My Month in Numbers 2013: September

Well hello there.

Come in come in and close the door before September slips out past you and disappears on us for another 12 months.

And I know I'm not alone in thinking that this month has been doing a pretty good vanishing act all round. But rather than bemoan the freakishly speedy passage of time ... how about we just document some of the moments and experiences we did manage to fit in? All with the aid - of course - of a number ... or 2 ...

Let me begin with my Communal Count results in reverse order:

[b] 500ml bottles of milk [approx. 0.9 pints] in my local shop cost 50p this month and our household drank approximately 22 of those. Give or take a few cartons I might have forgotten to mark down before throwing them into the recycling!

And as for how far I now live from my first ever school ... I knew the answer would be 'not very far' ... but I didn't expect it to sound so near:

I like how the route looks a bit like a question mark ... which just about sums up how I generally felt about school!

And while we're on the subject of schools ...

Almost 60 years = the amount of time elapsed between visits to Lingfield Point:
James and I visited the first day of the debut Festival of Thrift held at Lingfield Point in Darlington.

The festival described itself as "The first national Festival of Thrift is a FREE fun celebration of everyday living with upcycling, recycling and finding the sassiness in sustainable living!" ... so you can see why I wanted to visit.

The site was once the home to the wool and knitting pattern makers Paton & Baldwin ... hence the rather cosy-looking camper van decoration!

Afterwards, when I was chatting to my Mam about the festival and where it was held I mentioned how it used to be the Paton & Baldwin factory ... when she suddenly remembered that she'd visited it on a school trip when she was little! A story I'd never heard before. She remembered how they'd got to watch the wool-dyeing process and memories of great vats of coloured dyes and dripping yarns came flooding back to her.

Funny how there can still be new stories unlocked by the most unlikely events!

And, speaking of unlikely events ...

1005g = how many brambles James and I picked one morning. For the record: I picked 580g while he only managed 425g. Not that anyone's counting ...

We'd seen so many people foraging  in the hedgerows this year, with their little Tupperware boxes filled with blackberries that we thought we'd also take advantage of the mast harvest - the bumper crops that there's been in the UK this year.

On his travels James had spotted an area covered in bountiful bramble bushes so we made plans to spend a Sunday morning in the great outdoors collecting free fruit. Sounds idyllic doesn't it?

Well, it would have been ... if the glorious weather of the day before hadn't turned grey and blustery.

And if it hadn't rained.

And if I'd worn a more suitably-bramble-coloured coat.

And if there weren't as many heavy-industrial buildings nearby:

But hey, at least I can't be accused of one of those bloggers who only ever presents a perfect image of their wonderful lifestyle. It's quite possible that my nose was running in this photo. [What? TMI?]

 

Like I say, these brambles were growing close by an industrial area which, I'd joked, could have made the fruit radio-active! So, imagine the apprehension when, back home in our kitchen, I opened up the boxes and found a spider crawling across the fruit ...

 

As James took the box outside to dispose of the spider I could be heard shouting after him: "Be careful! Remember what happened to Peter Parker ...!!".

 

While we're on the subject of the changeable September weather ... 

 

10.09.13 = the first day of the Autumn season where I had to succumb to the cold and put the fire on! The only trouble with an exceptionally warm and bright summer ... is that it makes for quite a contrast when the days turn grey and chilly.  If I 'd been alone I probably would've just struggled through: maybe throwing on a scarf or a spot of running up and down the stairs! ;-) But I had company. And she didn't feel too well. And, I'm guessing it's the same where you live, but here it's definitely thought of as rude to send your guests home with hypothermia ...

 

A problem with the 3rd rib on my back = what caused me to wake in the middle of the night with a pain down my left arm.

Last month it was a nightmare that woke me around the same time.

At this rate it can't be long before I introduce a regular blog feature called 'What woke Julie in the night this week?'!

And this 'prominent' 3rd rib, which was annoying a nerve, led to my next September statistic ...

2 visits to the osteopath: fortunately [for my back and my bank balance] those 2 visits seem to have done the trick. The osteopath recommended I get occasional massages as a preventative measure ... and who am I to argue? So I'm now on the look out for a good masseur!

 

3 = the number of books I read.  All can be found on my Pinterest book board.

 

34 = the number of geese, in formation, I heard flying over our estate:

I was in my workroom, with the window closed, when I heard them pass above me, not even especially close-by or overhead. When I heard their chattering I'd thought "What's that noise? It sounds like geese". And, as I looked out of the window ... I realised why!

And finally ...

7 out of 8 = how many treats I managed to eat during Afternoon Tea with friends:  That 7 included 2 perfect scones:

I was the only one, of 4 of us, who couldn't manage that 8th treat [a slice of chocolate cake] ... and I was also the youngest person at the table and so ...

... when the waitress offered to wrap my cake to take home one of my friends explained to her that they'd all eaten theirs as: "We've been doing this longer that she has".  It's encouraging to know that my capacity for cake-eating will only increase over time!

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So, those are my month's statistics - to share your own ...

•  please visit the full 'How to join in My Month in Numbers' guide here.  
• There aren't many 'rules' - rather just a few ways you can join in the Month in Numbers community and help me out at the same time!
• [I may be a little slower than usual visiting your Month in Numbers posts this month but, as always, I'll make sure to get around to you eventually. Promise!]

Right then, I'll depart now to a symphony of the synchronised zipping-up of boots and buttoning-up of cable-knit cardies in preparation for October!

October's Communal Count will be here tomorrow ... so I'll see you then!

Julie :-)