Shopping and nostalgia

At the weekend we went shopping! Now, in itself this isn't so amazing (although it isn't a common occurrence for us), but on this particular occasion it was just nice to be somewhere away from the snow and the cold. Gabriel and Isaac have been itching to spend their Christmas money since, well, since Christmas, and on Saturday they finally did it!

We spent most of Saturday in a model shop, which gave rise to great waves of nostalgia as I remembered all the Airfix models of my childhood. It was rather a large model shop and I particularly enjoyed the moment when Gabriel shouted across the aisles, "Where are you, Ellie?" and I was able to respond, "I'm over here at the Battle of Waterloo". The Airfix Battle of Waterloo is now in our sitting room and I'm beginning to regret agreeing to help with the painting of the combatants - several hundreds of them, each half an inch high and dazzlingly multi-coloured in a blue/grey/mud sort of way. My eyes were never very good, but I really can't distinguish a rifle butt from a hand, much less a microscopic cuff from a tunic.

We've had more nostalgia recently in the shape of dvds of old films. Several weeks ago, The Beatles 'Help!' was the first of these (Gabriel and I are BIG Beatles fans!). This was followed by a rival Elvis Presley bid from Phil, with such deep, dark, offerings as 'Love me Tender' and 'Flaming Star'. Goodness me - they're really quite harrowing! Anyway this weekend we watched 'The Magnificent Seven' - and what a fab film! It must be over thirty years since I last saw it and the only part I actually remembered was Charles Bronson dying trying to protect the three children who adopted him. And I'd always thought I didn't like westerns.

Anyway, enough of that! I think it's about time I revived my 'Sheep of the Month'. Just a few short miles along the road there is no snow, but there are Blue Faced Leicesters! Here are some of them. The BFL hunt has been on for a while - the photos are for my regular sheep column in Felt Matters and I can't bear to use anonymous images from the internet. I love Blue Faced Leicesters, but they're not a hardy breed. They were actually developed only a few miles from here, around Hexham (hence their alternative name, the Hexham Leicester), but it's a struggle for them to survive our North Pennines winters. Don't you just love them? And for any of you who don't already know it, their wool is second to none. Don't buy imported stuff - get some Blue Faced Leicester. You won't regret it!