues I preferred, like the red of my 1974 VW Beetle, which wasn't cherry red, but more of a yellowy red. Also, I love aubergine purple and royal purples and blues.

It's now more how colours interact with each other and pool together and how we have memories of colour too. Red for me, always means the aforementioned Beetle I had, which was quite a different red from the Triumph Stag and TR6 that my Dad restored many years ago (they were cherry / pillarbox red) and a different red again from the ever so slightly bluish red adorning the wall opposite me.

Something I didn't know before that pure, natural water isn't clear, but ever so slightly blue. I know that we think of (clean!) seawater as blue, but I'm talking of drinking water. I always thought that was clear.

And now I am relaxed. What a difference a day makes. Having spent the day so far browsing a car boot sale (bought a pair of candlesticks for a house that I don't yet own, nor have the salary to own, but, y'know, they were pretty!), applied for 3 jobs and bought some shopping so that I can make goats cheese and red pepper risotto later, along with a reduced Lindt Easter egg and a bottle of half price Cava. Nom!!

I want to test a sock pattern out. I have already sort of designed a pair of socks, but I want to know what they look like with beads on them. Only one way to find out :) Then I will work on writing the pattern out.

But first, I'm going to take a cup of tea in the garden and watch the cats chase each other round.