Superseded

 I've always taken great care with my mobile phones, protecting them in cases and preserving them in as pristine a state as possible, and have generally been rewarded by being able to sell the old phone for up to £100 when I bought a new one.  Not this time - I have hung onto my iPhone 5S for too long.  It has been superseded and is now worth precisely  £6.  Nobody cares how pristine it is, it is old tech.  There is probably some kind of philosophical lesson there about not hanging onto things too long, or perhaps that everything becomes old and worthless eventually?  (laughing on the outside but crying a bit on the inside here because I feel that way a bit some mornings, lol).

This week has been all about caravans, so if you don't care, then skip to the next paragraph now.  After chasing a few times, I have managed to secure an installation date for a towball, which means we've been able to book a collection date for the caravan.  I've also tracked down a storage spot for it in a yard which is impressively secure but unfortunately 25 miles away.  I'm trying to get on the waiting lists for something closer.  I've been watching loads of Youtube videos and doing research to amass tips and shopping lists. Yesterday we did a massive socially distanced shop to pick up contents and accessories, starting with IKEA. It was basically my 20-year-old self's dream come true: pushing a trolley around IKEA with money in my pocket and a huge shopping list ranging from duvets to cutlery.  I was worried about what IKEA would be like but they were actually managing it quite well.  We had to queue for about half an hour in a socially-distanced airport-style snaking queue because they were controlling the number of people they admitted, and while it was busy inside, it definitely wasn't too crowded and we could easily stay away from other shoppers for the most part.  The tills were accessed by a one-way socially distanced queue as well.  I've still got some more things to get, and need to arrange important things like insurance, but it feels like we're getting there and can look forward now to getting our new toy.

The queue at IKEA

The haul from IKEA and from a camping shop, waiting to be unpacked

This week I finished the next house 'D & E' from the cross-stitch little houses sampler.  One more to complete on this row, then I will have the  lowest row of three to do.

I spotted these little cuties in an ad in Quiltmania magazine:  they are needle magnets sandwiched around needle-sharpening foam made by Clover accessories. They were calling my name so I ordered a couple.

And I picked up an interesting knitting book secondhand, from a bobbin lace FB group selling page.  It's a translation of a Danish book, and features re-written and updated patterns based on vintage knitted table linen patterns.  There are some really nice doilies and tablecloths in it. They are mostly knit with DMC Cebelia 20 or 30, which is a crochet cotton.  So I've ordered a few balls of 20 and will have a go at one of the doilies.  I've enjoyed knitting many lace shawls in the past, so I look forward to trying something more practical although I'm a bit worried that my loose tension could be an issue. Also I have found knitting garments in cotton hurts my hands, but lace might be different as it is an airier fabric.

My little windowbox of cacti is flowering away and looking very pretty in the sunshine.  I am generally death on houseplants but the cacti have proved harder to kill (not impossible, but harder) and the current crop have lasted a few years now.

The garden itself is rampaging away in the warmer but wet weather we've been having, and unfortunately so are the weeds.  I went out and weeded for a hour on my day off but it needs a lot more done.  The new plants from a few weeks ago are all surviving and so is the fern that we divided last month - it is unfurling new fronds in both the bigger chunks.

Tomorrow the UK is loosening lockdown restrictions even more, let's hope it isn't too soon.  DH has had his second jab and I get my second one in a few weeks, but still no word on when DS will get his jabs. I wonder if some of the leisure interest groups I used to go to, like lace and gardening, will be thinking about reconvening?