Holiday to Galway

OK, this doesn't come under any of the various categories I cover in my blog, but I had such a good time in Galway I feel I need to write a bit about it.

We travelled there by plane - I know, shock horror, I'm meant to be reducing my carbon footprint. Unfortunately my pocket won out - plane is cheaper, and so much quicker too. Plus, I'm pretty sure driving from Leeds to Holyhead, getting a whopping great ferry to Dublin then driving again to Galway would have incurred far greater carbon emissions than a drive to Manchester, a flight to Galway airport and another drive just up the road to our hotel. Plus, we flew with Aer Arann who claim to have 'the world's greenest aircraft' - which, if it was the one we went on, will be because it's so small it doesn't look like a real plane:

We stayed in the Western Hotel in Galway city, which was very nice. The staff were really helpful, the room was nice, and the breakfast was great! Our first night wasn't great, they had a group of what sounded like about a dozen staying who decided to spend the night shouting, singing and banging on each others' doors until about 5.30am - thankfully, they checked out the next day and after that we had no more problems!

Because the pound is quite weak against the euro right now, we couldn't really afford to do anything fancy, but we had a hire car so we did a lot of sightseeing. I know, I know, cars = carbon, but there was just no way of seeing all the beautiful landscapes without one, I really doubt public transport would have covered the areas we went to. We tried to make up for it by supporting the local economy - mainly by eating!

I don't think I've ever been as full as I was in Galway. We ate in the hotel restaurant on the first and last nights, and very nice it was too. In between, we ate at an Italian restaurant, a small cafe attached to a garden (which we didn't see because the admission fee was too much), a proper Irish pub, a little cafe by the coast in Lehinch (OK, we didn't eat, we just had hot chocolate to warm us up on a windy day) and a Spanish restaurant. Spoilt for choice! Everywhere we ate the portions were very generous, especially in the pub - I've never seen such a full plate! The garden cafe did organic, vegetarian food and the pub used locally sourced produce, so that's all good. It just goes to show how much variety there is in the area - we could have had Japanese, Chinese, Thai and lots of other cuisines in Galway city as well.

I really recommend Galway and western Ireland for a holiday. It is so beautiful, with lots of different landscapes to see, and Galway city is great for shopping, eating and probably drinking (not that I know, I'm practually teetotal, but there's plenty of pubs)!

Hmm, looks like I've put a 'Generous' twist on this post without noticing - perhaps it does fit into a category after all!

Stash Wars: Attack of the free but useless yarn!

Remember I mentioned that my knitting magazine sent some free yarn? Well, I got it from my Mum's a few weeks back and here it is:

I don't like it. I'm not too keen on self-patterning yarn unless the colour changes are quite subtle, and I am mildly annoyed by the fact that nowhere in the magazine could I find information on fibre content. There were six patterns to accompany the yarns but I didn't much like them either (apart from the amigurumi cat, but I think that would look better in pure black, or another more catty shade). So I've been racking my brain as to what I can do with them. It would have helped if they'd both been the same colourway, two of the same would have opened up more options. But hey, I suppose I can't look a gift horse in the mouth - even if it does increase my stash.

I have been slowly stash-busting with little projects recently. Still working on the cupcake bottoms, probably have enough beigey-brown yarn for one more. And I've been making little pink flowers to put on pins and hairgrips:

As you can see, it's not reducing the pink yarn very quickly, I may need to do bigger flowers, or think of a big-ish project to use most of it up. Hmmm.

200 word Review: 'The Basque History of the World' by Mark Kurlansky

I have always been interested in European minority cultures – as a child, I attempted, and failed, to learn Welsh. When I first heard of Basqueland (in a Spanish lesson, the teacher saying their language is as different from Castilian as Welsh is from English) I wanted to know more. So when my husband got ‘The Basque History of the World’ as a present, I was keen to read it.

The book gives a complete overview of Basque history, from Roman times right up to its publication in 1999. This approach could have created a very dry, dull text, but Kurlansky’s style saves it. He uses the story of this ‘non-nation’ as a way of exploring histories from all over Europe and beyond. He peppers the narrative with personal accounts, recipes and cultural details that create a sense of what ‘Basqueness’ is. The later chapters, dealing with the twentieth century, drag a little but can be vivid and surprisingly moving. His account of the Guernica bombing nearly had me crying on my commute.

