Exhausting ...

Back at home after a strenuous couple of days on very little sleep (up at 5am on Tuesday to get to Norwich, and didn't get to bed till 2am on Wednesday, up again at 7.30am on Wednesday for swim and breakfast), and fuelled by far too much alcohol and nicotine (but thank goodness, no hangovers). Nevertheless, I've had a really good (and I hope, productive) time, quite a number of people asked me to e-mail my CV to them (I shall not read too much into it at this stage, but I think that at least a few of these were serious requests), and I also have several invites for coffee and a chat over the next few weeks, so again while I think that some may be less serious than others, it's been very good for me to get some exposure in my field, which is still a relatively specialist branch of insurance, in terms of numbers of people who do it.

One of the highlights for many of the chaps present this week was the Williams F1 car that made an appearance on Tuesday, and the really good part was the simulator that they were all encouraged to have a go on, for a small donation to charity (they raised an absolute fortune, as you can imagine). A very competitive thing - and surprising how many of them had to have just one more go if they saw themselves slipping down the leaderboard ... :) I didn't have a go myself, too much testosterone sloshing around, but it was great fun to watch, and John and James would have loved having a go. Now that James has had some time learning to drive, he tries to unnerve me every so often with questions like "is an F1 car road legal?" to which I can only reply "under NO circumstances ... and you couldn't afford the insurance premium anyway"

The children were pleased to see me last night when I got back, though I would have to say that that I think this may have had a certain amount of self-interest mixed in with it, as in "what did you bring me back from Norwich, Mummy?" - for those of you who know Norwich, anything from the sweet shop in the Royal Arcade is always a hit, and Holly is particularly thrilled because I found her a pair of almost Converse All Stars - I have been refusing to allow her to have the real thing, but only because her feet are still growing, and I don't really think I can justify spending that much money (currently £35 - 40 in the UK) for a pair of sneakers that she will probably grow out of in about 3 months. I found the next best thing in New Look for a tenner though, and logo aside, they look surprisingly realistic. Emily has a new pair of mules (she is like me and hates sandals with toe posts), which she is also pleased with, and James has several football related items (we're gearing up for the World cup here!), and a Williams team hat ...

Today, I have lots to do: a large number of e-mails to write following up on my trip (but unlike last year's trip, no hefty report to do as well - Hooray!), and preparations for World-wide Knit in Public day on Saturday are afoot. Will have to remember to take a small radio and earpiece with me for Saturday - England are playing Paraguay at 2pm ... Hazel has managed to organise us all, and we are knitting in public in the Chequers Centre (shopping mall) in Maidstone. Come along if you're in the area. and bring your needles with you ...!

I'm currently working on a longer length (but thinner width) moebius scarf for myself this week in Laines du Nord Modella in the monochrome colourway, with the idea that it will go round my neck twice for a cowl effect, but I'm having some difficulty deciding what to edge it with. I had originally thought of using strands of Patons Coast in black and white, but I'm not quite happy with the overall effect - althought the colours are all the same, somehow it just doesn't look quite right ... I also have some plain black chunky weight yarn that might be OK, or I have a ball of Stylecraft Mardi Gras in a monochrome colourway, think I'm going to have to do some swatching to see which I like best.