Trip to Derbyshire - Day 3

On the Monday of mine and Lucinda's trip away we went to Castleton. We weren't sure exactly what to do but I like Castleton because of the Blue John mining they do there, I went a few years ago with Lee and my mum and stepdad. I decided on the way that I would treat myself to a piece of Blue John jewellery. There's several shops in the village so Lucinda and I looked in each one so I could decide. We also helped some GCSE geography students with their coursework, haha. 

I ended up buying a green amber pendant in one shop and a gorgeous Blue John pendant in another. Sales staff were really useful and helpful, which I appreciate. I also bought a selenite sphere. We had lunch in Castleton which was nice although I didn't get a photo of it, haha. We then drove round trying to find a river where we could maybe put our feet in, but no dice. We drove to Chatsworth but didn't go in, just drove round it. 

On the way back to the cottage we stopped at a small cafe where I had an ice cream. We again did some writing when we got back to the cottage, and some relaxing. I cooked vegan chilli for tea which was nice. Lucinda went for a little walk round Tideswell and found there was a little yarn shop which said it would open by appointment, so she organised with the owner for us to go on the Tuesday morning before we left the area. This turned out to be an excellent thing as the shop was lovely and all her yarn was hand dyed. We both bought some, although I'm not sure what I'm going to make with mine yet! I love little yarn shops like that. 

It was a lovely few days away, and lovely to spend so much time with Lucinda!

Ducks on the stream that runs through Castleton

The statue by the visitors' centre - I'm pretty sure I took this exact photo when I went a few years ago 

How gorgeous is this Blue John bowl? I would like to own this please

A ton of different specimens of Blue John from all the different seams they mine. It's only available in this area of Derbyshire. You can go down several of the mines and I looked into it but they're not accessible for disabled people, which is a real shame. I went down once before when I was about twelve years old, with my dad

Chatsworth house, where Deborah Mitford ended up as the Duchess of Devonshire

Mint ice cream

Chilli! I was really proud of it

The front door of the cottage we stayed in

The selenite sphere I bought - I love this crystal, it's very soothing

The green amber pendant I bought

And finally the Blue John pendant I bought - I love it! The sales assistant pointed this one out and it is a really nice bit

Trip to Derbyshire - Day 2

On the Sunday of our trip we were both up and ready quite early - Lucinda, it turned out, because her bed was a bit broken so she hadn't had a very comfortable night's sleep, bless her. We set off for Eyam quite early as it wasn't too far away. It is the Plague Village - the only place outside of London where the bubonic plague spread in 1665. Villagers sequestered themselves, leaving money in vinegar at the village boundary posts so that nearby villages could bring them goods without risking infection themselves. A stupid number of villagers died, and Eyam now sells itself on the story. I actually read a book set in the village during the plague and reviewed it here several years ago. But I'd never been to the village so was excited to do so. 

We parked near Eyam Hall to begin with, and walked around a little bit, looking at the hall and a small visitors' centre before going up to look at the plague cottages (which sadly aren't original, but are on the site of where they think the plague broke out) and then to the church where only one plague victim is buried - the vicar's wife - as everyone else buried their dead at home or outside of the village boundaries, in the countryside. There were some schoolkids on a trip close by too, they were very well behaved and kept giving me (a disabled person) room to walk on the pavements which is considerate and really helpful to me.

We then went up to the museum, which is pretty cheap and has a lot of history about the plague, of course. Including some science about why some families weren't affected at all, which is interesting as today scientists are saying the same thing about Covid. It wasn't an expensive museum and was pretty cute! 

We then drove up to Mompesson's Well; he was the vicar in the village and I can't remember the facts about it but we did go. By this time we were hungry for lunch so we went to a village nearby and found a cute cafe where we both had focaccia and vegetables. We then went to High Peak Bookstore which I'd been promising Lucinda. I love it there, the books are cheap and they have SO many. We split up and wandered around - I was done earlier than Lucinda so went and sat in the cafe and waited for her, which was of course fine. Then we both had cake and a hot drink before going back to the cottage. We did quite writing for a bit which was good, and I did some cross stitch. We had a picky tea for tea which Lucinda lovingly prepared as I was in quite a lot of pain. It was a good day though. 

