Brief Trip to Birmingham

A little while ago I joined someone's PhD research, which is about weight stigma in social work basically, so I was happy to join their steering group. I love the opportunity to be fat professionally and to use my experiences of living in a fat body to help shape research and things. We had met online but thenn Laurel, the researcher, wanted the steering group to meet up so they had organised for us all to go to Birmingham. That's not a bad drive for me, so I went by myself. I set off about 11 on the Monday morning I guess, and stopped for lunch at one of the services on the way. I had pre booked parking near the hotel and had to go round a bit to get into it, but I managed eventually. I just had a small case with me but with my coat and bag and everything I had to struggle upstairs as there wasn't a lift in the car park. 

My maps app then sent me totally the wrong way and I had to walk round a bit even though I was so close to the hotel! I did see this pub with Black Sabbath photos on it, which was pretty cool. Even if it was in the wrong direction from where I needed to be... 

I eventually made it, and met Laurel. It turns out we have friends in common so that was cool. A few people arrived then from Brighton, who already knew Laurel and who I had met online, so that was cool too. We each checked in and got our key cards, and then said goodbye for a bit as we were meeting later for tea. 

My room was fine - on the 6th floor and the bed was nice and soft. I had a few hours so I laid down for a rest as I hadn't been sleeping well. I had the TV on and got nice and cosy in the bed. I had brought my book and thought I had about a chapter left, but it turned out there were only a couple of pages. No matter, I had another one with me, of course!

There were ten of us who met downstairs just after 7; including some people I hadn't met earlier, so it was nice to meet some new people. We walked to Nando's as it's accessible and has food for everyone, and it wasn't too far to walk for me. I had the halloumi burger and it was fine! Afterwards we were kind of talking about doing something else, like finding dessert, but generally people were tired so we ended up dispersing and I went back to my room and had a cup of coffee and some chocolate there instead. 

In the morning I was up and at breakfast by about 8.15. I met Laurel and some others there. I wasn't very hungry so I just had some cheese and pastries, they were nice though. Everyone eventually ended up there; Laurel went off to set up the meeting for us, and the rest of us ate and got ready. At 9.30 taxis came and got most of us as the meeting was too far for some of us to walk.

It was in the Friends of the Earth building so there were tons of radical posters around which I really liked. We had our meeting from 10 until 1, and we got a lot sorted. I feel really positive about it! We said goodbye to each other and I and some others went back to the hotel to get our cases which they had kindly kept for us. This time I got back to the car park much easier thankfully, and was soon on my way home. I stopped to grab some lunch and a coffee and got home about 4pm, back to Lee and the cats! 

Black Sabbath photos on the pub. I think there were similar on a bridge nearby and if I had thought about it I would have gone to look on my gap between checking in and meeting for tea, but it didn't occur to me until later

Close ups

The hotel room. I had a quick shower too before I went out for tea, because I was very sweaty and felt gross!

View from my hotel room

I saw this on a building we passed in the taxi on the way to the meeting

And some of the radical posters in the meeting venue

First Week of February

I'll put the first week of February all here as nothing is really worth a post of its own, but there were photos I wanted to share. On the 2nd of February I went to see Jacqui in York because she hadn't been able to come down for my birthday. I just went to hers and we ordere curry and watched Groundhog Day. Nothing special but it was nice to spend time with her. 

On the evening of the 5th my mum and stepdad came for tea. They didn't stay over, although they could have, but we had tea and a couple of glasses of wine and it was a nice time. On the Friday I went off to Manchester to meet my friend Helen. We had booked Slatterys because we both love it and she hadn't been for a while. I had been more recently but never mind, it's always delicious! I had the doorstep rarebit with mushrooms on, which were really garlicky, and the strawberry and marshmallow dippers. And a hot chocolate, of course! I had also promised to take Lee some cake home as an early Valentines present, so I did that, which we ate over the next couple of days. It was nice to see Helen of course!

