Monday July 26th, 2010

The day had finally come, my outing to Leeds I'd been waiting for this day for ages, now don't get me wrong Swindon town centre is alright, Bradford's lets not even go there - literally but I do miss the city life. Leeds especially because I worked in the offices of the town centre for over 2 years and it's home to so many little boutiques and other independent little shops that you just don't find anywhere else.
With my mother in tow we wondered around visiting Poundland, HMV, Primark and a whole host of other stores we got to Yum Yum Beads. Oh, I died and gone to heaven beads, beads everywhere, it was almost like Aladdin's Cave (except you were the one that was paying). I left my bags in sole charge of my mum, took a bowl and was off whacking in beads of all colours, shapes and sizes along the way.I was so absorbed in my task I wasn't even counting the actual cost, my mum expressed her concern regarding this matter until she got looking at the beads herself. Handing me some brass and a whole variety of purple beads she asked me to make her something with them (results on Flickr). I could've have looked in there all day but I was ushered out (mum wanted to get to Greggs before the lunch time rush). All in all I'd spent over £20 in there on individual beads, I had no idea what I was going to make with them I just put in the pretty ones that I really liked. In WH Smiths I picked up the new issue of 'Bead' magazine and was surprised to discover that my letter I written to them congratulating them or taking the poor into consideration when coming up with their great projects. Now not only was it published it was also 'star letter' to which I am going to be receiving a whole 'goody bag of beading delights' awesome. Without wanting to sound like a bighead I think I have a valid point, I mean there's nothing worse than falling in love with a potential project only to discover that the necessary ingredients are quite specialist and pricey as a consequence. Recently I've been quite fortunate (and selling on eBay) and being able to indulge in what I refer to as 'bead splurges' but as these are quite seldomn I tend to buy in bulk and little trinkets from Pink and Dizzy. I don't have the financial means to pay a couple of quid for an individual bead or the experience to use it to its full potential, so there you go that's pretty much the jist of it anyway.

I had planned on sitting down with the beads on the table trying to come up with ideas on how to use them when we got home, but another social gathering had been arranged and I didn't leave the pub till gone midnight - on a Monday night as well, shame on me, was great fun though and the kebab was amazing.