Nik's Saga

It's been a quiet day, bereft of the thunderstorms and torrential rain that the area had been promised. As a result I've had a quiet time reading <I>Iron Sunrise</i> by Charles Stross (jolly good), watching Doctor Who (considerably less good) and doing a bit of embroidery (of variable goodness).

Other sources of goodness included crumpets and a Belgian bun. I dread to think what the WiiFit is going to have to say to me when I get back to it.


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I have inherited several UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

These are all large cross stitch projects that Mum started but then put aside out of boredom, frustration or because something newer and mor interesting came along. Two are kits I bought for her after I'd done something similar and she'd expressed an interest in doing something similar, while the third (and most complete) was one that K fell in love with and whose colours appealed to Mum.

This is not the one I'm working on now. Rather, I've brought the Heritage Stitchcraft map of Lancashire and Furness up to the caravan so that there'll always be a stitching project here for me. Given the frequency with which I get to the van nowadays it's going to take me several years to finish it but at least I now have a plan and have begun to put it into action.
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I'm just back from a most enjoyable lunch with A, K and little B. <lj-cut>

It's been quite a while since I've had lunch with a four-year-old, and although B was a little hyper after sweets at the international market she was very well behaved - not that I'd expect anything but from T & K's little one. All of the adults had to colour in the pictures in the colouring book she'd been given by the restaurant because, she said, she could only scribble on them.

I'd arrived in St. Andrews yesterday afternoon and spent the evening at A's place for dinner and Wii games. It was both very silly and very enjoyable and, as usually happens on these occasions, I didn't get to bed until nearly 1am this morning. I think I might end up spending Wednesday at the caravan catching up on my sleep after this weekend. :)
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Although the <I>Orkadian Strip The Willow</i> almost did the trick.

I've just fallen onto (not into - it's far too hot for that) bed in the hotel which has hosted E's 50th birthday party. After last night's party and the drive up here I am shattered.

Last night wound up just after 2am once everyone had gone and Dad had decided to clear up in the morning ang had gone to bed, at this point it occurred to me that if he woke up with the slightest hint of a hangover then the post-party debris would really get his day off to a bad start so decided to tidy up there and then. When he did wake up he was very happy about this but it did mean that I was still awake at 4 am.

I still managed to get away before lunch but the M6 traffic was pretty foul and I also ended up stopping at Abington for a much-needed snooze. Eventually I made it here in what I thought was time to have a meal and finish E's card before the party, but this didn't take into account the glacially-speedy service here. It took mr ten minutes to find someone so that I could check in. The food in the hotel restaurant was okay, but again the service could have been better.

So by the time I was ready the celidh had been in full swing for an hour. The band were extermely good though and kept going for about three hours or so. It certainly looked as if everyone was having a good time.

Oh, and so as to keep you in suspence no longer, Dad finally found the mini lambanana at about 1am, after everyone else had seen it and laughed at the situation. It is now highly visible next to the roundabout's central water feature and was such a topic of conversation that Dad's not going be able to have it 'disappear'. Scheming, that's what I am, scheming.


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I was tempted to go on a Superlambanana safari this afternoon.

Unfortunately it's a bit hot to start tromping around a crowded city centre, so instead I wandered down to the Albert Dock to have a look around. It's been several years since I've done that, and as it has several superlambananas of its own I managed to kill two birds with one stone.

I've also been a little bit wicked. Superlambananas seem to be quite at home on roundabouts. In our back garden we have a large circular flowerbed known as 'the roundabout'. So (yes, you've guessed it) I bought a small lambanana which I have hidden in the garden roundabout amongst the petunias. K thinks it's hysterically funny; Dad hasn't noticed it yet.



As I drove around looking for a parking place I was hit (between the eyes) by a lambanana filk. Sensitive souls should stop reading here...

Lambananas Play
TTO: The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Video background of dancing superlambananas

Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.
Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.

In the city, the great port city, the Lambananas play.
In the city, the great port city, the Lambananas play.