On Saturday I went for lunch with my friends Gillian at The Dunkirk which is only about ten minutes drive from my house. It's also only about ten minutes from her new house, so it's ideal for us to meet! I had been for Sunday lunch the day before my birthday but hadn't eaten from their main menu, so we decided to go. The vegetarian choice was a bit lacking and I do sometimes eat fish, so I had prawn and avocado on toast which was SO good, I really enjoyed the prawns. For dessert I had orange creme brulee which was again really good. I don't really like creme brulee but I've had it before when it was orange flavoured and enjoyed it. We chatted for a bit and it was really nice! I rested the rest of the weekend though. 

I had been working on this cross stitch for months, since like October or something. I knew I couldn't finish it for Christmas so that was okay, but I am glad to have finished it and will frame it ready to be put out next Christmas. I've done several like this before, from Caterpillar Cross Stitch. I have one for each season and they are now up on the wall on one of our staircases (we have a three storey modern town house) and I love to see them. This one was a joy to stitch, I like the penguin and some of the baubles best! 

Hot chocolate as always in Slatterys

I love a rarebit but never make it, maybe I should! 

And my gorgeous dessert. I didn't eat it all so brought bits home to eat later, as usual 

Prawn and avocado on toast with potato salad and I had chips alongside, too

Orange creme brulee with two shortbread biscuits

And my finished cross stitch, isn't it lovely!

Stockport Noir Crime Festival

 On the 31st of January I headed over to Stockport to go to a crime fiction festival. I saw it advertised absolutely forever ago and bought myself a ticket. I would have been better if Lee had been there with me to carry books and so on, but I didn't want to spend the money on two tickets, so I sucked it up and went by myself. I took my things in a backpack, which did help. I took my lunch and drinks and snacks etc with me too so that I didn't have to leave the venue. I set off really early which meant I did get a space in the car park. Such is life with a disability! 

Even though I was there early I still had to queue a bit to get in. It was fun though, everyone was just really excited to be there. Once I got in I picked up a lanyard and a goodie bag. Inside was a proof copy of a book that I haven't even heard of, so I'll look forward to reading that! 

There was tea and coffee and then everyone went in to the main hall for the first panel. The first panel was debut authors and I think they all did brilliantly. Immediately after each panel were signing lines. I have to say that these could have been better organised. Plus when I've been to other lit festivals, I - as someone who uses a walking stick - have been pressed to go to the front of the lines so that I didn't have to queue. That didn't happen here so I ended up in some pain, which was a shame. After the second panel I even asked one of the organisers if I could go to the front of the queue, and while he did help me he did it with some bad grace which made me feel even worse. If I could give feedback on this to the authors I absolutely would, but I haven't seen how to do that (yet?). It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. 

The panels were all great though. The moderators asked some really amazing questions and everything was funny and insightful. I really liked the sound of a LOT of the books, so I bought four from the bookstall that was in the venue. I do think their prices were very high, but I had some Christmas money to use so that's okay. 

I ate my lunch in the break out room, which was also where the signings were, so it made space a bit squeezed. I would prefer if they could do that differently next year too! I got talking to a woman I was sitting next to in the main hall, so that was nice. 

The final panel of the afternoon had Elly Griffiths on it. I have read most of her books and have met her twice before, but I hadn't bought any of her new series which features time travel, mostly because it sounds a bit weird. But it sounded interesting so I did buy it so that I could get her to sign it. I wore my Bruce Sprinsteen t shirt especially for her as she's a big fan (which is why Ruth Galloway is also a fan!) so we talked about him and how much we love him, haha. 

I didn't stick around too long after the last panel, and managed to get home in good time so that I could rest for a bit. I had ended up carrying a lot of books and other stuff, by myself, which I'm proud of, but I was tired! 

My freebie tote bag

All the panels, these are backwards in time but not to worry! 

Proof I was with Elly! 

And here's what I came home with! Bad Deeds was the book I got for free. The top right is a chapter sampler but Rebecca was really interesting and her book sounds really good so I got her to sign this sampler for me and will probably buy it when it's out. Everything else just sounded really interesting so I bought them and got them signed!

Lunch Out in Meadowhall

On the 30th of January I went to Meadowhall to meet up with Lolly, Georgina, and Debz. Debz moved to Yorkshire last summer and we have been meaning to meet up with her for lunch for ages, and finally orchestrated it! Georgina had been asked to review Maki and Ramen, which is a new restaurant that's opened up in the Oasis, so she asked if we could all go, and they very nicely said yes! So thank you to the people there for having us, it really was a pleasure. 

