Back again.

Not been up to writing anything for a while. Bit of a rough patch. But I'm feeling a bit better now, and am back.

For as long as I can remember, there's been a cartoonist for The Guardian, Steve Bell, and every now and then, he's replaced, and it just says "Steve Bell is Away." When I was young, I always used to think he just took a lot of holidays, and how I'd like to be able to go off like that. It was later that my mum let me know it wasn't holidays, it was apparently due to mental health problems. I never have found out if that was true, but it does strike me as a little ironic, that every now and then, I have to go off for a bit, for (less severe, but) the same reasons.

But in my absence, I have not been idle.

My garden has been dug over, and planted up a treat. My mum came over, and we planted runner beans, french beans, geraniums, petunias, courgettes, and two aubergine plants she gave me, that she was given from George who has the allotment next to hers. I gave her some of my ocurgettes, and I think she has passed some of them on to a friend with an allotment, so it all sort of balances, in the great scheme of things.

I also happened across the BBC's Dig In campaign, and their van, in Walthamstow last week, and have got pack of seeds to sow. Theres butternut squash in there, that I love, but have never had great success with pumpkins, so am a little wary. Worth a go though.

I'm getting all the stuff together for my Monkey Swap partner. But as it's all a secret, I can't tell you any more about it. A bit worried about it - I should have been working on stuff the past couple of weeks, but to be honest, I know to only do what I feel I can handle. It's not that I can't do anything, its just what my reaction will be if it goes wrong. It's daft, but I have to be careful of getting too stressed, or upset, as it can set me off for ages!

I've also spent some time thinking about what I want from my life, and my future. I'm not happy in London, and I really can't live here too much longer and am planning my escape. (I mean in a year or so, not months or weeks - not that desperate!)

I've had some good fortune, in receiving a refund of some college fees, from my time at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. As I didn't complete my degree, it was the refund of some of the fees. Not much, but enough for a few things. So I bought these. And loved them in the box. But they are just a little too big, so had to be returned, for a pair I could actually wear. Not so happy a bunny, as not so pretty, but practical. And comfortable. And sensible. But not red...

So thats pretty much been my past two weeks. There was a leaving do at my old job for one of my friends, so I went along to that, and had TWO DRINKS! My first since Christmas. I'm not really a big drinker these days, you'll gather. Bit of a "been there, done that" type of thing. So I really was feeling quite wobbly afterwards, and was a bit fragile all this morning!

Theres no pictures at the moment, as I appear to have misplaced my camera. Sure it'll show up - think it's a sign to clean my flat up. So its all links to pictures and sites at the moment. But I have to find it before I go to Taste later in the month!

My mum has been keeping an eye (and ear) on me with regular phone calls, and I think I'm back up a bit now, so there should be proper stuff on its way. Including my huge pile of knitting w.i.p.s. Theres a bit of a backlog...