They plaaaaaaaay....

Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.
Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.

By the dockside, the Albert Dockside, the Lambananas play.
By the dockside, the Albert Dockside, the Lambananas play.

They plaaaaaaaay....

Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.
Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.

Look, my darling, watch here my darling, the Lambananas play.
Look, my darling, watch here my darling, the Lambananas play.

Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.
Lambanana, lambanana, lambanana, lambanana.

(Fade out)

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As promised, here are the photos that haven't appeared over the last couple of weeks. According to the assorted websites I've read I should be able to post photos by email in the same way that I can post text, but it doesn't seem to be working. Ah well, here goes the catch-up process.

Starting with July 10th, when I had the exceedingly good flight from Akureyri down to Reykjavík before the delay at Keflavík. I had no idea how well the BlackBerry camera would behave, so I'm quite happy with the results:



Then there was Furness Abbey, which I visited on the 17th. It's been about 30 years since I was there last, but the abbey hasn't really changed much in that time; I've just become more aware of its historical context.



And finally there were the gloves. The beading isn't what I envisaged, but they're not too bad. I certainly learned quite a bit about leatherworking and glovemaking that should stand me in good stead for future pairs.


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I'm here for the paternal birthday celebrations.

Dad is 70 tomorrow so K and I are being appropriately dutiful and spending the next couple of days here. Dad, in the meantime, plans to do all of the things he'd do on any other Thursday so K is bringing her Wii (and WiiFit - hurrah!) with her to keep us occupied while he's of doing his thing.

Other than that I'm back in technical support mode and have already started on the laptop and the mobile phone. Tomorrow morning I start on reconfiguring Mum's computer for C, Dad's new S.O. Not quite sure how I feel about that, but I know he's been very lonely so it's probably good for him.

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Completed.

The gloves are, at last, finished. They're not exactly what I had planned before I started but as a first attempt they're not too bad. I've also learned a few things in the process which should prove useful next time.

I should be back at a normal computer tomorrow so I'll sort out all of the recent photos then.

For now, though, I'm returning to more normal embroidery. As I expected, I've picked up a couple of new kits on my travels over here. My next big decision, then, is which one to start now?

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Today I put on my investigating feet and drove off into Foreign Parts (also known as Yorkshire).

The original plan was to drive over to Embsay to visit a big craft shop then head into Skipton to visit the castle. This naturally didn't survive contact with the enemy (also known as the huge numbers of people in Skipton) and instead I ended up visiting a woollen mill and a craft shop in Settle and then up to the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes. Of course, my luck being what it is I arrived ten minutes after the cheesemaking museum closed but at least I got several truckles of cheese in the shop.

Never mind, I'm sure I can co back again to visit the museum. I did at least get to have a drive through the picturesque Yorkshire Dales.

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I have one completed glove. Maybe.

The cuff is both beaded and attached to the body but I'm not sure yet whether I want to put a cord around the outer edge of the cuff.

As a first attempt it's not too bad but is nothing like my mental image of it before I started. The next ones should be better... whenever I eventually get around to them. Photo tomorrow when I've finished the pair.

I'm now on my own again as M and P have headed home. I'm planning to stay here for a few more quiet days to finish the gloves and continue unwinding.

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I've just completed the first third of the beading on the cuffs.

After much thought I've decided to do beaded cuffs rather than embroidered ones. I may do a pair of properly embroidered velvet gloves with the remains of the fabric. As a result I went off in search of suitable beads, returning with copper-coloured long bugle beads, cream small bugles and pearl beads. So far I've completed the copper beads on both cuffs. With a bit of luck I'll complete them tomorrow.

Today's lack of stitching was partly due to M, P and myself going up to the Rheged center near Penrith. We were looking forward to exhibitions on the early history of Cumbria but infortunately most of them were closed, leaving the centre as little more than a glorified shopping centre. Ah well, at least I was inspired in terms of a gift for my Dad's forthcoming birthday and bought myself an ergonomic shoulder bag so it was't a complete loss.

