Back from the trip to hell (hum)
So, we returned from Italy yesterday and I really can’t express how happy I am to be back at home. Were to start?
Well, we left a week ago, little after midnight, so very early Saturday the 23rd. After picking up my sisters and dropping off the dog we drove to Italy. It was a smooth and easy drive and though we did have some problems in Italy – Italians seem to have problems being consistent in putting up signs, you might see a town announced but there is nothing that assures you you’ll see the name again the next crossing – we arrived there after a total of 15 hours of driving. That to me is quite ok. It was very hot already, though cloudy. The town we drove into seemed quite weird, and as soon as we saw the “bungalow” we would be staying in we were all pretty depressed. It wasn’t any bigger then the stable my horse is in (ok, he has a big stable, but still) so I guess it was about 5x10 meters or so. The whole thing was dirty, the bathroom, and especially the shower, were a total disaster and the bunkbed my sisters had to sleep in was less then safe. We tried to make the best out of it, but after being treated like shit by Italians a couple of times that week I’m quite sick of Italy. It’s the third time we went there and till now it was never nice at all. I’ll spare you all the other stories, it’s just to silly to remember everything.
Now I was so happy we could leave on Saturday. We got up fairly early, in my case because I wanted to get home soon, but officially it was to avoid the unbearable heat (our car is old and doesn’t have a/c). After driving – not as fast and smooth as we wanted – through Italy we were finally in Austria. I had taken the wheel for a while and bang, we hear a loud noice and immidiately the little light of the battery flashes. So I get off at the first gas station I see and we take a look at the car. Conclusion : serious problems. We call the insurance and get towed away quite quickly, but that’s were the good stuff ends. We don’t hear from the insurance anymore, the garage we are at is in total chaos as there are a ton of tourists brought there with a wide range of car problems and we simply sit there and don’t know what will happen. Eventually, after freaking because we were sitting there for over 3 hours and still didn’t know what was going to happen I started to call to the insurance company. 2 hours and a million phone calls later we have to pay for a rented car but at least we can go again and start our journey home. We stop for the night and then finally, on Sunday bit for 11am I’m back home. Don’t ask me what’s going to happen with our car or so, it’s all huge chaos really, but my FIL – the actual owner of the car – is going to figure everything out today as he pays more then his chare on insurance so this is total bullshit.
So, in short, the holiday was a total disaster and I’m so sick of it all. We decided we won’t be going on a trip next year, or it should be within Belgium and we have to be able to take the dog with us. I’m so sick and tired of everything right now. I didn’t really want to go on a holiday in the first place and this experience has learned me I shouldn’t do something I really don’t feel like.
Now there was knitting and stash enhancement during this trip! :D I didn’t knit half as much as I had hoped I would, but I did finish boyfriends socks (I’m happy because I was getting tired of them) and they are looking quite well. The yarn – Fortissima – was a bit dissapointing, but it might have to do with the fact that I ripped the sock 3 times. Then I also started the Stashbuster stripe socks and i love knitting them but I didn’t get as much done as I wanted due to the fact that I had to take 3 balls of yarn with me. I was smart enough to make center pull balls out of this yarn so that makes it quite easy! I did cast on way to much stitches but I’m now making some kind of calf shaping so the socks should look nice. I just really need to figure out how the determine the amount of stitches with my 2mm needles. I did do a swatch and I can measure from this sock as well as it’s plain stockinette stitch! :D One of the things I really should do soon ... . Oh, and I started a sock from the “Knitting on the road” book and finished the first one yesterday in the car. When the second one is done it needs some serious blocking before I can take pictures, but it’s a great sock! I’ll put down the pattern when I have the book with me. I also knitted a little on my Clapotis but only in the car because it was really to hot in Italy to knit it! It was even to hot to knit it in Belgium before I left. I do want to finish it soon though as it’s great to wear when the weather is a bit less.
As for stash enhancement, we went to Venetia one day and I have to agree with many : a real yarn addict is pulled towards the LYS! I mean, how many yarn stores do you reckon down town Venice has? And I did find a small one! Yeah, it wasn’t big but it had some great yarns! All pure Italian, and of course mostly natural wools. I’ll take detail pictures and show them off soon. Oh, and I also bought a bunch – though not enough I guess :( - of Venetian glass beads, mostly to make stitch markers! :D
Ok, you might wonder, but I’m currently at work typing this and I will post it to my blog when I get back home. Though I spent the day reading blogs here I don’t take the risk of updating my own blog from here as they can track down all the webpages you visit over here and I just won’t take the risk. I hate being back to work and it’s just as boring as it was before. This morning I was a little motivated, but now it’s just back to the old feeling of not wanting to be here at all! Oh well, I’ll try to get some work down ,to find some sence in this all and I’ll keep my eyes open for a new job. You never know what’s around the corner. I’m still hoping on that job near me, I’ll phone them either today or tomorrow to express how much I would like the job, in the hope that it’s not taken just yet!
