Monday, May 3, 2010

Weekend away

It was Mr Stressy's birthday yesterday and we went away for the weekend. We stayed with some friends in their very posh house. I tell you, it was straight out of the pages of a Homes and Country magazine - fabulous decor, no clutter, big comfy sofas... oh it was bliss. This top picture is the view from their kitchen. We had a lovely time (ate soooo much!) - it was such a break from children and noise and arguments and squabbling and fighting and everything else bad. My parents came to look after the boys - and also happened to do some decorating whilst we were away as a surprise. Perfect!

We went to Twickenham to watch the Army vs Navy Rugby match. The Army have not lost in years and years so we went with high hopes. Sadly they lost, but to be honest, the score was incidental. It was like a great big party - in many cases a Fancy Dress Party!

These dashing young men were apparently In The Navy. There were plenty of other fancy dressers too - Wonder Woman was there (complete with hairy chest) as were Batman and Robin, several nicely dressed young lady sailors (again complete with hairy chests!) And even one or two people with absolutely nothing on at all. Towards the end of the second half, there were so many pitch invasions by streakers in varying stages of undress that the game had to be stopped for a while!

If you have never been to this particular match, I can thoroughly reccommend it. Such good natured supporters, I didn't hear one single swear word. Everyone was having a great time, I really didn't want to come home. But home I did come.

A fair bit of knitting was completed - look what I finished! It's a bit big round the heel flap and gusset section, but they'll be great boot socks for the winter. Very long and cosy.

It is with great sadness that I have a very serious demise to report. The Stash Basket has died. It is deceased. No more. Dead. It has been eaten alive. I passed by it this morning and wondered what all the very fine dust was round the base of it. We had had nothing plastered lately, yet there was all this fine plaster type dust. So I got on my hands and knees and looked closely. It was riddled with holes. Yikes, OMG and flipping heck. We have got woodworm. I do not want to make light of this as it is obviously very serious. I have found quite a few adult beatles on the windows and they are now squashed and killed dead adult beatles. The hoover has gone into overdrive. (Do these little monsters eat yarn?)

But what next? Anybody know? I have checked all the other wooden things in the house and everything seems OK. The stash basket was housed in the dining room - where we have table, chairs, 2 bookcases and 2 china storage cupboards. All made of wood.

Heck.

10 comments:

dottycookie said...

Woodworm?! Eeeeeeek! I'd comnsult a pest controller - or maybe the nearest National Trust property - seriously. They're even scarier than moths (which we had in our living room carpet and which forced me to bring out the big chemicals - yuk.)

Hope you get it sorted - and well spotted.

My macchias are coming up a bit big too - I think I may have overestimated the size of my feet!

Jan said...

Oh what a lovely weekend ,only to come home to find you have woodworm ,yes get in touch with someone ,it can be treated if caught early ..love Jan xx

Hat said...

I wouldn't worry too much about the woodworm. They really do love baskets but we've got a table that's had serious woodworm in it for more than twenty years and it's still standing. Nothing else in the house has been infested either, not even softwood picture rails etc. Some days it looks like Brighton beach underneath!

Love those socks.

wonderwoman said...

shame about the woodworm, but they are easily sorted, according to my dad! I love, just love that sock!

x

Rhiannon said...

eep! woodworm! the stash basket! I would like to be able to provide helpful suggestions, but I don't really know anything about it and Dottycookie seems to have far more sensible ideas!

On the other hand, the socks are looking beautiful...

Mrs Moog said...

We had to get a man in when we had woodworm in our first house. What a sad way to lose your poor faithful stashbasket!

Any chance you could show us all the lovely yarn that was hiding in the bottom of it? I've always wanted to see what's underneath that lovely top layer!!

Glad you had a fun weekend before the stashbasket horror was discovered.

xx

Mrs Moog said...

p.s. Ooooooh.....I love that Macchia! Those colours work beautifully together :o)

trash said...

Oh poor sad stashbasket ;-( Still, it is a grand shopping opportunity.

btw LOVING yours and Mr. Stressy's costimes for the rugby ;-)

picperfic said...

oh no!! I am sure it is easily treatable, you just need to ask at your local hardware shop. Is the basket a write off? Perhaps we should go on a weaving course and make new ones, you just can't have too many baskets of yarn around the home!

Your weekend away sounded perfect, so glad you were able to relax and enjoy it xx

Locket Pocket said...

Aaargh! Woodworm? That's as nasty as our carpet beetle invasion last year (in a house with no carpets apart from on the stairs!)

But a lovely sockety-sock!

Locket xx