five weirs walk

Last week a friend and I walked along the five weirs walk, a path that runs alongside the River Don out from Sheffield city centre towards Meadowhall shopping centre. Given that we live on the doorstep of the peak district national park, you might think this was an odd choice of route, but I do like a bit of urban hiking.

The part closest to the town is well maintained, and designed as a cycle route that misses out the dual carriageway.

If you follow the route to the end, you do indeed see five weirs, although we only managed two. It’s not as picturesque as some walks round here… and at times we found ourselves ambling through car parks on industrial estates, and through rubbish strewn deserted back streets. Still, it’s good to explore your city, and there’s always something new to see.

After a couple of miles, we came across this sign…

Aha! Early last year we joined the local wildlife trust, and I promised myself I’d visit all eleven local nature reserves. I managed three last year, but then got a little sidetracked. But here, without me even planning it, was number four!

Teeny tiny, but pretty nonetheless.

Getting a little peckish, we decided to return along the canal. I’ve always loved canals. I used to live on a narrowboat, and I’ll always have affection for canals. I love peeking through missing windows into abandoned factories, and I love the tranquility of a canal, even when it runs through a city centre. I especially love looking through the windows of narrowboats, which always look cosy and inviting (although having had lots of people peer through my narrowboat windows, I do try to be discrete!)

It was very hot that day – the first day I’d been out without a coat, or even a cardigan. I remembered all the times I’d run along this canal when training for the marathon last summer, and appreciated that this time I was walking instead. It felt familiar though, and I found myself counting down the miles and the landmarks, just as I did last year.

See? The cafe is just around the corner. Not far now.

Have you had a local adventure lately? Explored anywhere local that you’ve not been before? What did you find?

for today…

Outside my window… the streetlights aren’t working, so it’s properly dark. I can see our fairy lights reflected in the kitchen window.

I am thinking… about the garden. How much I’m enjoying my new raised beds. How I hope the broad beans and the new blackcurrant bush survive outside.

I am thankful… for some gorgeous sunshine this week, and having spent a lot of time outside in it.

In the kitchen… the food cupboards are stocked. A candle is burning. The remains of several of the weekend’s projects are waiting to be put away.

I am wearing… jeans and a flowery t shirt. This is the first weekend I’ve spent wearing only one layer, and it’s utterly delicious.

I am creating… a productive food garden (hopefully!). All the sewing and knitting I’ve done lately has concentrated on household repairs (curtains, cushions, clothes) or making useful things (a computer wrist support, a new tote bag, more dishcloths). I’m feeling quite domesticated at the minute.

I am going… to meet a friend in town tomorrow. We’re planning to walk along the canal. I’ve explained it’s more ‘industrial’ than ‘pretty’, but that didn’t put him off.

I am wondering… about focus. My mind wanders a lot between garden and tea and cake and flute things and work and running and walking and knitting and many other things. Sometimes I think I should fix on one thing, but then the others all nudge back in again. Mostly I just go with it.

I am reading… ‘On Looking‘ by Alexandra Horowitz. It’s a library book, one I’d not heard of. It’s making me look more closely at what’s around me.

I am hoping… that I manage to pace myself through the next few days of travelling.

I am looking forward to… Meeting friends in London next weekend.

I am learning… (slowly) that household routines really do work. Who knew?

One of my favorite things… dozing in bed when it’s light outside. I used to hate this as a child, always feeling how unfair it was that I was in bed while other children were still playing outside. The injustice! Now I look back on that time and remember clean sheets, a tidy bedroom (really?), a pile of books, and the sounds of other people outside, and I find myself longing to be in bed during daylight hours. Today I sneaked up to bed at 2pm, and snoozed and read for three whole delicious hours, feeling extremely wicked and very satisfied at the same time.

How was your day? I’d love to hear about it! Join in at the Simple Woman’s Daybook.

birthday buttling

It was my birthday this weekend, and I treated myself to a weekend of cafes, pottering, and not very much else.

Pretty much like most other weekends, but somehow more cheerful.

First on the list of adventures was a trip to Cocoa Wonderland.

