My Month in Numbers 2015: January

Hello, hello and welcome to the first 'Month in Numbers' of 2015!

Unbelievably this is the start of my 6th year ... and the 61st time I'll have shared my vital monthly statistics!

But, if you're new to this numbery way of doing things then stick around and don't panic ... there's absolutely no long division involved and algebra doesn't even get a look in. And there's plenty of help and inspiration available for any numerical newbies:

• read the Month in Numbers tutorial I created - it's full of ideas on how and why you might find this a fun thing to do!
• read a few of my old Month in Numbers posts - you'll quickly see that there's no one single way to do it, no one type of thing to document .... absolutely anything goes!
• read through posts by the other members of the Month in Numbers community - to do this just visit the  Month in Numbers Pinterest board where I store everyone's contributions, then click through the various images to be directed back to the original posts. There are as many different approaches to it as their are people playing along ... and your unique contribution will be just as welcome!

You'll soon see that it's not really about the numbers at all ... they're just a foundation, a hook, a way-in to documenting those moments that count! It's a great way to keep track of your year ... and to meet new people from around the world along the way.

And, like I say ... it's not all about counting .. because sometimes you can't ...

Countless = the number of times this month I've heard people say they hate January.

• They say this as they're taking down the Christmas decorations.
• They say it as they prepare to put down the chocolates and the remote control that have been glued to their hand for the previous fortnight and head back to the world of work.
• They say it during a snowstorm in the 5 minutes of daylight we get during these post-festive days.
• They say 'I wish I could go to sleep and wake up in the spring'.
• They say 'nothing ever happens.' ...

... and it's at that point that I have to call time-out!!!!

Every time = how often that - after someone says 'Nothing happens in January" - I want to reply [maybe while stamping my foot a little]: "What about my birthday?!"
And, as many of you will know, when you have a birthday during one of the darkest, coldest, most deflated months of the year you really do have to hold on to all the festive feeling you can and enjoy your birthday month ... even if no one else does.

And you have to be one of the few people who's left the sanctuary of their cosy home on a snowy day to go somewhere lovely for lunch. [Top tip: January afternoons aren't exactly packed out!]

3 courses = the meal I enjoyed at the restaurant I've visited on my birthday for 2 years in a row. 
Robineau Patisserie [nr Darlington / N.E England] is absolutely my favourite place to eat. Not only is the food completely amazing ... it's only open during the day [apart from the occasional theme night] and, as I'm really not a night bird ... a visit there makes for a lovely long relaxed afternoon eating and talking ... and eating. Then we can go home and get cosy in front of the TV on the evening. A party girl I'm not. But I do like my food ...

It was during the dessert that I reverted to childhood and actually let out a small, deliriously contented, 'Mmmmmm' sound or two at the taste of the warm caramel sauce. I'm not even ashamed to admit that I then used my spoon to scrape out every last drop of it from its chic little jug.

I did some party-hosting of my own this month [again, yes, on an afternoon] where this was my table ...

30 = sheets of paper to make a table-runner
I saw the general idea on Pinterest ages ago and, as goodness knows I have plenty of old books to tear pages from, I decided to take that from inspiration into reality.

 I also made napkin rings from paper too:

They were all pages from dictionaries and encyclopaedias because I thought they'd be a safe option. No one wants to be put off their side salad by a racy scene from a Mills & Boon.. Do they?

Someone did, however, find a diagram of the intestines on their napkin ring ... but that merely seemed an appropriate thing to contemplate when sitting down for a meal ...

8 = the number of days after 'real' Christmas that my friends and I celebrated our traditional fake Christmas. [I've written lots more about fake-Christmasses-past here].

And over 3.5 hours, and 3 pizzas, the 8 of us leisurely exchanged 34 sets of gifts.  [Yes, the maths is correct. I think. It's just complicated as 2 of the group had already exchanged gifts as they're mother and daughter. We can't really expect them to forgo 'real' Christmas and wait for the 'fake' one!].

10 shelves / surfaces / drawers = the areas, so far, I've tackled, sifted through and sorted, in what could be the start of some Spring cleaning. [But, hey, let's not go too crazy just yet. I may have peaked already!]

4 = charity bags filled with the results of my January-tidying-spurt.
And of course ... because I've been so organised ... and created some space by getting rid of a load of old tat ... that means I get to go shopping to fill up the gaps. Right?

£1 each = how much I paid for two old flower arranging frogs:

I know I'm way behind the trend on this one ... but I've always loved how they looked when I've seen them on other people's blogs but, until last weekend, I'd never seen one 'in the flesh' before. So when I saw a box of them in a charity shop I had to have some!

And if you're not sure what it was I planned to do with them then this should explain:

They make lovely, vintage-feeling, holders for when I'm photographing my craft projects and shop products.

