dovegreydiary...

It's been a bit of a hectic week chez dovegreyreader, what with the Kayaker in New Zealand getting bitten by a white-tailed spider (possibly) leading to a subsequent Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull-like abscess on his neck (definitely). The NZ docs have been ace but there's me feeling I must offer sage advice from my store of nursing experience and across several thousand miles via a webcam...

' Don't drink or you won't know if you're ill with septicemia.'

And him actually agreeing not to (!) and saying

'There's a gaping hole in my neck, what if my windpipe falls out?'

and me saying

'Of course it won't,'

in that comforting and reassuring motherly way that you do whilst not being entirely sure it wouldn't.
It didn't.
His whale pics have been in the local paper this week too so that's made a change from all the usual pictures of people in pantomimes (which are very nice but, still...) and we've had lovely phone calls from friends.
We also waved the Tinker off on his travels.
Bless him, he looked very smart and chipper as he set off for his ship and the Caribbean and thankfully nothing that was going to be delayed by a deluge of volcanic ash.
I do feel huge sympathy for those inconvenienced and losing time, work and money as a result of nature doing what it does best in Iceland, i.e. tipping us the wink that it will invariably have the upper hand, and I seriously hope no one has any health issues as a result of all this, but what a novelty the plane-free sky is here in the Western Approaches.

Here's the very hazy view from us about an hour ago and we automatically assume that any high altitude plane we see heading this way >>>>> is America-bound because there's nowhere else to go after us really, but for anyone living near an airport this sky-silence must all feel very strange.
Being a white house planted very visibly in the midst of acres of green I'm sure we're a sort of marker for passing low-flying aircraft and helicopters too ,

'OK lads, aim for the white house and hang a left for Cornwall  '

And is this ash on our car all the way from a volcano in Iceland or hasn't it reached us yet?
It's very out of the ordinary whatever it is.

Girl's Night In round at mine this week and one of our number is paying vast amounts of money to go to Weight Watchers at the moment and has shed a creditable 9lbs, which the rest of us are only jealous about and should be doing too because we have all owned up to acquiring a bit of  wintery excess. It's just that we're all too mean and scared to spend out on the public humiliation of stepping on scales in front of other people.
So we spent the evening wheedling it all out of her because I think they must take a vow of secrecy or something.
Anyway it's all done on points not calories so we set to.
How many points a day?
How many points in  fish and chips?
How many points in a bowl of cereal...pint of milk...jaffa cake...

By about 11pm she'd cracked completely and we'd got the lot, plus even seen her very top secret Instant Calories-to-Points Calculator in the flowery case.
The most sensible thing to do after all this excitement was to sit down, put on a bit more weight and knit calmly because I'm approaching completion of the chunky Hebridean wool cardigan and need my wits about me to ensure I don't stitch the left front to the right side or forget buttonholes again.

 
I'm delighted with the Noro Kureyon accents around the edges, they've lifted it out of the ordinary and no wonder these sheep stay warm, this is likely to be the snuggest thing I've knitted next to the Alafoss Lopi Pink Elephant, and if you type Pink Elephant into my new 'Search' box up the top over here >>>>> you'll see what I mean.
Thank you Typepad, that little box is going to save my bacon because sometimes it feels like an online version of the cupboard under our stairs on here.
So that's my week, how about yours?