Chocolate, Chocolate...and more Chocolate

Once again, a very busy week for me. Here's what I did

Work
A madly busy week at work, with a trip to Brussels at the end of it. I was most impressed with the Eurostar service out of St Pancras, which was much quicker than the old service out of Waterloo and as an added bonus it didn't stop at Ashford, which is the gateway to hell. I stayed at the highly recommended Noga Hotel, a quirky but reasonably priced hotel with a gorgeous white cat, a sweet little dog, and the most spartan rooms going, outside of prison.

Where I went
Highlight of the week was the trip to Brussels - not that I saw much of the place but I did get the chance to pick up some relatively cheap cigarettes and chocolate at Midi station. It was so nice today (Sunday) that I went for a walk to the park in the afternoon, and sat there basking in the sun and reading my book for about an hour.

What I made
I did some more work on the crocheted lattice scarf, the floral filigree beaded scarf and the black heart bracelet. I couldn't go to my metal clay course because of the trip to Brussels, but writing this has reminded me that I still need to do my "homework" and sand down the ring I made last week in preparation for firing it this week. I made a crunchy-top lemon cake on Saturday, which was troughed down in record time by my husband, two daughters and myself.

What I read
I finished the "Kings of Albion" by Julian Rathbone. A mixed bag of a book - I really enjoyed the descriptive bits about 15th century England, but the discussions of religion and science left me cold, and I think that even Mr Rathbone was a bit sick of the book by the end, because the last 50 pages were of much lower quality than the rest of the book. Still, I loved his final summary of what it truly means to be English, which I'll repeat here (if you'll indulge me):-
"They are a nation of individuals who yet can combine and behave with ferocious bravery under leaders they respect; they are skillful and ruthless traders with few natural assets of their own to exploit; they are foolhardy sea-farers; they are inordinately arrogant; they are ruthless, unforgiving, cruel enemies. Unfettered by morals or a common religion they take an empirical, practical view of life, adapting their beliefs to circumstances, though always favouring an approach which leaves each individual the captain of his own soul. They enjoy and even live for camaraderie. the company of their fellows, physical prowess, hedonistic if simple enjoyment shared with others, strong drink and rough, speedily concluded sex. They have an incredible capacity to suffer pain for a short term, and will face death willingly. But they will not put up with pain or toil as a life-choice. They hate boredom. They will cheerfully accept individuals of other creeds and races as individuals, especially if they take a personal liking to them, while continuing to despise all foreigners in general. They are mad. One day they will conquer the world."
I also started to read "Out of the Blue" (or possibly "Into the Blue") by Robert Goddard. It's like every other book that Robert Goddard ever wrote - they're always a good read, the pages virtually turn themselves, but six months' down the tracks you can't remember what it was about, the names of the characters etc etc

What I learned this week
Sitting through an episode of "Lark Rise to Candleford" is a horrible experience, but not as bad as you think it's going to be.