We spent two whole hours lounging around upstairs in their tiny cafe, drinking thick creamy hot chocolate and slowly savouring posh chocolate buttons, and basking in the sunshine like a pair of cats.

We had to order another drink in the end or it might have got embarrassing.

I walked home through the Botanical Gardens, which were just gorgeously spring-like and filled with daffodils.

One thing led to another, and on Saturday I found myself drinking more tea, and eating more chocolatey things, and another of my new favourite little cafes.

When I got home, I made (more) tea using the storm kettle out in the garden. There was no reason for this whatsoever, except that it was my birthday and I wanted to. I enjoyed myself immensely.

(And yes, that was rain on the ground. It’s a storm kettle. I was practicing for a storm).

While we’re out in the garden, let me show you what else I’ve been up to this weekend.

Yep, I finally got round to painting the wall that I built in, er, July 2011. Oh dear. Still, I gave the rest of the wall a lick of paint at the same time, and it looks much better than it did before.

I also made progress on the fill-the-entire-garden-with-raised-beds project this weekend, by turning this:

… into this:

… which I’m quite delighted with, and which I’m sure you’ll agree is a great improvement. Those floppy green things are chives, which I separated and plonked round all the corners. I was joined in my gardening exploits by Mrs Blackbird, who you can see in the middle of the triangular bed above, cleverly pecking out the wildflower seeds I’d just sowed. Cheeky thing. She stayed just a couple of feet away from me for a long time, and at one point I actually had to step over her because she was right in the way and just looking at me with her head on one side. I reckon she thinks we’re taking up space in her garden.

Anyway, we’re not quite there yet with the raised bed project. Next weekend I’m heading back to the council tip place to fill my own bags of compost. This is MUCH cheaper than buying bags at the garden centre, and while the compost isn’t quite as fine (and contains quite a few sticks), it’s more than adequate for filling beds.

I’m getting quite excited about the garden at the minute, as you can probably tell. Just need those seeds to keep growing now…

 

30 ways to save £1

I read about the 30 ways to save £1 challenge both on Robyn’s blog and Mean Queen’s. I don’t normally join in with stuff like this, but I’m going to this time, because, quite frankly, the last few months have been a bit spendy and I could do with reminding myself of some ways to save… They’re offering £30 for the first 500 people to submit 30 money saving tips, so if you have a blog, join in yourself!

My challenge isn’t thinking of 30 ways to save £1, it’s thinking of 30 ways to save £1 that aren’t just what everyone else wrote… So here are 30 things I do now, or have done in the past and probably should revive.

At home

1. Don’t clean very much. You might think I’m joking (actually, if you know me well, you won’t), but really, however much you clean, you might not need all those different bottles of chemicals under the sink. The only things I use regularly are (supermarket own ‘green’) washing up liquid, and a squirty bottle with water, washing soda and lavender oil in. I’ve got some upholstery/carpet cleaner, and some very cheap cream cleaner stuff, but they don’t get used often. The loo gets a quick squirt of the cheap bubble bath that tops up the handwash on the sink.

2. Make cleaning cloths. If you like knitting, knitting your own cotton dishcloths is simple and fun (just don’t get carried away with fancy patterns – plain knitting with bigger needles means they dry much faster). I’ve also cut up and hemmed old towels – I cut them with pinking shears so the hems only needed folding over once and don’t fray. These are great for general cleaning and also dry quickly.

3. Learn how to fix things. I can’t fix everything, but I’ve sewed up holes in cushion covers, lined our living room curtains, and repaired a giant hole in the mattress. I can fix many things that go wrong on a bike myself, and I’m slowly learning with small things on the car (fitting light bulbs, changing tyres, and we even put the exhaust back on ourselves when it fell off last week). If you don’t want to fix things yourself, see if someone else will – some lovely folk have recently set up a Repair Cafe here and will fix things for free!

Food

4. Batch cook rice and beans. While I’d love to be able to freeze leftovers, the truth is we usually just eat them. But while I’m making tea, I can cook a giant pan of rice to store in bags in the freezer. If I’m at home alone one evening, I cook a big pan of dried mung beans, or aduki beans. That means dinner after work can take 10 minutes, and if the only veg I have is onions and frozen peas (this happens surprisingly often), I can still knock up a decent meal.