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Name that advert.

Readers of a certain age and nationality may remember that tagline. P certainly did, as when I told her that I was heading up to Barrow today the chewiness of the bus station was her first thought.

In fact the bus station is no longer chewy - mainly because it no longer exists. It does make me wonder idly if it might have been eaten by a giant Godzilla-like monster.

The trip up to Barrow gave me the chance to try out the BlackBerry GPS. It doesn't talk to me but does provide a useful purple route marker. Armed with this bit of technical wizardry I eventually made it to Furness College to meet up with V, an old family friend.

After lunch we we went out to Furness Abbey, an impressive ruin of a once-rich abbey dissolved by Henry VIII. It also gave me a new manuscript to investigate - the Furness Coucher Book, which contains a lot of heraldic illuminated versals.

No more work on the gloves as it's been rather a busy day. All being well I'll be able to get some more beads for them tomorrow as I'm leaning towards making the cuff more beaded than goldwork. The final design choice will probably occur once I know what beads are available.

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The leather parts of the gloves are now complete.

I haven't done anything else with them today as my right thumb is still very painful - not the tip, which was painful earlier, but deep in the joint. It feels like the arthritis again, unfortunately.

So instead of sewing I spent the afternoon reading. I've finally caught up with six weeks of New Scientist and almost finished "The Silver Pigs" by Lindsey Davis. Yes, I know I'm way behind the curve on the Falco books but better late than never.

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I haven't quite finished the second glove today.

This is because my fingers hurt too much. :( Not to be put off, though, I went back to the market in Morecambe to pick up a set of mini pliers that I'm now using to pull the rest of the needle through the leather once I've got the point through first.

I've also turned the first glove right side out, only to discover that it fits far better inside out. I suspect that this is because I haven't taken a mallet to the seams yet - and I doubt I'll be able to do that until I get back to Liverpool.

All being well, then, I'll finish the leather and start the embroidery tomorrow.

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Not only sore but also red.

I've completed the leather portion of one of the gloves, and my stitching fingers have the sort of painful red areas which would go on to form calluses if I keep this up. There is a good reason to do that in that mediaeval/renaissance footwear is both tricky to find and on the expensive side. The leather I've been working with is certainly sturdy enough for shoes so I may give it a try if I can get more of it.

No photos as yet, I'm afraid, as while posting by email is easy, the overseas data charges for web browsing are exorbitant - hence my recent silence other than the posts themselves. All being well I'll find an access point over the next couple of days. I can still be reached by email if necessary.

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I've started on my gloves.

Originally I was going to use doubled normal thread but on a trip to Morecambe market this morning I picked up some linen thread in a close-enough colour to be usable.

I didn't manage to find the mounting board I was looking for but I did get a metal scriber so I'm ready to have a go at making an astrolabe too - just not this week.

Once I got back to the 'van (and after a bit of a snooze) I took apart the glove toile to create the final pattern and then cut out the requisite pieces from the leather I picked up in Abakhan the other day.

This is the first time I've tried leatherworking. Fortunately although the leather's quite thick it's still quite soft so although the stitching isn't too hard. Hard enough, though, that I might see if I can get a leatherworking palm in Lancaster tomorrow.

So far I've done the thumb (the tricky bit) and one finger on one glove. With a bit of luck I should be able to finish the leather parts of the gloves done over the next couple of days and then I can get started on the goldwork for the cuffs before the weekend. Or at least that's the plan.

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It was 2am before I got to the hotel on Friday morning.

It was 4:30 before I got to sleep and then I was on the road again before 10. Rather than heading straight for the caravan I drove down to Liverpool on a technical support call - Dad's been having problems with his internet connection so I said that I'd pop down and have a look at it for him.