That being sad, I’m sick of Summer. I really am. Did I ever mention I’m not a Summer person? I can usually handle Summer till just after my holidays, and then I’m totally ready for Fall and Winter. I long for nice days inside my house. My house seems big and not cosy at all during Summer, while it’s quite a bit nicer during Winter. The weather is still ok though not warm at all, but after the heat of Italy I’m really happy with this weather. We can still leave the windows open which is ok to get fresh air in the house but you do need to wear a sweather. Ok, I need to wear one, half of the people around me are still only wearing t-shirst, but I would just die from cold then!
There was one other realisation I got during my holiday – other then I really need to do something about my relationship ‘cause this is really killing me slowly, but that’s a story for another time – and that’s how much I miss drawing, painting and crafting. I was watching the nice buildings in the small old town and the only thing I could think off was “how would it be to draw up those? It must be so nice to just sit dawn with a block of paper and some pencils!”. It always reminds me of my creativity. And I realized I should work harder on finding a decent balance in all my passions. Knitting is my newest passion right now and 90% of my time goes into it, but at the same time I really miss other stuff. Like writing letters, doing paper art, drawing and even cross stitch. And reading. And more really. There should be a way to find a balance into all this. The question remains how of course. I’m going to work on it the coming weeks, in the hopes to find a better balance and do more stuff I like. The key word will be spending less time at the riding school. I’m spending way to much time there and it’s that what’s making me so tired, both physically and mentally. Though I have a few friends there they aren’t close friends and they aren’t the people I would want as close friends. I love horses and horse riding but I don’t really like the attitude that comes with it. This kind of social contact is also draining me. I have a social phobia and to be honest, I do want friends but so far I haven’t found any that really share or appreciate my passions for art and knitting and letter writing. Most people – even my family – consider me crazy. Maybe I am. I don’t really know. But I like the person I am and I like being crazy! Who cares really? I will be horse riding of course but I’ll be limiting my time there as much as I can. They don’t appreciate what you do anyway so I can better spend my time inside the house. Plus my penpals and Internet friends are still the best friends I’m having.
I’m always a bit envious of the nice knitting groups I hear off in the US. It would be so nice to be able to meet with a group of likeminded people, even if it was only once a month. I know there’s a similar thing in Brussels but somehow I think Belgians lack the attitude to form a nice group of knitters. Oh well, I’ll just live with my Internet communities then!
Ok, I think I’ve rambled enough, though I will write more soon. :D And pictures of course!
Well, we left a week ago, little after midnight, so very early Saturday the 23rd. After picking up my sisters and dropping off the dog we drove to Italy. It was a smooth and easy drive and though we did have some problems in Italy – Italians seem to have problems being consistent in putting up signs, you might see a town announced but there is nothing that assures you you’ll see the name again the next crossing – we arrived there after a total of 15 hours of driving. That to me is quite ok. It was very hot already, though cloudy. The town we drove into seemed quite weird, and as soon as we saw the “bungalow” we would be staying in we were all pretty depressed. It wasn’t any bigger then the stable my horse is in (ok, he has a big stable, but still) so I guess it was about 5x10 meters or so. The whole thing was dirty, the bathroom, and especially the shower, were a total disaster and the bunkbed my sisters had to sleep in was less then safe. We tried to make the best out of it, but after being treated like shit by Italians a couple of times that week I’m quite sick of Italy. It’s the third time we went there and till now it was never nice at all. I’ll spare you all the other stories, it’s just to silly to remember everything.
Now I was so happy we could leave on Saturday. We got up fairly early, in my case because I wanted to get home soon, but officially it was to avoid the unbearable heat (our car is old and doesn’t have a/c). After driving – not as fast and smooth as we wanted – through Italy we were finally in Austria. I had taken the wheel for a while and bang, we hear a loud noice and immidiately the little light of the battery flashes. So I get off at the first gas station I see and we take a look at the car. Conclusion : serious problems. We call the insurance and get towed away quite quickly, but that’s were the good stuff ends. We don’t hear from the insurance anymore, the garage we are at is in total chaos as there are a ton of tourists brought there with a wide range of car problems and we simply sit there and don’t know what will happen. Eventually, after freaking because we were sitting there for over 3 hours and still didn’t know what was going to happen I started to call to the insurance company. 2 hours and a million phone calls later we have to pay for a rented car but at least we can go again and start our journey home. We stop for the night and then finally, on Sunday bit for 11am I’m back home. Don’t ask me what’s going to happen with our car or so, it’s all huge chaos really, but my FIL – the actual owner of the car – is going to figure everything out today as he pays more then his chare on insurance so this is total bullshit.
So, in short, the holiday was a total disaster and I’m so sick of it all. We decided we won’t be going on a trip next year, or it should be within Belgium and we have to be able to take the dog with us. I’m so sick and tired of everything right now. I didn’t really want to go on a holiday in the first place and this experience has learned me I shouldn’t do something I really don’t feel like.
