The Builder was working last Saturday. Normal hours. On a Saturday :-(. This meant a cup of tea was delivered to my side at 05:30 and I got up at 05:45. On a Saturday :-( It’s just not right, getting up in the dark on a Saturday :-( Uncivilised, I call it!
So. Off he trundled into the sunrise at 06:15, leaving me at home to get on with loads of useful domestic things. Washing, ironing, tidying, cleaning, sorting … Oops. Look at the time. Time I was gone. Supposed to be meeting Freyja in Sheffield at 11.
We were meeting, somewhat after the event, to buy her 21st birthday present. She had decided that she would like a spending spree in Pinders, the art supply shop. Similar to what we did for her 18th birthday. She had a merry time pottering about looking at things and thinking and deciding. And settled upon an oil painting kit in a nice wooden box. And a gift bag, filled with lots of interesting bits and pieces. And two pens. An excellent choice!
Then we found a post office to post a letter, went to Game to buy a gift token for The Builder’s son’s birthday and then mooched into Café Latino for tea and toast. While we were there I had a call from The Builder to say that he was on his way home, having finished his task for the day. Oops! Look at the time. Again! I was parked in the Waitrose car park where there is a 2 hour limit. Dunno how tightly they patrol there. Abandon Freyja to her fate and hotfoot it back to the supermarket, dash in, buy nearly £100 worth of stuff, most of which is alcohol, leap into car, charge back to Tupton.
Where there was no sign of The Builder. Though he had clearly been about, for the mound of garden rubbish we had put on the “driveway” had gone and there were leaves and stuff floating about all over the place. He’s obviously gone to the Chesterfield tip. Time for a cup of tea for me and an admiring inspection of all the grog!
Right then. It’s 15:00. What shall we do for the rest of the day?
Well, we might as well go to Chatsworth. We are quite short of milk and bread and other useful things. And we could really do to go to the allotment. Haven’t been for ages. So into the car we hopped and off we took for the Chatsworth farm shop. Roger had been there last Sunday afternoon at around 3 and reported it to be chock-a-block. It does get very busy on Sunday afternoons. It’s why we go as it opens if we go on a Sunday. And, as it turns out, it gets quite busy on a Saturday too. Very, very busy. So busy that the queue for the car park had snaked out onto the street. Hmm. Blow that for a game of soldiers. I pulled around the queue and headed for Bakewell. Which wasn’t quite so crowded. Mind you, people tell me that Chatsworth is expensive (and it is, if you compare it to Asda or Tesco prices; less so if you compare it to Waitrose or Sainsbury). But it is nothing like as expensive as the Bakewell Farmers’ Market Shop. We would have got loads more for our £40 at Chatsworth. Having said that, the farmers’ market shop stuff is very good quality. But so is the stuff from Chatsworth. We’ll go earlier next time.
We got lots of stuff from the allotment too. Runner beans, dwarf beans, plums, beetroot, sweet corn. We’ve got two fruit bowls full of Richard’s apples as well. We’ll be eating well this coming week!
I’ve been to York. I got into the Adsetts Centre on Monday, mid-afternoon, to find Roger wanting to know if I wanted to join his team on their away day to visit the University of York library on Tuesday. One of his team couldn’t go for work reasons, another was off sick. I laughed. Has anyone seen my diary for this week and next? Opened it to show him. And found that by some happy chance Tuesday was empty apart from a desk shift. Peter said I could go. I found cover for the desk (thanks to Richard and Hilary from upstairs). CinderFrannie could go to the ball! And it was a very interesting day. We spent the morning with the University Librarian at York, who talked us through the rather complicated building project that they had just emerged from and then took us on a tour. I kept pondering, while she was with us, whether she really was the University Librarian. She was very pleasant, very generous with her time and spoke plain English! It was a fascinating visit. And it is always interesting to poke about in other people’s libraries.
The second library, after lunch, wasn’t quite so interesting. It was at St John’s College, which is mostly Further Education (TAFE level, for Aussie readers) with a few Higher Education Teaching courses added in. The building reminded me forcibly of a prison. A long corridor at the bottom, which could easily have been a recreation facility, with two levels of prison-style landings above, which could very easily have housed cells. It is true it was bright and light and filled with colour. But even so! The reading room itself was quite nice, but I’m sure the architect more usually designs correctional institutions!
We had lunch in the sunshine at St William’s College, a mediaeval building, now converted into offices for the cathedral and a restaurant for us. I had poached salmon salad and a white wine spritzer. We walked to St John’s along the city walls. We had afternoon tea and cake. Bea and I went to the post office afterwards to post Ian’s present (that’s Ian, The Builder’s son, not Ian, my brother-in-law; I may need to devise a code for all these people!!!!) and then we went to the station pub for a pint while waiting for the train back. The sun shone on us all day. I’m glad I went.
The sun has been shining quite a lot these past few days. As I was waiting for the bus on Tuesday there was a beautiful, delicate sunrise. There was this morning, again. It’s been warm and pleasant and lovely – if a bit windy sometimes. Leeds was beset by quite an interesting tornado late last week! It’s rained quite hard a night, sometimes, but the daytimes have been lovely. Almost a proper Indian summer. It’s beautifully warm and sunny today. I wonder if anyone would notice if I snuck out!!!!!
The weekend rota has appeared. I think I’m working almost everyday between now and Christmas. Odd, random days off for good behaviour! And my diary for next week looks as though a very drunken spider had fallen into an inkwell and then decided to wander about all over the page. The only way I’ve been able to make any sense of it has been to print out my electronic calendar – where at least it is all laid out in a linear manner! The start of First Semester is clearly upon us!
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