A tough week of hot weather

 The UK had a terrible week of hot weather, with several days of 30-35C where I live.  Our houses, indeed our culture, is not designed for temperatures like that.  Very few domestic homes have air conditioning (although apparently portable air conditioner units virtually sold out this week) and even businesses were struggling - my big supermarket's freezers failed.  Schools were closing, commuters were warned not to travel by train due to heat-related disruptions such as distorted rails.  Our old house with thick walls was pretty ok the first few days but then the walls started to heat up.  My bedroom was 28C so I slept in the living room for two nights, then when the living room went up to 25C, I slept one night in the cooler basement on an air mattress.  I mostly stayed in the house rather than go out in the inferno, so felt very housebound, and unable to spend time in the upper floors such as my long arm machine room.  Any Australians reading this are probably laughing their heads off, but I'm assuming there is more air conditiong there and infrastructure that is built to cope with the heat.  I've made a note to buy a portable air conditioning unit this winter when they are back in stock, for m bedroom in next summer's heatwaves.

On Friday I got to spend two nights in an air conditioned hotel to attend a cross stitching retreat.  I had to travel in 35C weather to get there, and trains were disrupted due both to the heat and to a tragic crash that sadly happened earlier in the week.  My replacement train thankfully had some air conditioning so was only warm.  Reaching my 20C air conditioned hotel room was like entering paradise and I got my first decent night's sleep in several days.  Sadly the venue for the cross stitch retreat was also too hot, with misguided people deciding that opening the fire escape doors to let the 30C breeze in would be 'cooler'.  I ended up having to leave early because it just got so uncomfortably hot, and also the lighting was terrible: pitch black walls with glaring football stadium lights which right away strained my eyes and soon gave me a headache. So I didn't actually get much stitching done. Shame, but now I know and I won't go to that retreat again.  It was nice to see my cross stitching friends though.

We did a gift exchange amongst our friend group, my contribution was well received and in return I received this lovely stitched design, beautifully worked, I love it.  My table gifts of the 3D printed cross stitcher keychains went over well also.

So during the week, I spent a lot of time in the cooler basement.  I finished the top of my Carabelle Batik lap quilt.  This was made from two bags of scraps so I was really having to eke out and piece together scraps to get a quilt this size, and even ended up having to piece some of the background because I ran out of that as well.  An enjoyable technical challenge.

I also put together a Jane Harrop kit for two Arts & Crafts chairs for my McKinley house.  For the cushions, I grabbed a graphic of William Morris Willow Bough pattern wallpaper off the internet, tiled it, and printed it in scale onto printable fabric.

I've finished detailing my Norway itinerary, and now know what I am doing every day, with tours and entrance times pre-booked where advisable. I'm looking forward to it.  Especially as it is unlikely (not impossible but unlikely) to be 30C when I get there in August.  It is going to be horribly expensive, it is a very expensive country.  I'm looking forward to it though, especially the knitting shops.