job hunting

I got rejected by the second team that interviewed me at Westminister and Chelsea for a lack of experience-it is amazing how blah this makes me feel. I have been put forward for other work so we shall see. The daughter comes home for a month next week so as least as things stand I will have more time for her.
I take amazing comfort from the fact that I have almost finished the wrap around from Big Girl Knits-I started it in 2007 and made a complete mess of the front shaping-very very complex. Somehow it is extremely satisfying to finish the back of the cupboard reject. I have knitted this in a lovely cotton silk mix and will really enjoy wearing it a sense of achievement amonsgst all this getting no where in particular job hunting. -which lets be honest is a remarkably unpleasant process of selling yourself.

being nice warning

I went for a job interview on Tuesday-the office was in Kings Road-past the Saatchi Gallery with lovely park and trees and Peter Jones and various other gorgeous shops i.e what a pretty amazing place to work. This is almost too good to be true and it was-the job had already gone and my agent failed to pass on the message. Ho hum.
I comforted myself with a picnic dinner outside the Southbank Centre. I got to thinking how rare it is for women to feel really good about themselves and as a consequence I have decided that if I see a woman who looks really good I will tell her.
Sitting there watching the boats go by I saw this amazing woman wearing a long hippy dress really really well; a good belt and great jewellery. Anyway I told her she looked fabulous and she was really pleased. But sitting on the bench next to me was a rather batty looking woman who got incredibly annoyed that I had not complimented her on her clothes. I really truly despair

try try again

The husband did not come to Israel with me and with job hunting, exams coming up etc etc he has been feeling really burnt out. He found a good deal and booked us into the Grand in Brighton last weekend. Being the devoted wife I am I agreed to go with him even if it meant sacrificing intensive long weekend knitting marathons.
I love 5 star hotels it is like going into the gorgeous alternative reality and the Grand has that slightly battered aged look-it is so much nicer than a plastic fantastic new hotel.
We were able to catch the end of the Brighton Festival we went to hear Markus Zusak who wrote The Book Thief speak. He was not happy with the voice of the book and ended up rewriting it twice. Would I ever reknit a garment twice to get it exactly right? Zusak is an incredibly successful author and he deserves it.

Home

I am back home-the husband and son obviously see touching a broom or a cleaning cloth as some sort of swine flu risk factor and therefore the house was a complete dust bowl on my return.
But somehow it is all ok and life flows smoothly-it is amazing how powerful time out can be.
I have resolutions-I will work much harder on my knitting design course-there is always calls to make and stuff to organise and I need to make time for this.
I am also really excited about my next project for moi moi. I have now lost 19 and half pounds and I am starting to swim in some of my clothes-I look forward to making a fitted jumper with waist shaping-I realise more and more how much nicer fitted clothes look

Magical day in Israel

I am still in Israel and it can truly be a magical place. This morning we went to Akko market, which dates back to the time of the Crusaders and has changed little in the intervening centuries.
We started our journey at the kibbutz, where my daughter is based. They have a wonderful computerised system where you can check who is leaving the kibbutz when and where to in order to get a ride. This is not England.

We managed to find someone going to Tzfat. Soldiers in uniform travel on public transport for free in Israel so daughter was in uniform, but had to change before we went to the market. It is a sad but true fact that it is not such a good idea being in a predominantly Arab market in an IDF uniform.

At the market we bought dried tea herbs, spices and various foods that all come in large sacks and big hunks of honey scented olive oil soap. The smells and the colours are other worldly, although the trays of every sort of fish and seafood, barely dead, with a sprinkling of flies is somewhat unappealing. The market looks as if it should star in a'chasing-the-baddie-through-the-market' scene in a James Bond movie. We ate in a restaurant that my daughter claims sells the best hummus in Israel. They sell three types of hummus and nothing else, and because of the speed at which the waiters have to work to keep up with the crowds, the food is essentially thrown at the customer rather than served.

We managed to catch the one bus a day that passes through Akko and eventually ends up at my daughter's kibbutz. This bus meanders through town and country, Arab village, religious settlements, mountains and valleys before arriving at the kibbutz. This 30 shekel trip gives a sense of the spectrum lifestyles in even a small part of this vibrant country.

We got back to the kibbutz just in time for the Lag B'Omer party. This was a picnic in the forest with all the kids playing bongos for all they were worth followed by the traditional Bonfire.

A magical day yes yes yes

weight loss/books and finishing things

WHY why why-I am in the process of losing weight-I want to get off medication for high blood pressure-it is going ok-18 pounds so far. Essentially it is about accepting that I have to eat differently if I want to lose weight. I am now seeing some difference in appearance but could absolutely scream-while my flabby stomach hangs in there like some sort of anarchic squatter my feet have lost half an inch in diameter-as I say why why.
I Knit has a wonderful book group that I have not been able to get to for months and months-the next meeting is Tuesday and I will be in Israel. They always choose great books-the latest is Watching the English written by an anthropologist about the idiosyncrasies of English behaviour. It is absolutely wonderful-read it if you can.
Finally I am in the process of finishing the wrap around from the first Big Girl Knits book which I abandoned 17 months ago when I realised I had put the arm hole shaping on the front instead of the side of the front pieces-such a brain dead mistake I really do not know how I managed it. But what joy actually getting the dead from the back of the cupboard projects and actually getting then finished. Try this- live the joy!

aerobics and coffee

Our Wednesday morning beautiful though probably gay (the pink shorts does make one wonder) instructor has left us! We now have a muscle bound bloke who insists on taking off his tee shirt and plays the sort of thumpy thump boom boom music that one would expect to hear being played loudly by a car been driven by a 30 year old virgin going to a Division 4 football game.

Change is not always easy.

I go to Israel for 10 days Monday week to see the daughter and of course I have not thought about clothes but have the knitting sorted-a lacy scarf in the beautiful baby camelyarn spun and dyed by a friend. Going over will be a challenge amongst other things I am taking a charity shop bone china tea set , Meakin 1970's tea pot and milk jug and the Readers Digest sewing book.-I shall have to casually womble up to the check in pretending my hand luggage does not weigh a ton.

Coffee ah coffee almost as important as toast. Instant is slutty, cafetere bland and drip filter comes from the country that elected Nixon. Regan and Bush and tastes like it. My friend Richard has a £500 pound coffee (I know -he has no children) machine-it is bloody wonderful and my aim in life has been to replicate the coffee he makes on the cheap. I bought a second hand coffee machine that Richard and I tried to use without instructions-we both have degrees-how hard can it be. We ended up with limescale intensive water all over the kitchen and half a cup of the most ghastly luke warm coffee I have ever tasted. Do I give in and buy a Nespresso-thus being trapped into buying there overpriced coffee supplies or do I battle on?