Locomotion

Oh the irony! Yesterday I celebrated my first day back with my own wheels by buying the walking shoes I wished I'd had for the two months I was without a car. I've been walking a lot lately. Not just my recreational--make myself and the dogs happy by exploring the neighbourhood morning walks. I've been walking to get where I need to be. Now the difference between the two is reflected in my footwear. I've got excellent runners, but their white silver and purple sportiness is not the look I want when I'm shopping, attending meetings or teaching. I thought I had quite a good range of sensible well-fitting flat shoes. But my ideas of comfort had to be adjusted to walking several kilometers a day in them. Suddenly they weren't as good as I'd thought. I wished for a hybrid: black leather walking shoes that would be unobtrusive but kind on my feet. I bought them, yesterday when I could drive to several different locations until I found what I wanted. I've decided that despite the convenience of having my own car again, I do want to keep up as much walking as I can. So while I'm appreciating the irony, I'm also making myself a promise that these walking shoes will be well used. But now I'm about to head over to Williamstown. Last time I went there on a Sunday it was a two hour trip on a bus and three trains. I'm going to hop into my little car and deliver myself door to door in less than half that time. I guess that means I don't have to wear sensible shoes.

Round and Round

I made myself this little cutey yesterday. There's another one on my needles. The hand part is knitted back and forth in garter stitch and the stocking stitch section is knitted in the round.I'm getting a lot more comfortable juggling the four needles and knitting in circles. By the way, I've just noticed the colour of my skin in the pic--don't worry, I'm not dying of cold. It's a grey day and there's not enough light in my front room to take a better shot, and I've still got "learn about white balance" on my camera "to do" list. If you need a reference point, this is actually the same yarn as yesterday's post.

Meanwhile in other news, I picked up my car yesterday. I'm very happy about having my very own wheels again. So I'm about to hop in the car and zip around to various places which have been much less accessible lately. I'm so excited that I'll have to restrain my desire to just go everywhere today!

Green says, "Go"

This post is textile related only to the extent that I really need a car to lug my textile stuff around. I've been without one now since Easter Sunday--nearly seven weeks. I wish I could wax lyrical about the joys of public transport. Once upon a time I would've done just that. But now, sorry, no! In the years since I was a committed public transport user I've acquired some rather cumbersome craft activities. What's more, now that I'm teaching, I'm carrying equipment around for a group of students, not just for myself. And I suspect I'm just not as patient as I used to be. I want a car!

Last weekend I looked at a second hand car which is being offered for sale by one of my students. I'd done my homework: the make and model suit me--small, but with adequate and versatile luggage space. I'd driven a few similar cars. I like the way this one goes. The price is more than I'd budgetted for, but then the car is better than I'd planned for--not that I'd planned for my car to be written off, but there you go. I'm, ticking boxes so far. Now the dilemma. I claim to know a fair bit about textiles, but cars are not really my thing. How am I to know whether I'm buying myself a convenience or a truck-load of trouble? Thankfully the state automobile association has an inspection service for people like me. I booked a "comprehensive inspection". I was a little apprehensive about receiving the report. Would it be in a language I could understand? Would it help me to make a decision? It arrived this morning: Yes and Yes . . .
These guys must be used to working for everyday car buyers. There's a huge long speil about all the things they looked at--very impressive. Then there's a summary statement. Oh, I love summary statements. For each group of items they give a green light--go--an amber light--caution--or a red light--stop. There's a short paragraph to spell out the significance of each. OK, I can deal with this. The car I'm looking at got green lights in all sections--go, go, go! The road worthy inspection is booked for next Monday. I'm looking forward to being a whole lot poorer and a whole lot happier. Oh, and did I mention . . . the car is blue--bright metallic blue:)

Just for Fun

I'm going to have to buy myself a car sometime soon. It's been a few weeks since mine was damaged. Yesterday I received the paperwork from VicRoads confirming it as a total loss. I have started doing the basic research: makes, models, safety, prices . . . It's necessary, but uninspiring. At this stage I still have trouble telling one small car from another. In terms of textiles, the main thing is room for my loom. My spinning wheels are both fairly easy to pack into a small space, but looms are just big and bulky--even the portable ones.