49p = how much I paid for this splendid stationery set in [a different]charity shop:

Yes, it was originally a freebie cover-gift from Mollie Makes magazine ... but it worth the price for the black & white stripey washi tape + twine alone! And, of course, as if a sub-50p washi tape wasn't exciting enough, the money goes to charity!

£3.00 = the price of this wonderful vintage duvet cover [from a 3rd charity shop ... my back was aching by the time we got back to the car with this little haul plus the 4 books we bought for 99p!]:

I love old rose prints and I so rarely see nice old bedding in charity shops that I nearly always buy it when I do. This one's in really good condition [nobody wants to find a stain on an old sheet!!] and smell of noting worse than rose scented drawer liners. And while it's not perfect ... it's been altered at some point ... there's even something rather charming about the hand stitching:

4 = the number of books I read. 2 fiction. 2 non-fiction. But I won't go into all the details right now as I'm planning to list them in a new reading-related regular feature I'm planning. I'll try to get that started next week sometime.

1 = how many foxes I spotted, strolling casual-as-you-like along the main road past the steel works.
It was broad daylight, shortly after 10am, and it didn't look anxious or concerned to be out and about and exposed like that. It made me wonder if it had just got off a shift ...

And finally ... if you'll allow me to move seamlessly from a vulpine tale to a lupine one ...

2 = the number of episodes of the BBC's adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall that I've watched ... and revelled in.
If you're a long time Month in Numbers reader then I'll have bored you in 2010 with my progress through the 674 page Wolf Hall novel ... and then again, in 2012 with the 411 page sequel Bring Up the Bodies. And now it's happening all over again with the TV drama! [And after that, at some point, there'll be the final book of Mantel's trilogy ... so don't say you weren't warned!]

I was uncertain about what to expect from the adaptation. For one thing... they've made just 6 hours of drama from over 1000 pages of source material. And for another - I wondered how you could externalise all the necessary action when so much of the feel of the book comes from viewing everything from Thomas Cromwell's perspective; so much so that, while I was reading it I described the feeling as if I was behind his eyes. That I was living there, in Tudor England, rather than just reading about it.

But, fortunately, it's such a sensitive production that they've somehow managed to keep the same atmosphere. Of course there are things missing, time is condensed, events don't unfold quite how they do over the vast expanse of the novel ... but the first episode felt like a visual skim read, a flick-book, a speeded up visual representation of the source material; it may have omitted some of the finer details, but it managed to stay faithful to the essence of the story and characters.

In fact, few minutes into the first episode, when I still didn't know if I was going to love it or not, I turned to James and said 'I hope they do the scenes with the angel wings' [Long story. Literally!]. But really ... what were the chances that - amongst all those scenes, in all those hundreds of pages - they'd have included the fleeting moment that I specifically wanted to see depicted? It was a hope against hope ...

But then ... a few minutes later, Thomas Cromwell's little daughter came into the room wearing her wings made of feathers! And the programme makers found themselves a loyal fan.

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So ... that was my January: a wolf, a fox, 2 frogs, lovely food, good company, new gifts, vintage treasures and some appropriate out with the old ... and in with the new.

Now how about yours? Which statistics shaped your month? The temperature? The depth of the snow? The Christmas decorations you realised where still on display after you thought you'd packed everything away?

As always you're welcome to join me with your own memory keeping-by-numbers.

• Why not share a few with your blog readers, your Facebook friends, Twitter or Instagram  followers? #Monthinnumbers
• If your post is 'pin-able' I'll save it to the Month in Numbers board, that way other members of the community can drop by, browse the posts, and then swing by your virtual home for a visit!
• And don't forget to say hello to me too when you drop back here with your link.

Right I'd better step to one side, that there is the sound of a brand new month eager to get started.

Happy February!

Julie :-)

My Month in Numbers 2014: June

Hello you.

If I'm here with another memory-keeping-by-numbers post then you know it's the end of another month. And if 2014 was an uphill bike race [more on that in a moment] by now we'd have just passed the half way mark!

And so ... with our wheels safely over the brow of the hill how about we round-up the last 4 weeks  before we start on the speedy descent towards the bottom ...

2 = the number of junk journals I've made for myself to document the summer months.

I'll have lots more to share on these in July. One of them holds lots of the events and moments that featured in my Month in Numbers for May and I made it using a kit I've put together which will be available next month too.

Meanwhile the 2nd journal [here in its very initial stages] ...

... will house some of my June/July/August/September photos including these ...

7 out of 21 = the number of Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt items I've crossed off my list so far.
This will be my 3rd year joining in the hunt hosted by Rinda at Gallo Organico and I now need to get myself organised to share some of my finds so far ... and to collect those remaining two thirds before the end of summer!

Lots = the amount of numbers on display on the wall of Baltzersen's Nordic inspired café in Harrogate:

One wall was covered in info-graphics showing statistics of their entire operation. How could I not capture a photo of it for my Month in Numbers?