Signs in and around Eyam

Eyam (pronounced Eem) Hall

The site of some of the plague cottages

So many people died from so many families, it must have just been horrific

Eyam church, and Lucinda

In the museum

I HATE plague doctors' outfits, they scare the shit out of me! 

Mompesson's Well - Lucinda went closer but I didn't

Focaccia and salad

And mint Aero cake! 

And finally here's what I bought in the bookshop

Trip to Derbyshire - Day 1

My friend Lucinda and I went away for three nights after we had seen the Libertines together. We haven't seen each other much since the pandemic, for obvious reasons, and we've never spent a few nights away together, so I was happy she agreed. I booked an Airbnb in Tideswell, Derbyshire, which was basically fine but kind of lacking a bit. No matter! Tideswell also ended up to be much smaller than I thought it was going to be. 

We set off around noon from mine. Lee was going to a festival in York - he was playing with his band and his friend and brother were coming down from the north east to watch him - so we said goodbye and Lucinda and I headed to Tesco in Penistone to buy supplies. Then we went to Heathersage because I had got us tickets to go swimming in the lido! We had lunch in the cafe first - I had a really nice halloumi burger and chips. We got changed and went swimming. It wasn't exactly hot but it was warm enough and really lovely. We didn't stay the full session, but it was so worth it - and really soothed my aching joints.

We went to Tideswell and got into the cottage. It was very cute and small. I did some cross stitch and Lucinda may have done some crochet. We ended up watching some stuff on Ch4 as part of their Pride celebration, which included a really interesting documentary about the history of Pride. Lucinda cooked some amazing peanut and broccoli noodles, they were so good! 

We made a cat friend outside of the lido (the cafe is kind of under it, the water is behind this wall here)

Lucinda had a goats cheese pizza which she enjoyed

The lido! I recommend it if you can get a ticket

And the noodles!

Films of the Month - June

I didn't watch many films in June (and am so far doing even worse in July...) on account of being so busy I think. But here's what I did see:

I love Pride, so when it popped up on Netflix I watched it one afternoon. It always makes me cry

I watched a lot of Downton Abbey and have seen the first film a few times, so I wanted to see the second one. I thought it was cute - the France plot made no sense whatsoever but made for some pretty scenery to look at, and I enjoyed Lady Mary's plot of staying at home and having to rent out the house, which a lot of stately homes have had to do! 

Lee and I watched Legally Blonde while on holiday because it was on DVD in the caravan. It's a film I love, but I'm not sure if Lee had seen it before 

Taken was also on DVD so we watched that too. I thought I had seen it before but I don't think I had in its entirety. I liked it!

This is an absolute classic isn't it, I love Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. We watched this on holiday too 

Lee and I both really like the X Men films, but we hadn't seen Logan since we watched it in the cinema, so we watched that on holiday too. It's such a dark film, it is good but so emotional!

iPlayer recommended Radioactive to me, which is about Marie Curie, so I gave it a go. I liked it

Lastly, Bohemian Rhapsody turned up on Netflix so I watched that too. I do like it, but I think Rami Malik was the wrong person to play Freddie. The others playing Queen are great though!

Two Gigs in Manchester

At the end of June and beginning of July I went to two gigs in Manchester which cost me a lot in terms of pain and tiredness, and meant that at the beginning of July while I was away with my friend Lucinda, I was hobbling about and needed her to be patient with me while I took ages to do anything! But both gigs were good and I'm glad I saw them.

