T O T K a t

Anyway, the weekend started with a late-afternoon trip to Cambridge for Charles' 3/2 birthday party. Which was really quite nice. Shame Cambridge lost the boat race, but the party was good, Charles was a sweetie and I even saw my old kitties again (and they didn't run away!).

Really could do with getting a grip on food this week and I really need to make time to go shopping after work tomorrow. The last week has been erratic and not enough fresh fruit and veg. And now there's the clock change to annoy my sleep cycle even further.

TiVo has been violated. Or rather, a remote update has sucked off tivoweb and all the fun toys that go with it. Thankfully, tivosh is still there which makes recovery less of a mission. Something to do tomorrow. I really ought to get it sorted before the F1 on Sunday morning because I forgot to tell TiVo to watch that. I can watch the quali here at the parental abode, but the race may not be so easy.

• 150g strawberries
• 1 medium banana
• 150ml orange juice (frozen)
• 75g set yogurt (frozen) - in my example, Total 0% greek yogurt
• 10g root ginger (raw)
• 15g sugar

Break up the frozen ingredients a bit. Roughly chop strawberries, banana and ginger. Add all ingredients to a suitable container (probably a tall jug) and blend with a hand blender. Pour into a pint glass and add straws. Et voila! The ginger just gives it a nice kick.

Heikki and Lewis look good together. Just watched their interview, time-slipped on TiVo. Now for the race!

For the first time in my life, I appear now to own a miniskirt (and a pair of these fabulous tights). And it looks _good_ on me; makes my legs look a million miles long. Mustn't over-use it ;o)

*excited*

Or rather I wil be able to once the Proms Guide 2008 is released.

Bring it on!

Almost beer o' clock now...

Mahler tonight was fabulous (of course :o)), though the pianist for the concerto in the first half was either stoned or a tortured genius. I didn't know the concerto well at all, so I was only curious after the cadenza in the first movement seemed a bit... avant garde for Mozart. The conductor was a bit of a babe too and a total sadist with the final movement of the Mahler; man, did he make the cello section earn their salary!

Three days off in between solid social calendar isn't enough! After last week's 7 days in a row (though one cancelled so I got a night off in the end) to Sunday I'm booked up tonight, tomorrow night, Saturday and Sunday. Then Monday off before it all starts again. If I didn't have a PDA, I'd have no clue where and when I was supposed to be; I love my iPod Touch. I may just have to knit it another sock, given that the prototype was a teensy bit short. I'm sure I can get some done on the tube journeys on the way home from said social whirlwind.

*bounce* I'm going to hear Mahler V live this week. This is deeply cool. It has to be one of my all time favourite pieces of Classical music.

Since the last update...

• Three more new plastic bags - the M&S ones don't fare so well with re-use, they're not all that robust
• Thrown away 2 slices of frozen bread because they broke up in the freezer
• One bath each weekend (in place of that day's shower)
• Taken a couple more items of clothing to the charity shop
• Still filling only roughly one carrier bag full of non-recyclable waste
• Still not used the car since New Year's Day

I'm still particularly pleased about the lack of food waste and I think it is partly because I've taken a leaf out of a friend(who posts her weekly meal plan on LJ)'s book and plan a week's meals in advance at the weekend so I buy only as much as I'm going to eat and rarely buy any whim-based items. That doesn't mean I don't go to the "reduced" section in the supermarket, because I do and incorporate that into the plan too.

What to do with the car. Hm. Well, it's not doing any environmental harm by existing and not being used, so I'm not bothered about that part. I do still need it, for the flexibility it affords in visiting outside of London and/or with large or heavy stuff to transport. I'm definitely keeping it for now.

iPod sock

Yarn:- Rowan Luxury Cotton DK (blue), 50g.

Cast on 16 stitches.
Work 80 rows in 2x2 rib.
Cast off.

The piece should measure 9.5"-10".

Fold piece in half at 40th row, with RS together and stitch along edges. Turn inside out.

There may be hope for TVC yet. I certainly hope so.

...and, like an idiot, I left my compact camera battery charging at work, so there are lots of days photos that can't upload to the project.

On the one night off I had this week, I knitted up a scarf in 2 hours! It was on massive needles and with very very chunky yarn, but how satisfying is that to have something made in just one day? I think I'll get the Rowan pattern book for that kind of yarn so when I get down about the other, much slower, stuff I'm knitting taking ages to get anywhere, I can knock something out quite quickly. Today, I think I'll see if I can make me a new iPod sock out of the lovely, fine cotton/silk mix yarn I bought a couple of months ago. Given that the yarn is quite fine and the needles being 4mm, it might take quite a bit longer than I thought.

Dear Margaret Hodge, BBC, and the entirety of the British media,

the Henry Wood Promenade concerts are _not_ about Britishness! Stop trying to be mental about political correctness and remember what the Proms are about:-

"History of the Proms

The Proms is 114 years old and still remains true to its original aim: to present the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences."

You are all confusing the Last Night with the whole series, and the fact that some people wave flags to add to the party spirit. Please leave the Proms alone and don't impose your political agenda on them.

It's a shame there were no nice Hello Kitty t-shirts in Japan. The resurgence here would have made it "Super Cool!" if I had a cute one to wear that you couldn't get here. Back to the knitting...

In knitting news, I've just started a ribbed scarf which is going quite well. I'm rather hoping I have enough of the Rowan Cocoon yarn (in Tarn) to complete the scarf because I'm not sure I Knit London will have any left in the same colour I'm using. Thanks to Kat for showing me how to do ribbing!