Round up

It's carnival time in Biggleswade which means that the market square has been invaded by a small fair ground. During the day it is rather creepy as you weave your way amongst the lifeless rides and candy floss stalls. I stopped for a coffee at the Surfin Cafe yesterday, my view is pictured below. The "Crazy House" towered over me silently.
Crazy House sums up the last few weeks for me. We have finally sold our flat, we completed on Thursday but the run up to completion was incredibly stressful. The buyer, who had temporarily pulled out of buying a month ago, decided that she did want to buy after all and then didn't seem to understand why her actions had delayed the sale! I was hassled daily to sort out things that solicitors are paid to do! I should have of course refused to sort anything out but I didn't so I worked really hard to make sure we completed on the date the buyer wanted, only for her to call me on the day she took over the flat, to moan about the job the cleaners had done! I don't think she realises that she was very fortunate that I had paid for cleaners to clean the flat at all; most sellers wouldn't bother!

So now that is out of the way it has taken me a little while to calm down from it all and for the relief to sink in. I am now very relieved and will be making a celebratory rhubarb crumble this afternoon.

I've also been working hard on my new business. I delivered training at Kingston University on Monday and facilitated a meeting on Wednesday at the NMC. Next week I start a contract for Inclusion London working on a seminar for the autumn.

I hope to blog about the Biggleswade carnival parade later so watch this space...

"Slow culture"

Earlier this week when I was listening to the Lauren Lavern show on BBC 6 Music (which in my opinion should not be axed) there was a discussion about "slow culture" which seems to be a new buzz word for being a bit of an old fart! Well I'm saying that including myself as an old fart. Slow culture seems to be about 30 and 40 somethings who were drinking hard and being all "rock and roll" in the 80s and 90s who now have decided to try quieter pursuits such as gardening, fishing, bird watching, home brewing and baking, knitting and spending time generally pottering about.

Well I suppose with out the label that's what I've been doing or trying to slow down. So I'm knitting a scarf - very slowly - so that is slow clothes purchasing in my book and cheap! I've also been gardening. Above is a picture of one of the opium poppies that are over running our garden. I haven't the heart to pull them up although they do spread like wild fire. They are grotesquely beautiful on my flickr feed you can see another picture of the poppies with the huge Venus fly trap like buds. They make me wonder if flowers were like that in the age of the dinosaurs? I'm sure the birds will appreciate the seeds.

Above is a picture of a bee on the a fox glove - I think its a bee I'll look it up on line. Then below is a picture of a female blackbird who loves the apple halves I put out so much that she will happily peck at them whilst I'm in the garden with her! We have blackbirds and wood pigeons nesting in our neighbours hedge they use our garden as a fast track to the nests so there is constant flapping and darting about going on in our back garden.
Below is an update picture of the pots I planted about 2 weeks ago; already the herbs have grown and I've been using them in my cooking.
Lastly is a blurred picture taken on my mobile some signets with their parents. We watched them this morning down by the weir in Biggleswade. At first they were on the land with the signets but after a while they took to the water.
So all in all it's been a "slow culture" weekend so far.

Hitchin

I've had a fairly quiet week this week. I've been working on a bid for a contract. If I get it I'll let you know. Being self employed is something I am slowly getting used to. I'm certainly not missing the commute in London or the daily 9-5 routine of regular work. The downside is that I do have to work on bids for work which I might not get, and it is harder to plan my finances at this early stage. I think the pros will out weigh the cons though in the long run.

I visited my brother on Wednesday and looked after my nieces and nephew who were on half term holiday. It was a really enjoyable day, hot and sunny so ice creams were consumed! The rest of the week I spent working, and keeping an eye on the black birds nesting in our back garden. Their chicks must have hatched as they are flying back and forth from the nest beaks laden with food.

Today Jason and I went to Hitchin a near by market town. It's bigger than Biggleswade with a market during the week as well as at weekends. It's about 25 years since I went to Hitchin so some things have inevitably changed but much is the same like St Mary's church, pictured above. There are still cobbled streets lined with little whitewashed local shops and cafes as well as a larger high street. Anyway it was a good afternoon out somewhere different