5. Take lunch to work. I know everyone says this, and I’ve spent plenty of time ignoring it myself. But it works. However, it only works if it’s easy, and that’s where I’ve fallen down in the past. What I’ve learned is: (a) a sandwich can just consist of bread and cheese – no giant hand will come from the sky to admonish me for not eating salad (b) I’m likely to eat any sweet things I take with me as soon as I get to work, and will probably still end up buying something else mid afternoon. This doesn’t mean I have to give up packed lunches altogether. Spending 80p on a chocolate bar is much better than £5 on lunch.

6. Take a flask. Even a small flask on a long train journey saves me buying at least one cup of tea. And it’s more fun to drink from a flask.

7. Make bread. We have a breadmaker, and it takes no time at all to make a loaf. I’ve fallen out of the habit a bit lately, but made one today and remembered just how nice it is.

In the garden

8. Use loo roll tubes for planting seeds. Plentiful, free, and rot away into the garden when planted. What more could you want? I usually put mine in those plastic tubs mushrooms sometimes come in.

9. Make compost. I have a small garden, and a relatively small compost bin, but it eats all our household food scraps, plus most garden green waste, and turns it into lovely compost. And it provides a stylish home for the local woodlouse population.

10. Buy ‘green waste’ compost from the council. Not all do this, but ours does, and you can buy it for £2 for a giant bag – if you go and bag it up yourself. Round here, you can only do this during the week, but since I now have Fridays off that’s not a problem. It’s got a few too many sticks in to use for seeds, but for raised beds or general topping up of the garden, it’s half the price of peat free stuff from the garden centre.

11. Look out for free stuff. People are always getting rid of plantpots, big tubs, garden chairs… What can you give a good home to?

12. Grow veg. I’m not great at this, and sometimes I think people can be put off by only being able to grow a little bit of veg, thinking it won’t make a difference. Actually, it will. Any day you can wander outside and harvest even one courgette, or a handful of salad leaves, is a day you won’t go wandering to the shops ‘just for something for tea’ and come out having spent £10.

13. Grow herbs. I love growing herbs. They need very little attention, look nice and smell lovely, and fill up lots of gaping holes in the garden. In the last few years I’ve dried rosemary and sage which have lasted all through the winter – and because I’ve always got those two on hand, I’ve not bought any other dried herbs either. We also grow fennel, lemon balm and peppermint for tea, and this year I’m planning to try chamomile too.

Getting ready (toiletries and clothes)

14. Go on a toiletries purge. Reconsider what toiletries you actually need. For me, necessary things are shampoo and conditioner, soap, face and body moisturiser, and deodorant. Oh, and suncream in the summer. I’m not saying don’t use anything else, but if you’re trying to save, think what you could reclassify as a ‘luxury’.

15. Make toiletries. I’ve made soap, face scrub, beeswax moisturiser, and a failed attempt at shampoo. The beeswax moisturiser is lovely on heels and elbows and hands, and while I wouldn’t normally buy face scrub, it’s a really nice addition. We use my soap most of the time in the shower, and I also grate it and mix with washing soda for washing clothes.

16. Make sanitary towels. I know, some of you will be turning away in disgust, but there’s really no need to be so squeamish! I don’t use these all the time, but if I’m at home all day they’re great, and you can be far more adventurous than I am. Just soak overnight then rinse before slinging in the washing machine (in a mesh bag). Simple.

17. Buy clothes in charity shops, but remember to still be discerning. I’ve fallen into the trap of buying things that are just ‘alright’ because they’re cheap – they still languish at the back of the wardrobe not being worn. Remember, it’s only a bargain if you were going to buy it anyway!

18. Have shoes or boots reheeled. Round here it costs £8, and £16 to have them fully resoled. If you think your favourite boots are completely worn out, it’s worth checking with the shop – they can do wonders to fix them up again.

