Writing, fatshion, me: The Skints in Leeds

At the end of November a lot of things happened in a few days but not really enough to make separate posts so I'm just going to mush all of these things together into one post. I'm sure you'll cope!

First of all Chloe and I were supposed to be meeting up with Lolly but she couldn't make it so Chloe and I just met up instead. We decided to go to Pot House Hamlet in Silkstone which is pretty close to my house. I like the food there but the vegetarian choices aren't great and the service is always a bit rubbish, so I actually think it's off my list now, especially as I now live in Penistone which has better cafe options. I had a hot chocolate and I don't even remember what I had for main course, but when we had had that we went for a walk round the shops there. I bought some plants I think, oh and some dried orange slices for crafting. Then we went back into the cafe and sat in the exact same place and had cake and coffee before saying bye.

Lee works in the office on Wednesdays so when I got home I did some tidying up and I did a Christmassy design on Lee's neon light up board thing which I bought for him last Christmas. I also then made a few garlands with the dried orange slices and some other stuff. Then I did some work in my new work space. I desperately needed a separation between work and personal, so we got me a laptop and we have put it in the back bedroom on a desk that is fitted to one of the bookshelves (thank you Ikea!). It is SO much better for me and has been working well so far.

On the Thursday evening we put up our Christmas tree. Yes it was early but we were just too excited to put it up in the new house, and also Lee was away for the weekend so it was better to get it up. Last year we didn't put up a big tree because I didn't trust Kiki with it. So far she has behaved with this one. We've always had a slim tree before because our old living room was small (and was also a dining room, and Lee's office) but now we have the new massive living room so we went and bought a new tree. It's huge! It fits in the space though. I love it, I've spent a lot of cosy time in there recently with the lights on. I also liked the really ridiculous tinsel candy cane so put it at the top of one flight of our stairs, it's cute.

On the Friday I had to take Katniss to the new vets for her injections but she's fine, a clean bill of health. When we think about the cat who arrived in November 2024, she's a totally different animal. She is happy and confident and she's getting better with other adults. She still doesn't like children or the hoover, but she adores me and Lee. I'm so glad we adopted her, she's a little sweetie.

I did some work and then I set off to Leeds quite early to meet Sam for food before a gig. We had booked to see The Skints absolutely ages ago. We used to really like them in the late noughties and early 2010s, but hadn't seen them in forever, so we decided to go. We booked a table at Oba Korean and Japanese food. I have been there a couple of times and the food is always nice. I had spicy Chinese fake chicken which was nice, and a mocktail which I think had elderflower in it.

We finished food way before doors were opening, so we decided to go for dessert. I can't remember where we went but there are a few dessert places round there. We had a hot chocolate each and shared a crepe with strawberries, banana, and chocolate sauce. It was nice and just enough! Then we went to the Key Club and joined the queue to get in. I had requested access as I know it's good there, and indeed someone came out and asked if anyone had access, so we went down. There were several high stools to sit on at the back, which were fine but not that comfortable for me to sit on for over three hours, so I sat on the floor for a bit while the support act was on. She sounded great but I didn't see her, it was fine. The floor was actually quite clean!

The Skints came on and were really good! I really enjoyed them! They do make a lovely racket. Marcia sings beautifully and I like Josh's rapping type singing a lot too. He chatted a lot to the crowd which was really nice too. I'm really glad we went!