The weirdness of a beautiful spring day

This morning, when I opened my curtains, I got a bit of a shock when I looked out at blue skies, bright sun and green grass. For a week I've been looking out at white snow and grey skies and that has become almost normal to me. To be back in a country that thinks it's spring (a ridiculously early spring, but really there is no other word for the weather) is such a shock after a week of snow and winter.

I miss the beauty, the drama, of Canada.

I also slept in rather more than I had planned. Due to the long flight and disrupted day yesterday I'd planned on a bit of a lie-in, but I had planned to get up significantly before noon. Next time I'll set my alarm clock rather than relying on my usual tendency to wake up by 10am no matter how I late I want to sleep. Sadly, the prolonged sleep means that I now have a stinky headache so I'm drinking coffee and taking headache pills to ward the darned thing off.

I have managed to do something useful today. My project before the holiday was knitting a fluffy scarf (pictures to follow), which I finished just in time. It looked beautiful and was every bit as warm as I'd hoped it would be. With that project over, it's time to move onto the next one: my first pattern.

For several years, scarves and patchwork blankets have been the height of my knitting prowess. My hairdresser for the last ten years is having a baby so I've decided to knit an actual clothing item from a pattern for the new baby. No idea what she's having yet, so it's going to be a lovely green V-necked cardigan. I have the wool and the pattern, but I needed some specific needle sizes, some stitch holders and a circular needle. Oh, and some buttons. This afternoon Mum gave me a lift to the sewing shop (my car is having an MOT today) and I stocked up on all the bits that I needed.

The buttons are so cute! They're white with little bumble-bees etched in. It's going to be such a sweet little thing :-)

I am going to sort out my Canada photos and try to post them at the weekend. For the moment I must finish my coffee and then start catching up with all the stuff that I recorded while I was away. Now, Atlantis first or Torchwood?

Car woes

So that MOT I very briefly mentioned in my last post? The one that I had been feeling good about because the car felt OK and I'd been keeping up with the tyre pressure thing this year?

Apparently I need a new steering rack. It's actually dangerous to drive at the moment. My mechanic wants "a word" to find out how I didn't notice it. It won't go through the MOT without a new one.

Er, what exactly am I supposed to have noticed?

*sigh* My mechanic seems to always end up disgusted with me for not noticing that things are wrong with my car. It's always worst when I think that I've had a good period for taking care of the car. Am now feeling angry with myself and frustrated that that's money for my move that will now have to be spent on replacing a (probably) very expensive car part. It certainly sounds expensive.

Oh, and I could have killed people by driving a car with a duff steering rack.

Can someone explain to me what a steering rack is?