Lolly and I got there first and waited for a bit then got seated. We were in booth seating which was comfortable enough except that the seats were quite a bit higher than the table. It made it a bit uncomfortable to be sitting there for a bit, but that's my only complaint. Georgina and Debz arrived and we all looked at the menu and ordered what was possibly way too much food but it was all SO good. 

I had a mocktail which was delicious, as I was driving, and some Tofoo katsu curry with rice, some pumpkin croquettes, vegetable gyoza and vegetable sushi. Everything came out as it was ready which I like. Everything was SO delicious. The sushi was plentiful too - you got like an entire roll of it so lots of it! Everyone enjoyed all their choices too. I would really recommend the place - in fact, I took Lee in the middle of February and he was impressed too. More on that later. 

After we had eaten we went for a little bit of shopping. I bought some bath bombs in Lush and enjoyed looking at lots of make up and perfume that I really didn't need but liked to browse anyway! We wanted to go into Hotel Chocolat for a drink, but it was busy, so we went to Carluccios instead. I had a coffee and it was quite small for the price of it, which was a bit annoying. No matter really. 

It was so nice to catch up with Debz after so long, and see Georgina and Lolly of course! 

Again thank you for having us, Maki & Ramen. I will definitely be going here again! 

Birthday Weekend

On the 23rd of January I went into Sheffield to meet Chloe and Lolly for lunch. It was to celebrate Chloe's 50th, which was back in November, but we had had to cancel it a couple of times. So we were glad to finally get there! We had booked into the bottomless lunch at Tsuki so we headed there. Chloe and I were ridiculously early, which was my fault, and we sat outside in the cold until the restaurant opened. We went in and it wasn't much warmer in there! Our table was right in the window, which didn't help, and the seats were cold leather and the tables are marble, which also didn't help either. I ended up sitting with my coat on for some of if!

Lolly arrived and we ordered food and drink. We had decided no alcohol but it's still really good value as we had so much food. I can't even remember what I had and neglected to get any photos either. I did have some fried rice and another hot dish which I didn't get last time when I went. They were both good!

After we had finished we went for a wander into some shops, including Pete McKee's gallery where we all got some of the vending machine prints. This time they were iconic musicians; I got Alex Turner and Debbie Harry and Lolly gave me her Sister Rosetta because she already had it. They are now on the wardrobe doors in my craft room where I have lots of photos and artwork. I'll try and take a photo one of these days. 

We went in the Chocolate Bar for a drink and I had a piece of caramel shortbread to go with my hot chocolate. After that we said goodbye to each other and Chloe and I headed back to the tram to go home. 

I got home and probably relaxed for a bit. I'm dealing with chronic illness as always and often have to come in and just lie down for a bit to rest myself a bit. It's fine, I just know I have to do it! Lee and I then chilled out for the evening until my friend Von arrived. She lives in London and I haven't seen her since last April so she hadn't seen the new house yet, so she came up because it had been my birthday too. She got to ours about 10pm so we showed her round the house, chilled a bit, then headed to bed.

In the morning we went and picked Sam up at the station and then headed to Tesco. We bought LOTS of supplies, we probably went overboard but never mind. Lee had headed out for the day so the three of us just unpacked everything and then sat in the living room with a playlist on that was from like Kerrang TV twenty years ago when all the videos had Dave Grohl in them in one guise or other.

Sarah and Robyn arrived around 2pm I'm guessing, and the five of us chilled out some more, playing with the tattoo pens and stencils that Chloe had given me the previous day. We had a bunch of snacks and Robyn ran around looking for the cats. They had been very suspicious when Von arrived and because Lee was gone, and they were less than thrilled when a small child arrived. We had a good laugh together. Jac couldn't be there and we missed her, and our other rainbow pal Cinders, who is all the way in Edinburgh! Hopefully we'll be together again soon.

When Sarah and Robyn went the three of us just drank more and watched ridiculous music videos and talked to Lee when he got back. I don't even remember where he'd been, but somewhere. 

