Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Wool Fest is an annual festival of wool that takes place at Armley Mills Museum. There are exhibitors telling yarn and knitted items, spinning demonstrations, music and morris dancing.

It’s not as big as Yarndale and the venue gives it a different flavour: you have so much history at the museum, but also does mean a lot of steps and squeezing through tight gaps around the machinery. Even the outside bits were undercover so the rain didn’t stop anything.

When I did Leeds Marathon earlier this month, I decided to treat myself to the VIP experience on the basis that A) it would be a nice welcome home present to myself and B) me eating small finger sandwiches would contribute to valuable research on supporting motor neurone disease.

It was in the Howard Suite which gives you a view of both the rugby field and the cricket ground.

Most of the appeal of all was better availability of toilets. This is a real source of stress for me and has had a big impact on my running so if I can throw some money at it and make the problem go away, that is money well spent. They also provide food before and after the race and somewhere to sit down, although the seating was pretty limited.

I did manage to squeeze in a pastry before the race. There wasn’t much of a lunch buffet after, but they did have some sandwiches and I had a few of those. They had a separate room for baggage with plenty of space, although you could just wander in and out of there so it was less secure than a standard bag drop.

The most challenging part, though, is that with it being in the Howard Suite, these were the stairs we had to navigate. Not ideal after just having run a marathon :D.

Two months ago, our kitchen floor collapsed. There has been a lot of back-and-forth about it, but last week, contractors finally came in to sort it out. When they took the floor up to find out what was going on, they found there was an old rotting floor underneath it, and someone had just built a new floor over the top of it.

Swillington Wilds is a new open water swim and sauna venue in South East Leeds.

You need a membership to swim there. The lake is around 200 metres long and maybe 30 metres wide, so you’re never too far from the bank. They have a changing area and toilets on site. It is muddy underfoot so you don’t have to worry about stepping on stones, though not everyone might like the squelch.

It doesn’t have the same safety culture as the Blue Lagoon. They have someone watching with a throwable flotation device, but they don’t have any paddle boards out on the water or rescue craft. But if you’re a wild swimmer, you’re probably used to jumping in a lake by yourself, and the setup is similar to the open water sessions at Leeds Dock.

Death doesn’t come for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris tells the Grim Reaper when it’s time.

We’ve added some mint and Venla potted her first plant.

One of the reasons I’ve been so busy, and yet somehow not feeling like I’m doing anything, is we’ve been dealing with a lot of domestic issues recently. A leaking roof, broken washing machine, and blocked drains. But most worryingly, our kitchen floor dropped 20mm and we are still waiting in the investigation to find out what has happened. It only happened on one side of the kitchen, so all of the tiles have now splintered down the middle.

We recently attended by Dr. Tom Nicholson on The Science of AuDHD. It was organised by Seed Talks and took place at The Wardrobe. It was a fun evening. Nicholson is a engaging and lively speaker with lived experience of AuDHD and be brought a lot of passion and energy to his presentation. It looked at the diagnostic criteria for autism and ADHD, woven with with personal stories and the implications of us missing neurodivergence in children. There was a little bit on AuDHD, but no discussion of the science, which would have been a nice addition. But well worth attending.

We’ve been trying to add a bit of greenery to the house and this is phase one. Bamboo over to the right with a camellia sitting in front. Then a collection of ferns and heuchera on the left. I was keen to use evergreen plants for year-round lovely views.

It’s been at least 12 years, and possibly as many as 17 years, since we threw a housewarming. They used to be raucous affairs. Now they’re very grown up, the alcohol has been swapped for canapés, but the conversation is just as top-tier as ever.