I've been doing lots of walking--which is very good for me. And I'm remembering the benefits and drawbacks of public transport--lots of drop spindling happening! My friend L has been incredibly generous in letting me borrow her car too. I joked to her the other day that I only really need half a car, but which half? After some thought I decided that a diagonal half from the driver's side in the front to the passengers side rear would be ideal--not sure that there'd be much of a market for the other half, though! That got me thinking about three-wheeled cars. Here's a real cutey I found courtesy of Wikipedia:
I can just see myself driving something like that, though I would like a canopy for the luggage space. Fuel efficiency would be great and I'd just have to smile every time I caught sight of myself! Oh well, I can dream, but I'd better keep doing my research in the real world too.

Walking

So, my car didn't make it through the Easter Weekend--long story, but the upshot is that it's been written off. I can't pretend I'm happy about that. It's a pain and an expensive pain, at that. On the bright side, though, I had been missing my walks for months now and despite my best resolutions, just hadn't got back into the habit. Without a car, walking becomes a necessity instead of an optional extra. As well as walking to help me get where I need to be, I've started walking the dogs again. I'm still at the stage where I feel more tired than I'd like after a good hour's walk. As I said, it's been a while. I'm looking forward to the benefits of exercise--coming soon, I hope!

Walking is always great way of noticing small details around the neighbourhood. Here's a bit I picked from one of the peppercorn trees in the local park. I love the delicate drooping leaves and the teeny tiny berries just starting to form. At least I'm guessing that's what they are.
I looked up the peppercorn tree when I got home the other day. Turns out it's considered a weed, since it grows so well locally that it easily takes over bushland. And the "pepper" bit is very real--I was surprised how strongly the leaves smell when I broke off a piece!

Rant--and a Bright Spot

I hadn't planned to spend yesterday afternoon at a Smash Repair shop. In fact, I hadn't really planned the afternoon much at all. After a week of bad sleep, I was feeling slow, and relieved after a slightly better night. I'd promised to catch up with a friend late in the afternoon. Meanwhile I was feeling slow enough to stop at a local fast food "restaurant" for lunch rather than rustle something up at home. That turned out to be the bad choice of the day. The place was full of school-kids. Fair enough, it's school holidays and they need somewhere to socialise. Service was slow--also fair enough given the crowds of school kids. I never thought of a big bunch of school kids as a security issue, but when I returned to my car, I found some-one had snapped off the driver's side wing mirror. It wasn't bumped, scratched, dented or smashed. It was fully snapped off--a ring of broken metal where the mirror should have been and no mirror to be found. All of a sudden my mood deteriorated and my prejudices about my fellow restaurant patrons flared! Did I mention NOT HAPPY!

I spoke with the manager--no they don't have video surveillance in the car park. They will be installing it "soon". I spoke with the police--nothing they can do, but take a report which, "proabably isn't even worth printing". I spoke with my Insurance agency--they gave me a reference number. I spoke with the Smash Repair Shop--here's the bright spot--they said, come on up and they'd see what they could do.

Driving up the highway without a driver's side mirror was very unsettling. I was amazed at the number of times I glanced at the absent mirror and then over my shoulder to cope with the huge blind spot. I spent the next couple of hours in a tiny, dusty, brown office, while the Smash Repair guys rang wreckers and waited for parts to arrive. Meanwhile, I kept busy with my trusty drop spindle: See what I mean by dusty brown? As for tiny--that's the counter and I rested the drop spindle on my knee to take the shot. The office was "decorated" with dozens of certificates, interspersed with old football posters. Attractive--NOT.

The first mirror to arrive was white, mine was black. They tried again. The black one arrived. They installed it. I handed over $100 and grateful thanks. There wasn't much left of the afternoon. Would you believe I took a friend to a fast food "resaurant" for tea? I did have second thoughts, but I'd had enough of the day by then. The place was quiet. My car remained undamaged. We had an hour or so to catch up and then I went home. I don't have any plans for this afternoon, but one thing is for sure: no matter how slow and unmotivated I feel, I will not be dropping in for a quick lunch at that fast food place.