As I drove into Liverpool from the airport side I was very surprised to see two of the arty lambananas on a roundabout near the old airport building. I'd assumed that they were dotted about the city centre, not dotted about all over the city. I spotted another two on Edge Lane as I came out to the M62 from Abakhan this morning.

I want my own ready-to-decorate lambanana.

One advantage of going into Liverpool (apart from keeping Dad happy) was that I got to both Hobbycraft and Abakhan and am now all set up for a week of calm, crafts and Classic FM. *Happy sigh* embroidered leather gloves, here I come.

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Strange things are happenning at Akureyri airport.

The runway is being extended to the bridge (I'm not thinking about the security issues involved...) so the plane was in the middle of the runway, with that result that we were bussed the 200m to it. Even more excitingly it went to full throttle from its loading position, none of this farting about taxiing for us!

The weather up here is so good that we flew low with a tourist commentary from the captain. Mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, we got the lot. As an example, here's a shot I took as a camera test through the window.

And as another test I'm posting this from the phone. Here's hoping it works...

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I'm packed and ready to go.

The suitcase is sitting by the door, ready to roll - which is pretty impressive given that I managed it with over 20 hours to spare. On top of which I wrote the packing list over the last two days and then only had to add two last-minute items to it (a hairbrush really is quite useful with hair this length...). The iPod and Palm are charging for the journey. I've written my shopping list. The washing machine is empty. My passport and travel documents are safely in my handbag.

Something is bound to go horribly wrong.

I think that tonight I'm going to have a relaxed evening, have chicken soup for dinner, do a bit of embroidery and watch a little television. Then tomorrow morning I'll just need to do a bit of washing up, hand the Wii over to I (who's borrowing it while I'm away - not that she needs the WiiFit, mind) and I'm ready to go. It's amazing what an organisational difference a week of pre-vacation vacation makes.
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I have a new mobile phone.

I've been looking for a new mobile for a few weeks now, ever since my Sony Ericsson started turning itself off occasionally for no obvious reason. Then a journalist friend of mine wrote a very interesting article about smartphones today and the next thing I know I'm in the Vodaphone shop looking for an iPhone.

Unfortunately iPhones haven't come to Iceland yet, which is a bit of a shame. Nevertheless,they offered me a very good deal on something with an equally silly number of bells and whistles - a shiny red BlackBerry Pearl 8110.

The number remains the same, but I can see already that the phone itself is going to take a little getting used to. In spite of this and it's just a matter of getting used to the extra functions - the idea that I can have my email with me all the time is rather appealing. As is the hoopy built-in GPS system, even if they don't have maps for Iceland yet. Never mind - I'll be able to test it out at the end of the week. :)
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I wandered into work again today.

One reason for this was to use my office colour printer to print out all of the necessary paperwork for this week's trip. No, the university doesn't provide colour printers to its staff; it's my old Lexmark one that requires me to remember to buy printer cartridges in the UK. It's useful because sometimes I have to either print things in colour (otherwise only possible if I go to the other building) or have to print out the occasional sensitive document. I'd have printed them at home if I hadn't run out of colour ink in my home printer (something else to add to the shopping list).

The other reason was to finish a document I'd planned to finish at home, but with the recent laptop hiccup I wasn't going to try completing it using the Eee's keyboard. Being in the office was quite pleasant in some ways - almost no-one else around, nothing to disturb me, no stressful deadlines approaching. It would be nice if all office days could be like that.
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Not much to report today.

The Eee keyboard is still annoying me, thus limiting my usual news gathering. It also seems to get quite warm rather quickly. As a result I've ended up watching new DVDs (NCIS) and doing embroidery instead of dealing with various SCA-related computer stuff.

I think I've also solved the problem of not having a WiiFit with me in the UK without having to buy one - as I send the video output from the Wii through my VCR I've just recorded an hour's worth of my normal yoga/aerobics workout. I won't get a score for it but at least I'll be able to do the daily workout in front of the TV.
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This afternoon I was technical support for an adventure in millinery.

