This was a busy weekend. On Saturday we went to Leighton Buzzard for some supplies. We decided to to go to the downtown area of the village rather than the sort of outlaying area that we usually do. I had heard rumors of a yarn shop there and the market was going on. So, we found a place to park (usually the hardest part of shopping here) and set out. Come to find, Leighton Buzzard is positively choking with yarn! I found yarn in the shop that sold fabric, a person was selling it in the market, there we yarn in a store called Wilkonsen’s that is sort of like the old Woolworth’s with a little bit of everything in it, and a very fun store with a very retro vibe to it that seemed to sort of sell fun fabrics and a few yarns and LOADS of buttons. And then there was the proper yarn store. It was located at the end of a rabbits warren of small shops. When I say rabbits warren, I am very much not joking. This little cluster of shops had a walkway that twisted and turned and dead-ended in a seemingly random manner. It was mildly creepy and I was glad to not be seeking the shop after dark. The shop was just as rabbity and claustrophobic as the entire cluster of buildings. The yarn selection was decent with a nice batch of Noro. However, the shop was so very random and small that it was hard to turn around, let alone peruse the stock especially since there were other patrons in it. I really missed all of my small, but not that fucking small!, yarn shops in the US. I want to be able to choose to smell the yarn, not be forced to by proximity!
One of the things that I think I moved here thinking is that since there are a lot of sheep on this island, that there should be lots of wool and yarn. I think that this is a fairly common misconception, especially when the word “cheap” is added to the mix. Yes, it would make sense that there would be lots and lots of luscious, 100% wool yarn tumbling out of every nook and cranny of this very nooked and crannied country, but alas, it just isn’t so. I have had better luck finding good yarn shops in FLORIDA than here. Now, I know that I haven’t been here all that long but geeze. Locating your shop in a place that is so hard to find that you practically need a treasure map (or iPhone) and a secret password to find it? Come on!
We also found a new home for our lawn mower that we had brought from the US when we moved. You may wonder why we bothered packing a lawn mower when we have no lawn, just a paved courtyard. Well, when the container got packed, we still didn’t know where we were going to be living so it just seemed smarter to play it on the safe side and pack it. Well, it was taking up space in the courtyard and we sort of wanted that space, at least wanted that space to not be taken-up by a lawn mower, so we gave it to one of the hubby’s coworkers. We drove out to St Albans to meet him and make the drop (that sort of makes it sound as though he is cutting another kind of grass [which he is totally not]). It’s about a half hour from here by car and we passed at least 3 large garden centers, one had the “Village of Conservatories” in it. I am definitely going to have to head back out that way in the near future! Anyway, on the way there we passed a sign for Potters Crouch. Now, as we are driving to St. Albans I was reading the last Harry Potter book again (you get a lot more from the books when you are actually feet on the ground here) so of course my mind went straight there. The Hubby and I spent a good many minutes making up how that….place….got the name Potters Crouch. My darling husband decided that it was to commemorate the marriage of a Potter and a Crouch. My stories were all a little more, well, profane usually involving someone taking a dump or hiding from an irate father. I’m not going to go into them, I think that y’all can get the drift from that:-)
Sarah Jane Humke 