Football and foreign trips

Bit of a strange week this week.  

I am planning a trip to Munich later on in the summer - taking my son and daughter with me.  I had flights and accommodation all organised and my son decided he would like to attend a football match while we are there. He quickly learnt that the tickets sold out in a heartbeat after they were released online and we subsequently learnt that most tickets seem to get allocated to season ticket holders and then become available at marked up prices on the second hand market - great.

We steeled ourselves and bought a couple of tickets on a well known ticketing website which seems to be favoured by German football clubs.  The message came back 'Awaiting ticket allocation' after we entered my credit card details.  The following day the transaction disappeared from the website and on calling a customer services line I was told that no transaction was recorded. In some ways we were relieved as we weren't sure when they would be delivered and whether we should have them delivered to our Munich rental apartment or our UK address and if it was our Munich address we would have to hang around for delivery - all a bit complicated.

Then on Wednesday this week the person renting us an apartment in Munich cancelled our booking - so now we have no football tickets and no apartment.

I set about finding a new apartment and made some more enquiries and awaited replies.  After dropping my son at work yesterday in the early evening, I was debating whether to have a potter around our local village but decided to just return home and try and sort out the accommodation for our trip. No sooner had I returned home and sat down with a cup of tea than there was a knock at the door with a delivery from Germany - yes, you've guessed it, the German football tickets I hadn't bought!

I had to laugh as now I was the proud owner of a couple of tickets to the big game but no-where to stay.

Thankfully I now have a new arrangement for an apartment in Munich in the same area as we were staying before, so for the moment calm is restored.

I hope for no more dramas with this trip. . . 

To counteract all this carry on I think we need a photo or two of Alf:

He went under the kitchen units when we had the fridge out

Sleeping in the late afternoon sun

xx

Where does the time go . . .

Not sure where the time has gone since I got back from my trip to Yorkshire.  Before I know it, Patti's fortnightly Visible Monday has come round again and I don't want to miss out on joining in, so here is what I wore to work today

Light, unlined, jacket - jumble sale, best 20p I have ever spent

I can look work smart without feeling too formal or overheating

Great Plains high waisted trousers (like trousers used to be)  - Oxfam

T shirt - Asda

Shoes - Iain Rennie Hospice Shop

Necklace - borrowed from my daughter

When I get home from work I usually like to relax and catch the last of the sun 

before it leaves the garden by reclining on my swing seat,

 but today there have been some storms

and it still might rain so I have the cushions in storage

In other news I had a parcel through the post last week

all the way from America, very exciting.

It was from the lovely Carol at the cow jumped over the moon

Carol had knitted some gorgeous cabled boot cuffs which she 

had included in one of her posts

and which I was coveting madly.

So, when she admired a mandala I had crocheted, I wasted no time

in suggesting a swap - you've guessed it, a mandala for some boot cuffs.

Luckily she said 'Yes' - hurray!

Fabulously neat boot cuffs, a tin of soothing Sleep Balm

Burts Bees hand salve and some Wildflower Sprinkle Seeds

And those lovely little tins I can use when I have sprinkled, balmed and salved!

Thank you Carol, I love it all.

I don't cope well with the heat we have been experiencing here in the UK

It's okay if I don't have to go to work or cook tea

or do laundry, or cleaning or anything much at all really.

I did visit some nearby gardens the other day with Mr NMDS 

These cows looked even more hot and bothered than me

Stay Cool

xx

Nine million bicycles in West Yorkshire

Ok, I'm exaggerating, I don't think there were quite as many as nine million but there were a heck of alot of bicycles due to the Tour de France holding a couple of stages in Yorkshire.  I was certainly glad my friend was the one doing the driving on those narrow country lanes with all those cyclists about the place who wanted to say they had cycled the same route as the TdF.

The good people of Yorkshire really got behind the Tour de France coming to their county and all the small villages were decorated beautifully.  I was particularly impressed with all the yarn-bombed bicycles everywhere.  I am not a great cyclist myself - I live in an area called the Chiltern Hills which might give you a clue as to why not, but it was impossible not to get caught up in the fantastic atmosphere everywhere we went.

I met up with two friends I first met in Sydney over 30 years ago.  It was the first time for about 14 years we had all been together and the first time since forever without children in tow.

We had a wonderful time.  The sun shone.  We also managed to spend some time at a festival thanks to my friend's son putting us on the guest list - finally some payback for all those years of children round our ankles!

We started off in Leeds at the West Yorkshire 

Playhouse seeing a play called Beryl about a cyclist, Beryl Burton from Morley

The play was written by Maxine Peake and was a fabulous start to the trip.

You can't visit Yorkshire without taking in a waterfall or two

We saw the race from a hill called Buttertubs Pass 

which slowed down even the best of the cyclists

One farmer painted his entire flock of sheep yellow in honour of the TdF

Cheese Grommit?  Cheese tasting in Wensleydale was scrummy. 

We spent the late afternoon and evening at the festival at Broughton Hall

The sun shone and we watched the second stage of the TdF on the big screen 

before enjoying some live music on the big stage 

and a ceilidh in a small marquee with fabulous musicians

On the way home I had the chance to sleepover 

at an old school friend's in Chesterfield

I had missed the flea market on the Thursday but I managed

to visit the charity shops in town

Chesterfield is famous for the crooked wooden spire on the town church

I also managed a quick visit to Bolsover Castle with my friend

My dad used to work at Bolsover Castle many years ago

and it's the place I feel closest to him now as I always think I

must be looking at some of his work in the rooms somewhere 

as he worked there as a carpenter

On the style front, I think the least said about my style while I was away the better.

I never know what to take and the weather was undecided

In the end I had none of the right clothes and ended up one evening 

cobbling an outfit together from spare things my friend lent me, 

one of which she had been painting in

so I ended up looking like a painter/decorator who had just finished work

and gone straight out for the evening

On the plus side I have been looking for a kimono type garment for a while

and found this in Save the Children in Chesterfield

Dress, thrifted Per Una from a while ago

Not quite a kimono but I liked this Windsmoor long chiffony garment

Bit of pattern mixing which I have been meaning to try for ages

Thanks to Natalia for her advice on making sure one colour 

appears in both patterns for all to be well

I know you lovely style bloggers say if it feels right do it, but I need a few rules

to guide me down the right road!

Linking to Patti's fabulous Visible Monday with all the other lovely links.

Whenever I spend time with my friend from Yorkshire, 

my northern accent and way of talking always returns, 

so no one can understand me for a few days when I get back

The BBC have a handy glossary here which should smooth the process.

xx