Presents

19. Don’t buy last minute gifts. If you see things people might like throughout the year, buy them and stash them away. That’ll save the last minute ‘I have no idea what to buy!’ panic that so often (for me, anyway), ends with unsatisfactory or expensive presents.

20. Make presents and cards. I made every present I gave one Christmas, but that was quite difficult and time consuming. But cards can be expensive, and are easy to make by getting a stack of your own photos printed (online they can be as little as 1p each) and sticking them onto folded card.

Banking and bills

21. Keep an eye on the bank account. An obvious one, but I know my bank account can behave very peskily indeed if I don’t keep an eye on it. Just this week, in fact, I had a letter saying I’d gone overdrawn after I’d not checked it for a couple of weeks. If I’d watched it more closely, that wouldn’t have happened.

22. Compare prices for bills. I’ve put this in because I know you’re meant to do it, but I find it SO tedious (see this post about me changing our house insurance) that sometimes I don’t bother. However, a few tedious hours looking for new house insurance saved us £600. That’s quite a lot.

Entertainment

23. Enjoy free stuff. I’ve spent a lot of time doing voluntary work in the past, and had lots of fun with some very lovely people, all for nothing (sometimes with a free lunch too!). Book clubs are usually free, so is wandering about the countryside or the local park (preferably with a picnic). There are plenty of money off vouchers for meals these days too.

24. Make your own entertainment. We often pop to a friend’s house for a cup of tea – even if we take biscuits it’s cheaper than us all piling to a cafe (although I do that often enough too…). Film nights, music nights, craft evenings, make-your-own pizza evenings, or just nattering-on-the-sofa evenings

25. Pick cafes carefully. Round hear you can pay anything from £1 to £2.50 for a cup of tea in a cafe, plus 80p to £3 for a cake. I don’t always go to the cheapest place, but that’s a difference of up to £3.70 (the cakes are often nicer in the cheaper places too).

26. Volunteer at events. Music festivals often need stewards and litter pickers – yes you’ll have to work a few shifts, but you generally get a free ticket, separate camping field (with cleaner toilets) and sometimes even free food. If campaigning is more your thing, some organisations take volunteers too – I once collected signatures for Oxfam petitions at Glastonbury, right in front of the main stage. Volunteering at smaller local events will usually get you a free ticket (and sometimes a free pint or dinner) too.

27. Get to the library. I can’t tell you how much I love libraries. I’m lucky enough to have two within 15 minutes walk, and a bigger one in town, plus another where I work. I can lose myself for hours in a library, wandering around, picking up anything I fancy. My local one also does dvds for £1 a week. Now you can renew things online, I never (well, hardly ever…) get fines.

Travel

28. Walk more. Something I need to remember myself… I travel to my office at least twice a week, and each day I can spend up to £6 in bus fares. Walking just two of those four journeys could save me £6 a week, which adds up. Even walking one journey each time would save me £12-15 a month. It doesn’t take much longer to walk either once you’ve accounted for traffic.

29. Get a folding bike. Ok, folding bikes are expensive and you wouldn’t recoup your money any time soon. But I’ve had mine about 12 years now, and I love it. When I take it to work I can save three of those four bus journeys (all four if I was willing to cycle three miles solidly uphill at the end of the day, which I’m not).

Other stuff

30. Join the local LETS scheme. Some places have these, others have something similar. Yes, you’ll have to put some time in to do things for others, but you could potentially get help in your garden, or a dog sitter, or music lessons, or a massage, without laying out any actual money at all.

31. Learn how to sew. I’m not brilliant at sewing, but I can repair holes in things, sew on buttons, I can make simple skirts (see here, here and here), and I can knock up a straightforward tote bag in an hour (see here and here, handy for last minute presents, or for the straightforward pleasure of having something ‘new’ without having to buy it). I’d love to learn to make more clothes (although I’m not convinced that always saves money, not if you usually buy in charity shops).

So there we are! Thirty ways I’ve saved (at least) £1 in the past (actually 31 – it seems I originally had two number 15s…). How do you save £1? I bet there are things you do that you don’t even think about any more. Have you joined in this challenge yourself?

oh i do like to be beside the seaside

A couple of weekends ago we went to the seaside. I haven’t been to the seaside for AGES, it’s not too close to here, but goodness me, I do love being beside the sea!