First of all I saw Alanis Morissette on one of her Jagged Little Pill anniversary shows. My friend Sam and I have had these tickets since way before the pandemic. The gig had been rescheduled twice from 2020 and then again, and then Lee and I came home from holiday early so that I could go to the gig, which was supposed to be the 25th of June. But then on the Friday night Alanis was supposed to be playing Leeds, but she cancelled it as she had a bad throat, and she wasn't able to reschedule it, so all the Leeds people got refunds. My friend Stacey and her mum were literally on the way to the arena when they found out it was cancelled, which is so annoying! But it came as no surprise to Sam and I when Alanis postponed the Saturday, but fortunately she was able to reschedule for the Thursday night. This just meant I had to travel twice to Manchester... 

Lee took me on the Thursday night and went to the cinema while I was at the arena. I got there just before 8pm and sat next to Sam - our friend Jodie was also there, but elsewhere. Beth Orton was support, which was quite nice - she was pleasant enough to listen to. 

Alanis was AMAZING. I love Jagged Little Pill as an album SO MUCH - I know it inside out and upside down, so it was a real bucket list moment to hear all the songs off it. She didn't play them in order but it was such a pleasure to hear some of the album tracks. When she played Ironic it was dedicated to Taylor Hawkins, who played drums for Alanis for a while, and who of course recently died. It was a lovely gesture. 

I felt like the whole arena was singing along. Alanis' voice is absolutely spectacular and I loved it so much. Alanis' energy just never wavered throughout, it was so good!

Beth Orton

I liked this at the end, it's the Jagged Little Pill album cover

On Friday 1st July I went to see The Libertines on the first of their Up the Bracket anniversary shows. Their debut album is twenty years old this year so they were playing some gigs where they played the whole of the album and then some other songs. You know they're my favourite band and I am so glad I got to see them again. Up the Bracket sounded SO good and it was nice to hear some songs like Radio America that you wouldn't normally hear live. The band were in good spirits and playing well together. There were bleachers at Castlefield Bowl which Sam and Lucinda and I got seats on, but I ended up standing up for a lot of the Libs because people in front of me were standing up... But we got through it, and it was so good!

Before the Bowl filled up entirely

Lucinda's hair matches my hoodie

Sam and Lucinda and me!

Saying goodbye at the end

Camping Reunion in Manchester

You may remember that my friend Amy has, for a lot of years, organised a camping trip for a bunch of people. I've been three times - in 2013. 2014, and 2016. In 2019 Amy had just had baby Daisy, so she hired some cottages for everyone, although Lee and I camped nearby and just joined everyone during the day at the cottages. Covid of course meant no camping could happen, and Amy had another baby, Robyn, last year, and doesn't yet want to take the girls camping. But she wanted to get together, so she hired a room next to a cafe in a park in Manchester for us to get together.

Lee and I weren't sure if we could go, because the night before I was supposed to be seeing Alanis Morissette, also in Manchester, and didn't want to drive over twice in two days, especially not with fuel prices being what they are. But then Alanis got rescheduled for five days later, as she had had a bad throat, so we decided to go along. I'm glad we did, I had a lot of fun. I talked to some of Amy's friends that I haven't seen since 2019, and our mutual friend Gillian was there with her husband and kids so it was fun to see them. 

On our way back from Manchester we went to Glossop to go to The Globe for tea. It's a totally vegan pub and does the best junk food at really cheap prices. We haven't been since before the pandemic and were expecting it to be busy, but it really wasn't. 5pm on a Sunday seems like an ideal time to go! I had a vegan cheeseburger with fries and Lee had sausage, chips and gravy. All so good and all vegan! We both had hot chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for pudding. 

I was wearing this blush pink Yours dress that I had only just taken the tags off. I have had it a while though. I love the shirring and the off the shoulder look - I think this is a good look on me. This is obvious because I have at least four dresses like this, haha. I had my bright blue Snag Tights underneath, you can just spy them under the photo. 

Kids playing

Some of the attendees

Cheeseburger and chips

Lee was happy with his too 

Such nice chocolate cake

And finally, my lovely pink dress!