On Sunday morning the three of us went to Holme Coffee House to meet Jodie for brunch. I love it in there, it's so good. They're moving into a bigger premises soon just across the street. It was lovely to see Jodie as always. We went back to mine for a bit before Von took Sam and Jodie back to the train station before heading home herself. It was lovely to have friends in my new house now we have so much room for people to stay! 

Caramel shortbread in the Chocolate Bar

And the only photo I managed to get of the three of us

Kiki relaxing on me looking very cute

And Poppy looking very suspicious about Von's presence in the house

Sam bought me this I'm Not Okay card which is literally ridiculous, I love it so much

Me and Sarah when she arrived

Sarah drawing on Robyn's skin, she loved it

I can't remember what brand it was, but this was the nail polish I was wearing that weekend. I'm trying to get back in the habit of painting my nails often, I have enough polishes to last forever!

And finally here's my brunch in the coffee house on Sunday morning

My Birthday and Tuesday 20th

My birthday was the 19th of January and it was a pretty low key day. On Monday mornings I go to a craft club in Penistone that I've attended since 2018 and am now leading, so I didn't want to miss that. So I took a chocolate cake to share with people and headed off. I was working on a Christmas cross stitch that I've been doing for months, but I finally finished it at the beginning of February I think. Ready for next Christmas! 

Lee had been working from home in the morning but he finished at 12.30 just as I got home so we headed out to Wentworth Garden Centre. We went to the Bothy for lunch; I had a chickpea sandwich thing I think, it was nice. And chunky chips! Lee had a margherita pizza and skinny fries. Once we'd eaten - which took a while because service was a bit slow - we walked round the pet shop and bought some new toys for the cats. We walked round the shop and the garden centre bit but didn't go into the farm as it was really cold. Then we went into the cafe about 3.30 and had a cup of coffee and cake. I had a Victoria sponge bun which was lush! 

When we got home we just chilled out for the evening. Poppy was being cute so I took a photo of her. We watched Oliver! which I haven't watched in forever. I'd forgotten how long it is. Lee was not too impressed with it but it was cute and I liked it.

We both also had Tuesday off as I wanted to go to Slatterys in Manchester. It isn't open on Mondays or we'd have gone then. No matter, we headed off there for midday. I had some kind of toasted sandwich with goats cheese and something else. It was fine, not too exciting. Then I had the wicked chocolate sampler which is four pieces of cake and two chocolate pots - one with melted chocolate in and one with cream in. I never eat all this when I order it, so brought it home. I had a hot chocolate too. It was so good as always! Lee always complains I never take him to Slatterys so he was glad I did.

When we had finished we went into Manchester itself, to the Northern Quarter. We parked on a street and wandered around, going into a bunch of record shops and other shops. Lee got a couple of records. I don't think I got anything. Oh, I lie, I did get some presents for people on Fred Aldous. 

It wasn't too long before we set off home, and got home in good time over Woodhead Pass. We just chilled out again in the evening. I was wearing this Hell Bunny dress though that I got off Georgina a couple of years ago. I have to wear a top under it or it's too low on my chest, but I love the colour and look of it! 

Lunch on my birthday itself in the Bothy at Wentworth Garden Centre

Cute little Victoria sponge bun in the cafe a bit later

Poppy looking very cute. This is one of the new sets of bedding I bought, she's been sleeping there loads

The two little tins I had got from Elsecar Heraite Centre the day before my birthday. The bottom one is a pill box which is always useful to have. I love vintage tins like the top one, I have a similar tobacco tin that is slightly bigger

Hot chocolate in Slatterys the day after my birthday

My main course. Lee had a jacket potato with tuna

Lee went and told them it was my birthday and I got this sparkler, it was cute!

My wicked chocolate sampler - from the top there's chocolate fudge cake, raspberry brownie, cup with melted chocolate, chocolate orange something, and a piece of caramel shortbread, then the chocolate cup with cream in. It's all so good but rich!

Some blue skies in Manchester! Hasn't the weather been miserable? It's just past the middle of February as I write this and I swear it's been raining since New Year's Day 

Cute little map of Manchester I saw in one of the shop windows

And here's my outfit when we got home