Now there was knitting and stash enhancement during this trip! :D I didn’t knit half as much as I had hoped I would, but I did finish boyfriends socks (I’m happy because I was getting tired of them) and they are looking quite well. The yarn – Fortissima – was a bit dissapointing, but it might have to do with the fact that I ripped the sock 3 times. Then I also started the Stashbuster stripe socks and i love knitting them but I didn’t get as much done as I wanted due to the fact that I had to take 3 balls of yarn with me. I was smart enough to make center pull balls out of this yarn so that makes it quite easy! I did cast on way to much stitches but I’m now making some kind of calf shaping so the socks should look nice. I just really need to figure out how the determine the amount of stitches with my 2mm needles. I did do a swatch and I can measure from this sock as well as it’s plain stockinette stitch! :D One of the things I really should do soon ... . Oh, and I started a sock from the “Knitting on the road” book and finished the first one yesterday in the car. When the second one is done it needs some serious blocking before I can take pictures, but it’s a great sock! I’ll put down the pattern when I have the book with me. I also knitted a little on my Clapotis but only in the car because it was really to hot in Italy to knit it! It was even to hot to knit it in Belgium before I left. I do want to finish it soon though as it’s great to wear when the weather is a bit less.
As for stash enhancement, we went to Venetia one day and I have to agree with many : a real yarn addict is pulled towards the LYS! I mean, how many yarn stores do you reckon down town Venice has? And I did find a small one! Yeah, it wasn’t big but it had some great yarns! All pure Italian, and of course mostly natural wools. I’ll take detail pictures and show them off soon. Oh, and I also bought a bunch – though not enough I guess :( - of Venetian glass beads, mostly to make stitch markers! :D
Ok, you might wonder, but I’m currently at work typing this and I will post it to my blog when I get back home. Though I spent the day reading blogs here I don’t take the risk of updating my own blog from here as they can track down all the webpages you visit over here and I just won’t take the risk. I hate being back to work and it’s just as boring as it was before. This morning I was a little motivated, but now it’s just back to the old feeling of not wanting to be here at all! Oh well, I’ll try to get some work down ,to find some sence in this all and I’ll keep my eyes open for a new job. You never know what’s around the corner. I’m still hoping on that job near me, I’ll phone them either today or tomorrow to express how much I would like the job, in the hope that it’s not taken just yet!
That being sad, I’m sick of Summer. I really am. Did I ever mention I’m not a Summer person? I can usually handle Summer till just after my holidays, and then I’m totally ready for Fall and Winter. I long for nice days inside my house. My house seems big and not cosy at all during Summer, while it’s quite a bit nicer during Winter. The weather is still ok though not warm at all, but after the heat of Italy I’m really happy with this weather. We can still leave the windows open which is ok to get fresh air in the house but you do need to wear a sweather. Ok, I need to wear one, half of the people around me are still only wearing t-shirst, but I would just die from cold then!
There was one other realisation I got during my holiday – other then I really need to do something about my relationship ‘cause this is really killing me slowly, but that’s a story for another time – and that’s how much I miss drawing, painting and crafting. I was watching the nice buildings in the small old town and the only thing I could think off was “how would it be to draw up those? It must be so nice to just sit dawn with a block of paper and some pencils!”. It always reminds me of my creativity. And I realized I should work harder on finding a decent balance in all my passions. Knitting is my newest passion right now and 90% of my time goes into it, but at the same time I really miss other stuff. Like writing letters, doing paper art, drawing and even cross stitch. And reading. And more really. There should be a way to find a balance into all this. The question remains how of course. I’m going to work on it the coming weeks, in the hopes to find a better balance and do more stuff I like. The key word will be spending less time at the riding school. I’m spending way to much time there and it’s that what’s making me so tired, both physically and mentally. Though I have a few friends there they aren’t close friends and they aren’t the people I would want as close friends. I love horses and horse riding but I don’t really like the attitude that comes with it. This kind of social contact is also draining me. I have a social phobia and to be honest, I do want friends but so far I haven’t found any that really share or appreciate my passions for art and knitting and letter writing. Most people – even my family – consider me crazy. Maybe I am. I don’t really know. But I like the person I am and I like being crazy! Who cares really? I will be horse riding of course but I’ll be limiting my time there as much as I can. They don’t appreciate what you do anyway so I can better spend my time inside the house. Plus my penpals and Internet friends are still the best friends I’m having.
I’m always a bit envious of the nice knitting groups I hear off in the US. It would be so nice to be able to meet with a group of likeminded people, even if it was only once a month. I know there’s a similar thing in Brussels but somehow I think Belgians lack the attitude to form a nice group of knitters. Oh well, I’ll just live with my Internet communities then!
Ok, I think I’ve rambled enough, though I will write more soon. :D And pictures of course!
posted by Emily at 8:19 PM
1 Comments:
Oh dear, sorry you had such a bad time. At least you bought some nice things! Can't wait to see the pics. You can really appreciate your home now. BTW there is another parcel on the way to help cheer you up! Secret Pal :-)
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