Sigh

If you read my blog regularly; you'll know I don't really think much of Hampshire & Isle of Wight police - well, Friday really took the biscuit!

We decided to take the van up on the downs to have a cup of tea, see how it performed going up hills and whether it was comfortable to sit in while stationary and moving.

As there was no water in the tank; I pulled up outside the house and ran the hose round (no, I don't have off road parking right outside my house!) - I usually do this at night as I live quite near the lights and on a busy road. Not gridlocked, but constant traffic.

So, I pull up, Mum pulls the hose round and I stick it in the filling hole. Of course, 30 seconds later a police car went sailing past.

I watched it drive up the road and turn around - I thought 'Oh, here we go!' But it drove straight past without slowing or even acknowledgement from the people inside. I thought 'Cool! It's obvious what we're doing and that we're not going to be here long.' After all, I wasn't vacuuming it out or anything.

Then another police car comes down the road with three....officers inside. They pulled up next to my van, causing all the traffic going in both directions to stop as they could no longer get past so that the officer could wind his window down and ask:

"Do you have to do that here?" I blinked at him.
"Um, yes. I live here."
"Well, you can't do that here, you're causing an obstruction." UM...WTF?!?!?!?! I bit my tongue and asked how else I was supposed to fill it
"Take it to a petrol station or something." Yeah, cos that water's clean NOT!

I mean really! The only vehicles that wouldn't have got past me were buses or lorries, cars and vans were having no problem at all.

Well, not until that police car stopped right in the middle of the road, anyway!

WWSIP

Yes, it's the time of year again when spinners all around the world come out of the woodwork and dare to spin where everyone can see them!

I met up with Rachel and made her sit right in the middle of St Thomas' Square, Newport where everybody could see us (that was the point, right?).

We were immediately accosted by these three:


But they let us go after seeing how fabulous we were. (I actually know the one in the middle LOL)

Then a bit later on, this guy turned up.


Then one of the other Rachels arrived (there are 3 in our group!) and we had our picture taken by the local newpaper photographer. Then the first Rachel left and the other Rachel and I settled in for an afternoon of spinning.

Then I heard a familiar sound and when I turned around I discovered that the stormtroopers and Jedi had been joined by Darth Vadar too!


They were all there collecting for the British Heart Foundation and they stayed all day!

There were a lot of families about and this little brother and sister act took a huge fascination with Rachels wheel.


The boy asked a lot of questions and the girl just couldn't resist helping the wheel to turn. They were adorable but the parents annoyed me, they went and sat at a table (quite a distance away) and totally ignored what their children were doing, they never asked if the kids were bothering us - never once asked if it was ok for the girl to touch Rachel's wheel and then never thanked us for entertaining the kids for over half an hour while they scoffed their lunch; just rounded up the kids and left!

The weather was sunny - if a bit drafty and I had a really good day. Unfortunately, I finished the day on a migraine (which I think I've managed to squash!) and I'm planning on going out again today. I'm debating taking the wheel - I might just take my Russian support spindle instead (the weather looks ominous and it's easier to cover a Russian support spindle than it is to cover a wheel when it's raining LOL)

So, if you're in Newport on the Isle of Wight today, come to St James Square and find me!

Support Spindling

I have recently purchased a Russian Support Spindle and I love it, then I was nosing around Ravelry and spotted a Tibetan style spindle, so I bought that too.

I must say, I actually prefer the Tibetan to the Russian - it spins so effortlessly and for longer than the Russian!

Recently a conversation on spinning with support spindles started up between fleegle and myself. I'd seen a video on youtube showing a woman support spindling, but she wasn't even touching the spindle.



I just couldn't figure out how it was done, so fleegle made me a vid :D



This video is great and has already helped me immensely!

Nine Years Ago...

I remember that afternoon very clearly - I don't remember what I did in the morning, or what film Simon and I went to see that night, but I remember the afternoon.

I was at home, Simon (my partner at the time) had popped back to his for a shower and a change of clothes and to do some shopping. I was tidying up as my friend Lou was bringing her two boys, Owen & Daniel, around for a play date.

Simon and I were texting back and forth discussing what film we were going to see that night at the cinema.

Then I received a text - most people found out the same way - Simon had written 'have you seen the attack on America?'

I sent back 'no, who's in it?'

He sent back 'turn the TV on...any channel'

I turned on in time to see the fires, the screams, the smoke.

I stood shock still in the middle of my lounge, phone in hand, staring at the TV in horror.

Lou arrived and as the boys raced upstairs I asked her: 'have you seen?' She nodded her face white.

I sent a txt to my father and I'm pretty sure I sent it to the majority of my address book (I don't remember) then Lou and I sat on the sofa, staring at the TV holding hands while tears streamed down our faces.

We watched in horror as the second plane hit and heard the screams and the stunned silence of the reporters. We heard the sirens, saw the smoke, the fire. We saw the stranded people jump...

We sobbed.

I didn't know anyone who was there that day, (but I had a friend who had a family member who should've been there. They had a tense few days before they heard that she was safe.) but I felt so much pain at what happened.

The World Trade Centre is gone now, there are few - if any - signs of what happened on that dreadful day that has become universally known as '9/11'.

But everyone remembers.

We won't ever forget.