One of the things I've got planned for Alfadans II (24-26 October, now on the Kingdom calendar) is a silly hat competition, similar to the one we had at a Harpelstane event many years ago. Silly hats are, I feel, an important feature of the SCA which should be encouraged in all participants. I've no idea what I'll do as a prize for the competition yet, but there will be one.

Today's adventure in millinery was R creating a tudor softcap for H in black velvet. There was some discussion to start with about whether to do a soft cap or a flat cap - in the past I've always done flat caps but R fancied something a bit more puffy so we opted for the soft cap instead, I'm glad we did, as it looks much better than the couple of flat caps I've made in the past. It's going to look very dashing with an ostrich feather to adorn it.

In other news, I've now done over 10 hours on the WiiFit and have been rewarded with a bronze FitPiggy. I've also got a bit bored of the hula, but I love the rhythm boxing. Very good for working up a sweat, it is.
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So here I am, typing on the Eee.

And it's nowhere near as practical as I'd hoped it would be. The tiny keyboard is causing me endless frustration, mainly in terms of a, s and the space bar. I keep hitting s when I want a and the space key (and other keys, for that matter) only seems to work about 90% of the time. I think that perhaps it's fate will be to be sold on to someone with smaller fingers, while I go looking for something else to repace my Psion TX.

The MacBook went to the Apple supplier, who was as surprised as I was that it was less than a year old. We both expect them to last, trouble-free, for considerably longer than that. It's being examined, but I almost certainly won't have it back in time to fly back to the UK next week. Drat. Ah well, that's more embroidery time, I suppose.

Thinking of which, as I'm gonig to Champions of Lough Devnaree I suppose I'd better come up with an entry for the A&S competition. I'm rather tempted by a pair of embroidered gloves. They'd have the advantage of being lightweight and relatively speedy to make up now that I've spet many long hours fitting my tailored glove pattern.
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Humph. My MacBook is not happy.Not happy in terms of not booting up and, when booting from the Leopard install disk,telling me that there is no hard drive. I've removed and reseated the hard drive but to no avail. A visit to the support chaps may be in order. Fortunately it's less than a year old and backed up. So it's an annoyance, not a disaster.

But grrr all the same. Instead I'm working on the Eee, whose keyboard is annoying me - I'm actually having to look at the keyboard as I type, for goodness' sake! I suppose it means that I'll get used to using it and wil be able to decide whether to keep it or sell it on to a friend who drools over it.
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I've just been shopping, and it has made me think.

Here in Akureyri we have two major shopping areas and several other minor ones. One of the main ones are the town centre - home to things like the post office, the banks, the bookshop, the telecoms provider and several restaurants. The other is Gleratorg, the shopping centre/mall (depending on your linguistic preferences) which has recently doubled in size. Both of these areas have a central zone and one or more 'satellite' zones.

The recent expansion of the shopping centre has had a major effect on the local shops. This hosts the mid-range local supermarket, the Woolworths-equivalent, a ToysRUs Express and several clothing and general stuff shops. A number of the shops in the town centre are now moving to the shopping centre, as are the larger shops in the shopping centre's own satellite zone. While this is terribly convenient it worries me a little that this is going to kill off the town centre. Okay, so it has always been somewhere I went for specific items (not having a supermarket) but it seems a shame to allow it to just die out.

I've heard rumours that there is a plan to tear up the road down the high street and replace it with a small canal, thus making it more of a tourist attraction. Hmm. Okay, so we do get three or four cruise ships in each week over the summer, and the passengers on these vessels probably only make it to the high street rather than the shopping centre, so in principle this isn't too bad an idea. On the other hand the ships only come in for four months of the year... Perhaps they're hoping to encourage more ski tourists as well - I suppose that if they built a canal then they could let it freeze during the winter and have ice-skating along the high street, which would be rather fun. It would, however, turn the high street into something of a tourist trap, and I don't know if it could survive in that manner.

It'll be interesting to see how it develops over the next twelve months.
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