We took our folding bikes to Bridlington, and cycled along the seafront. We ate fried things in cafes, and picnics on benches – still wrapped up warm, it’s true, but how lovely to be outside and feel (relatively) warm. We love our folding bikes. Somehow being on a foldy bike is FAR more cheerful than being on a normal bike. They’re easy to get on and off, fun to ride, and people often shout nice things at you as you go by. On this trip, some kids shouted ‘wow! Those bikes are BRILLIANT! They look like they’re out of a cereal box!’

After a not-as-bad-as-you’d-think-but-still-not-great night sleeping in the car (it’s got a bed in it, honest!), we went to Filey for breakfast.

It was still early, and there weren’t many people round as we ate our scones on the beach, but it was quite exciting to watch the (practice) launch of the lifeboat. Obviously there was a fair bit of messing about with the panorama setting on the camera (there always is). No idea where that dog came from.

Have you been to the seaside lately? Where is your favourite seaside? Maybe you’re lucky enough to live there!

not(e) perfect

There’s been a lot of flute playing going on around here lately, as you might imagine. I think I mentioned it in the comments on another post, but I passed my grade 8 exam! I got 27 marks out of 30 for two of the pieces I played, and 26 for the other, so I was ever so pleased. My scales were ‘well prepared and mostly evenly played’, and even passed the aural tests despite several inaccuracies.

I did enjoy receiving the examiner’s comments. When I did grade 7 (at school, er, 15 years ago), the examiner said things like ‘this piece had some life but would have benefited from a range of dynamics’, so I was most gratified this time to read things like:

‘you exploited an appropriately wide dynamic range and contoured the phrases musically’

‘some blemishes today, but the rhythmic sense of direction and vitality projected the spirit of the movement convincingly’

‘tonal control at the extremities of the range not always quite reliable, but generally a stylish and expressive account, despite small blemishes’

I confess I was rather chuffed with myself (despite the profusion of ‘blemishes’).

It’s a bit strange sometimes when you do something that takes up lots of time (flute exam, marathon, phd all spring to mind). When it’s over, you find yourself wondering what comes next. Fortunately I already had something exciting lined up for the weekend…

On Saturday, I caught the train to London for a day with the Not(e) Perfect Orchestra, formed for one day by the London Symphony Orchestra’s community and education programme.

Everyone was thoroughly over-excited, and it was great fun. I’ve been on a couple of orchestra play days in the last year, but this one had a special air of celebration about it. It also had the slightly alarming distinction of having conservatoire students and some of the players from the London Symphony Orchestra playing alongside us (they were very nice and not at all intimidating, honestly). You can read all about it here.

I’m enjoying playing a lot at the minute. I didn’t play for such a long time, and when I started again I was rather nervous, not wanting to play when anyone could hear, even in my own house. I didn’t tell anyone I played. I whispered through my flute, trying to play as quietly as possible. After a while, I found I could play in the attic if Peter was in the kitchen two floors below, and then later, in the next room. I started playing with friends, and joined a flute choir. And I signed up for a few orchestra days, playing music I didn’t know alongside people I’d never met, and even rather enjoying it.

It’s a good feeling, knowing you can get better at something if you put the time and effort in. I’ve got so much better in just 18 months, and I know there’s still so much to learn. Already I’m casting my eyes about for the next challenge.

What about you? Any long-forgotten skills you’d like to dust off? Something you’ve always wanted to try but never got round to?

paddling at padley gorge

Dashing through today, so I’ll leave you with some pictures from a walk I had with a friend a couple of weeks ago before the snow, to Padley Gorge, a gorgeous National Trust place not far from here, which I’d never been to before. It was very cold, and felt strangely autumnal, not a trace of spring. I must go back when things are a little warmer! Isn’t it gorgeous? I can’t believe I’ve never been before, it’s so close to here.

Is there anywhere close to you that you haven’t made it to yet? When will you go?