Being Mrs C

In love with ... Radio 4

As much as I completely love my daughter I have to admit that if we're just the two of us at home together then the conversation is a bit one way. I'm sure she has some very deep considered views on the state of the country and how the coalition government is working out, but at the moment she seems to be keeping those views to herself. 

After several hours without adult conversation I do find that I need something to keep me sane and a re-discovery of Radio 4 is meeting that requirement rather well. No where else can you get such a range of audio delights and a typical day can easily contain things like a debate on the latest political situations here and abroad, an interview with the former Norwegian justice minister (who now happens to be a crime author), a program on the seven car parks of Croydon (I never did understand why, but it was fascinating), Stephen Fry reading his new autobiography, a Woman's Hour discussion on having a mid-life career change, an afternoon play and a spot of comedy. Pure bliss. The ability to listen again to any bits I missed due to a badly timed nappy change or feed via the iPlayer is an added bonus. Who needs daytime television? When I was younger I recall someone saying to me that radio had a magical power to be able to create pictures in your head better than any television station. At the time I thought they were bonkers, but I think I may well owe them an apology now.

Yet another reason to be Proud of the BBC.

Food for thought

Although we didn't get any snow, yesterday was a very grey day. Even by nine o'clock in the morning the skies still looked very heavy and made it see much earlier than it was. A day that needed to be spend inside the house.

A fresh batch of scone (from a tried and tested Delia recipe) enjoyed with a cup of tea and catching up with the BBC Cranford series (how did I miss this when it was originally on TV?). Lovely. It also gave me time to make great progress with a second bootee, this time to match the version 2 one that I completed earlier in the week. 

The other thing I've been enjoying recently has been the Hairy Bikers' Mums Know Best series that has been showing on the BBC. A great mix of recipes (sweet and savoury from around the world) and fun to watch. The book accompanying the series has certainly made it on to my Amazon wish list!

Am I a Yappy?

According to tonight's thelondonpaper it seems that I'm a "Yappy". The article doesn't seem to be on their website so I'll summarise here for you.

Apparently a "Yappy" is a Young Aged Pensioner; young people who rather than go out, instead stay in and knit, make jam and tend their allotments. In an article by Johnny Vaughan he asks whether or not this is a result of the credit crunch that's currently hitting us, or possibly something else.

Thinking about it I've probably been a Yappy for a while now. I don't (yet) have an allotment, but do enjoy staying in and baking and knitting in an evening. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy going out (especially to nice restaurants in my case) but I do like the simple pleasure of activities that my Gran's generation may be found doing. 

When I started knitting it certainly wasn't as a means to find a cheaper way of clothing myself (yikes - I'd probably freeze to death before managing to knit a whole jumper) but instead I just wanted to take up a new hobby that I'd found to be very relaxing. There was also something in me that wanted to learn the skills of my grandparents generation. I do enjoying going to Stitch and Bitch nights in London, but again didn't start as an alternative to more expensive nights out. I wanted help with learning to knit and my friend and I thought it would be a good place to go and meet like minded knitters.

I'd assumed that I was "getting old" now that I was married, or just being comfortable about the things that I enjoyed doing. I'd never realised that there would be a name for my "condition". Now that there is I'm not sure how I feel. Should I embrace it, or does it just mean that I'm part of a larger trend? Now I am confused. 

One thing that I am sure about is that I know what I enjoy, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing!

Evening entertainment

 

Saturday night at home. Mr C and I used to play a lot of Scrabble against each other. Recently we've been busy with other things, but tonight the board was dusted down and the book that's necessary to prevent arguments found on the bookshelf. 

We still play with the set that originally belonged to my parents and we take the scores very seriously with an excel spreadsheet that plots our scores and personal averages.

Annoyingly Mr C won. Again.