If you are interested in overlooked cultures, this book is a quirky, informative and fascinating read which will teach you parts of European history you’ve never heard before.

I'm a bad blogger

I've been rubbish recently, not a single post since 20th March! Oh dear ...

Well, I've been away since last Saturday but I'm now back home and not in work til next Tuesday (yay!) so should have time to knock out a few posts. Expect a new book review, a craft update, a write-up of my trip to Galway and maybe even a bit of Generous stuff (although I've been a bit rubbish at that lately - perhaps that could be the subject of that post!)

Crafty birthday treats!

It was my birthday on Monday - boo, quarter of a century. I hate birthdays, bad things have happened around my birthday quite a few times so I'm always bracing myself for catastrophe at this time of year. But what did cheer me up was the big pile of pressies hubby got me! Including some Denise Interchangeable Needles which now pretty much complete my needle collection as they will serve me for all my circular needle needs, and this fab crochet book. I'd seen it in a magazine a while back, then my friend at work was leafing through a copy, and without even asking for it my hubby picked up on the fact that I wanted it and bought it for me! How sweet, and here was I thinking he ignored all my craft talk!

Current craft projects are little knick-knacks for the potential tabletop sale at church (although I've yet to hear when this is). I'm alternating between knitting the bottoms of cupcakes (I'll do the tops later, just want to see how many I can make after my last ball of beige yarn ) and crocheting little pink flowers. For the latter I've discovered the Magic Ring technique of starting crochet in the round, which is very handy indeed. I'm still mastering it though!

Songs in my Head recently

(Is this the way to) Amarillo - Tony Christie (quality)

Avenues and Alleyways - Tony Christie

Islands in the Stream - the Comic Relief version

That dreadful Christmas song 'Neighbours' keeps playing, which make me want to bang my head on a table until it gets out of my head

That equally dreadful Diet Coke song that Duffy sings (Duffy, what are you doing?)

Songs in my Head recently

'Ruby Tuesday' - don't know who by but not the Rolling Stones version, the whiney lady version

'Canned Heat' and 'Virtual Insanity' - Jamiroquai

That song from 'Slumdog Millionaire' again (haven't even seen the film!!)

'Just Because you Feel Good' - Skunk Anansie

200 word Review: 'The Unadulterated Cat' by Terry Pratchett

Ahh, a bit of light relief! Normally this book would be a bit short and whimsical for my tastes, but after a heavy tome it was just what I needed. The title says it all – it’s about cats. Not any cats though, Real cats. Not pedigrees, not well-groomed fluffy things with long, saccharine names. Real cats chase cars, leave dead things in your hall and do their business in the neighbour’s garden.

Now, I don’t know if Millie is a Real cat or not – on the one hand, she has very few teeth, is a mishmash of different breeds, and will happily eat off the floor. On the other hand, she is an indoor cat, so can’t kill things or spoil people’s flowerbeds. Mind you, the book does say that, “Real cat is what you are, not what is done to you.” Maybe if we could let her out, she would be fully Real.

Anyway, I’m going off point. This is probably because the book is so short I’ve not got much to say about it – but I did enjoy it, and I think anyone with a cat that’s even slightly Real will find something to chuckle at in it.

200 word review: 'The Name of The Rose' by Umberto Eco

Here are three words that inspire terror in me – Mediaeval Murder Mystery. I found mediaeval times the least interesting part of History at school, and I’m not a huge fan of violence and death either. So, when I was given this novel as a gift, I almost didn’t read it, but I gave it a go.

I can appreciate that this is probably a very worthy novel. According to the introduction, it’s a translation of a translation of a 14th century manuscript by Adso, who narrates the story of a series of murders in a monastery. It delves deeply into Church history and theology, and I’m sure someone who is interested in that would love it. Unfortunately, I'm not. I found the theological discussions dull and bewildering, I became frustrated by the amount of Latin in it (what’s wrong with footnotes to translate?) and I stopped caring who was killed or who was doing the killing because there were so many characters I lost track of who anyone was.

If ‘mediaeval murder mystery’ sounds like your cup of tea, who knows, you might love this. But if those words make you want to run for the hills, then don’t bother.

Songs in my Head - Weds 4th March

'I'm in the Mood for Dancing' - The Nolans (oh yeah ...)

'Up All Night' - Take That (on the radio this morning)

'Wired for Sound' - Cliff Richard (distressing)