Good morning, Dear Reader. Miss me?
Thursday, having checked with the menu and the vegetable rack, I decided to take advantage of the lovely sunny weather and caught the bus to
Gunwharf Quays. A place they (laughingly) describe as 'The shopping destination in Portsmouth'. Yes. Well. What it looks like to me is a shopping outlet for various Brand Names where they can offload ends of ranges, among other things.
I wasn't shopping. I got a coffee from the Krispi Kreme stall and went and sat in the sun in the main square to drink it. The flower beds there were full of bark chippings (large) crocuses and rather low-lying polyanthus plants and it was really warm.
Then on to the sea front, where it was considerably cooler due to a stiff onshore breeze, the tide was coming in, and round to the Aspex Gallery. They were holding an exhibition "
35 & Counting" to celebrate their existence and, by auctioning off the works of the twenty-nine artists, raise some much-needed funding.
I found the exhibition interesting. I really liked some of the exhibits, some I thought 'meagh!' That's Modern Art for you, Dear Reader. No, I didn't put a bid in on any of them. I didn't like any that much. In their favour - they'd put benches for people to sit on while viewing the artworks. Yay! Good for them! Against - the 'This is what the work is called, whom it is by and a brief explanation' panels were about 3 feet (less than a metre) from the floor, so I had to bend over to read them.
I suppose it would have worked last week, which was schools' Half Term, for the children at least. For adults, even those shorter than I, which is most of 'em, it was too low. I mentioned this. Thing is, exhibition designers can get so carried away with achieving a certain 'look' for their exhibition (and it did lok good) that they forget the point of view of the exhibition-goer. So I make positive comments (yay the benches) as well as negative ones (panels too low.) We hope they listen and learn.
They also had part two of the
Ministry of Books exhibition, which I found very interesting. There were various 'books' from 'An Orchestra of Office Stationery' to 'A First Aid Kit for a Growing Boy' - containing such things as plasters for when he'd had his first fight, condom(s) for his first sexual encounter and a bottle of beer for his first (legal) drink. I wondered what might be included in a 'First Aid Kit for a Growing Girl'. Sanitary protection, probably!
The soup on offer didn't really appeal, so I had a piece of carrot cake (one of my Five-A-Day?)
I sat for a while in the sun afterwards and was visited by various speculative pigeons, which I tried to freak out by staring fixedly at them. I don't feed feral pigeons. Then a wood pigeon hove speculatively into view. It was ginormous! A good two or three times the size of the feral pigeons. This was the first time I've ever seen a wood pigeon trying to muscle in on feral pigeon territory.
Friday dawned, eventually, under thick murk and heavy rain. Fortunately this stopped later on and things began to dry out a little.
Friday was the Women's World Day of Prayer, an event which occurs annually on the first Friday in March. It originated in America back in the late 1800s as a time for women to get together to pray for the world. They realised the world needed praying for then, it still does.
Now it's a worldwide day of prayer, for men and children as well as women. There was a service at the Catholic Cathedral (St John's. Don't ask me if it's St John the Evangelist or the Baptist, I don't know) in the morning. In the afternoon we hosted a service at the chapel. There didn't seem to be too many people there, but they came from the Salvation Army, local Anglican churches, us (Baptist), the local URC and a few others.
The focus of prayer this year was the Philippines, particularly on the women of the Philippines and on Justice. The order of service had been prepared by Philippina women, shortly after hurricane Haiyan. I was roped in to be a 'reader' at short notice.
In all the service was interesting, informative and thought-provoking. You can't look at the inequality and poverty of places like the Philippines and not start thinking about the unfairness of life and the necessity of bringing Justice. Here's hoping prayers are answered and life improves for many.
After that friend S took me down town so I could pick up the foam play mats I'd ordered last Saturday from Argos. (Many thanks, BiL for the heads up.) The online catalogue mentioned something about 118cm, but it wasn't entirely clear whether that was the width of one of the four-in-a-set play mats or all four put together. I ordered two sets just to be sure. Turned out the individual mats were about 60cm square.
So now I have sufficient blocking mat area on which I could block a (single bed) lace bedspread should I ever knit one. Or, as BiL suggested, I could floor a rumpus room for my grandchildren. IF I ever get grandchildren. Now all I need is a set (or two) of stainless steel blocking pins. Think I'll get them from a knitting supplier. Don't want to find they're either gigantic or miniscule!
And mentioning blocking - I finished knitting the two baby cardigans for Friend M's (still in utero) great-grandchildren. I also got a set of pretty buttons with rainbow-coloured flowers on them. I shall give M the (blocked) cardigans and the buttons, with instructions to sew them on the appropriate bands when she knows who the great-grandchildren are. I knitted button holes on both front bands, so she can sew the buttons on over the holes on whichever side is appropriate and they'll be in the right places. Pictures, Dear Reader? Hmmm. When they dry, and if I can get some decent light. They're both knitted in white, which can be nearly as difficult to photograph as black!
Anyhew, after all that I was glad it was Friday night and, consequently, pizza night. No having to stand around cooking. w00t!
Today is sunny again, so the washing is out and moving gently in the breeze. It should dry today.
Y'all have a good weekend now!