Today I've mostly bin...

[Bunnylump]

That really is a pain in the neck, isn't it? Hope you get there safely, Scurra.

[LAT]

Well I have one hoping to come home tonight and the other tomorrow afternoon. We are watching the South West trains website for updates! Tomorrow should be OK as they are saying they hope to resume normal service after 6.00 am

[Wulfruna]

Today, South Western trains appears to have given up altogether on most routes - not even getting as far as Salisbury now........ How are your family fixed LAT?
So the only option for poor Uncle Scurra heading heading westwards is First Great Western from Paddington which may or may not get as far as Bristol or Taunton, from where he could be collected...... No doubt it will be bedlam on those trains, however - no idea how they are going to cram everybody on who needs to travel!! At least all the ticket restrictions are lifted and you are allowed to use them on any reasonable route with any company.
Our problem is not how David will manage (he'd just take pot luck for himself), but the fact that he has to bring the cat with him, as he is staying for the week - but she will not be at all happy stuck in her carry case for the extra time it will take - not to mention the possibility of not getting a convenient table space to rest the case on - you can hardly shove her in the luggage rack!!
They will clearly both need some extra tlc by the time they arrive......

[giraffe]

Oh dear that sounds terrible. It's fairly calm and sunny here at the moment, but I think it is supposed to take a turn for the worse later.

[Bunnylump]

Oh, poor cat!! And poor Scurra! Lots of love. x

[LAT]

Yes hope Scurra and moggy make it.

We would have persuaded ours to come on Sunday like South West Trains were advocating if it weren't that they had work to go to yesterday (and today too for my son).

My journey to work today was interesting..........

[Wulfruna]

Hooray! Here they are....

[eirian]

I was beginning to wonder if we should be putting Uncle Scurra's presents in the post rather than the boot of the car!

[Bunnylump]

Phew!

[Bunnylump]

P.S Please draw Uncle Scurra's attention to the fact that I've just spent all day making a puzzle for him. Happy Christmas.

[Scurra]

Phew. That was, um, interesting.
But both of us (me and the cat) made it in approximately one piece each.

[giraffe]

Last time I travelled with a cat (not mine) it let us know in a most unpleasant (and very smelly) way exactly what it thought of the cat carrier!

[giraffe]

.......watching the webcam aboard RRS Ernest Shackleton. My nephew seems to have arrived in Antarctica today. http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/images/webc ... 2013-12-26 21:00:01

[MBH]

Trying my hand at Glass Christmas Decoration making at Gateshead library. LOTS of different techniques talked about (which put a few people off), but good help in making our thoughts come to life.

Just a quick follow up on that event....

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The small square greenish one has a gap for a cord or strap to be passed through making it a bracelet or necklace pendant.

Most are 'tack welded' where they're heated enough to bond but not lose their shape - but the multi-coloured figure was 'full melt' from a series of off-cuts I found and layed across each other in a grid That worked exactly as I hoped it would.

[Scurra]

I like the tree. (Not that I'm being rude about the others, I just like the tree. )

[giraffe]

I think the multi-coloured melted one looks the most professional and artistic. I bet it was fun.

[Bunnylump]

I like the melted looking one too! Cool.

[MBH]

It was fun once we got past the 'information' bit. I certainly know more about the possibilities of glass now (which is a material I've always liked from an artistic point of view).

Back at school it was drilled into me that I had NO artistic ability at all (which directly led to me abandoning thoughts of being a cameraman thanks to my idiot careers teacher) - but what I've found in recent years is that although I can't draw a recognizable shape to save my life I DO seem to be able to see how things can fit together to create stuff.

That purple-looking square started out with the purple glass already in that shape and my eye seeing it as a night-sky over a hill which looks ideal for sledging down.... suddenly it's the start of a winter scene.

The tree started out from the single light-green triangle already existing in the scraps box. I found the strip of darker green that I was able to cut triangles out of, then the trunk and glittery base were simply lying around to be spotted and recognized for what they could represent.

It would be interesting to do a session at the artist's own studio - so that the work can be put straight into the oven and I could find out more about the tricks you can play with different temperatures. She quoted the different temps for tack welding, melting, and a couple of other things - there is a lot of control you can do when you're operating the oven in real-time.

[Bunnylump]

Don't you just love teachers / careers advisors? I wanted to do art at school, but the art teacher was a drunk, who used to make comments like "where have you been, you fat hag, fallen off your broomstick?" (I was about 8 stone then.) So art got jettisoned.

Like you, I can't draw (or take decent photos, come to that) but I love making and designing things. I often come up with designs for things like cards or painted glass / ceramic which people really like. In the past I have designed knitting patterns for children's jumpers for which I got inundated with requests for copies. I even designed and hand painted an entire "tumbling clown" wallpaper border for K's bedroom when she was little.

I think my kids have picked up the love of making weird and wonderful things too - although, as you can imagine, K's are a lot more "mainstream" than any of Dibble's creations!!

[kathlyn]

Just returned from Somerset at least it only took 2hrs 35mins to get back unlike the awful journey of 4 and a half hours to get there last friday, with an average speed for the 170 miles of 40mph and all but about 7 of those miles was motorway!