Countless = the number of bikes sprayed yellow and the miles upon miles of bunting on display right throughout Harrogate and the surrounding area in preparation for the Yorkshire Grand Depart of the Tour de France next weekend:

My friends and I had a day out in Harrogate shopping and found ourselves absolutely surrounded by bunting and bikes and Tour related merchandising. The shop above was even offering a 10% discount to anyone who came in wearing yellow!

There honestly can't be a spare bike in the entire county that isn't on display somewhere; in a shop window display, at the end of someone's driveway, on a fence, roof ... everywhere! As my friend Jean said [there you go Jean, you got another honourable mention!] you wouldn't have dared chain your bike up in the last few weeks without at least expecting to find it sprayed yellow on your return.

Visit the Le Tour Yorkshire website for lots more photos that can tell the story better than my grabbed snaps!

Then the following day ...

2 = the number of bikes sprayed yellow I spotted while visiting Helmsley (also in N.Yorks).
The first, on an allotment, seemingly belonged to Bradley Wiggins:

While the second was hanging up outside a shoe shop ...



I love the shoes stuck to the pedals!

 

And, you know that when you're with me you're never too far away from a new pair of shoes ... so here's my latest ...

 

£19.99 = the amount paid for the 1st pair of 'proper' trainers I've bought since I did P.E at school [I daren't count how many years ago that was ...]

As you might guess by this statistic I'm really not a trainer-y kind of girl.

[So much so I used to think my feet would shrivel up when I put them on as happens to the Wicked Witch of the East when the ruby slippers vanish from her feet.]

But I bought them with the intention of scaling up parts of my occasional morning walks into jogs/runs and so I needed better support. That said ... the main selling point of these for me was not how springy the sole is ... but that they've got silvery bits on them! If I'm going to have to wear trainers ... them being shiny really can't hurt.

For the record: I've only tried the jogging bit twice so far ... so I've got no interesting time/distance numbers to note down just yet!

Now, as a boost to my self-esteem let's move on to something that moves even slower than me ...

9 = the number painted on the snail James found when tidying the garden ...

And the best thing about James finding the snail with a number 9 painted on its shell??

It's that ... it was him who'd painted the number 9 on the snail in the first place LAST SUMMER!!

After having read about snails having a homing instinct he'd marked it and put it up on the garage roof last summer to see if it  made its way back. Then he'd forgotten all about it until he uncovered it, behind a pot, next to the garage this month! While it's certainly done well to stay alive that long ... it won't be winning win any prizes for the 'most travelled gastropod'!

Then, while we were out tidying the garden, we decided it was time to tackle the rubbish/ crisp packets / paper / plastic bottles that get blown down our drive by the wind and that end up trapped between ours and our neighbour's garage ...

38cms = the width of gap I had to squeeze down:

It was positively Dickensian! I felt like a child chimney-sweep!

And if you were ever in doubt about the lengths I'll go to for a good Month in Numbers tale to tell then let me put you straight ...

... when I first decided to just try and squeeze down there I issued James with strict instructions to stand at the entrance to be on hand to:

1. fend off any dogs that might come down and eat me while I couldn't escape ... and ...
2. be able to grab me if I got stuck or fell over.

So he duly stood there as instructed.

But then ... it dawned on me that we were missing a great photo opportunity so ... I made him leave his post to go and get the camera! The things I do to tell a good tale ...

And finally ...

9, 10 & 11 = our seat numbers for the 'Women and the Great War' performance by The History Wardrobe:

The History Wardrobe presents women's history using clothing as a focal point [a bit like the Jane Austen themed fashion-history talk I featured in my June Month in Numbers this time in 2013 - only by a different company].

This presentation showed how women's lives changed during WW1 and it was a privilege to be able to get up close to the original items of clothing:

 

Vintage fashions in a library ... it was like a little corner of heaven to me ...

100 years old [or thereabouts] = the age of the original World War 1 nurses uniforms on display:

And at the end of the presentation we were able to get close enough to even see the brand label ... and who'd have thought you'd have got your nurses uniform from Harrods?

If you're in England and you'd like to see the presentation for yourself then be sure to have a look at their events diary as they travel around the country with their various themed performances.

The 'Women and the Great War' version that we saw will be of particular interest to anyone who enjoyed watching The Crimson Field and who was disappointed at the BBC for cancelling any further series!

You can find The History Wardrobe on Facebook here.

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So, that was my June 2014. How was yours?

If you'd like to join me, you know how by now. I'll be dripping by to see you sometime [I'll be offline next week, so if you don't hear from me, you know why!]

And if you don't all the My Month in Numbers rules/details can be found here. Everyone's welcome. If you've had a month and can throw a few numbers at it ...  then you're in!

You can visit all previous contributions from both me and the entire number-crunching community on the Month in Numbers Pinterest board here.

Here's to a bright and clear July for us all.

Julie x