rooting for spring

race and patience have left London town with the snow it seems. I was back on my bicycle this week for the commute after bad weather stopped play and I was almost squashed last night and this morning by white vans. Nobody wanted to give any room if it interrupted their journey for 10 seconds. Half the problem on Monday night was other cyclists in a traffic jam. I'd moved through the jam to turn right onto a side road (and I was indicating too) thinking it would be easy as everyone was stood still, when a bunch of them (clearly irritated by a girl being in front of them and their far superior cycling skills) had followed me and then proceeded to overtake me on the right, trapping me where I was so I couldn't turn and then was left marooned in the middle of the road once the traffic started up again. Horrid. With a bit of luck they'll all evaporate again when the New Year fever to be fit dies off.

The downside to cycling in January is the cold. Specifically my face. Once you get moving the body is self warming, and I have some heavy duty (albeit ugly) gloves for my fingers. But my face! and ears! Currently I'm contemplating knitting some sort of giant snood/balaclava that goes over my helmet and covers my ears and chin. The only wool I have for that is black though, which doesn't seem very safety conscious. What I need is some sort of reflective yarn for stripes... it exists, but I've no idea how to get hold of it. There's always the ear warmers I guess, but it still leaves the problem of my face. While I'm on the subject of knitting cycling accessories though, I could also make some handlebar hand warmers to match.

Decode in the courtyard

o, moving on from weird cycle knitting, the weekend was pleasent one - spent in a fug of cider and ale in our favourite public house. Also managed a trip to South Ken and the V&A. The intention was to see Decode, but we got there too late in the day and it was sold out (boo). I think the torrential rain and dark skies might have forced everyone indoors in pursuit of enlightenment. Still, we had entertainment enough in the new galleries, which are pretty fabulous - stolen from space that used to be outside the building and housing a complete medieval staircase and half a house frontage

The light boxes are movement activated and reflect your image back to you in LEDs. As you watch they turn back to white.

One of the new spaces inside the V&A (what used to be the sculpture gallery).

even had a little toddle down the garden path, looking for bulbs coming up after the snow thaw. A few promising tips are flashing green - signs of daffs, tulips, bluebells, grape hyacinths and snow drops. So I'm now gunning for spring and hatching plans for veggies. I want tomato seeds from www.victoriananursery.co.uk and must remember to use this discount code

(this post was brought to you by a brief moment of silence and solitude in the office)