10 things

My mind is addled this week. I have a cold, which has left me feeling slightly delirious and other-worldly.  This is therefore the perfect moment to share with you a collection of random thoughts that are skitting through my head this morning.

• This Clara doll, from the Nutcracker, is utterly amazing.  I am itching more than ever to make a doll from Hillary's book.
• My new-found tea obsession continues.  I went to the Twinings Shop, right opposite the Royal Courts of Justice at 216 Strand, at the weekend and stocked up on the Rose Garden tea and various other enticing flavours.  Twinings also have a lovely online shop, and at both shops you can buy individual teabags to try out different flavours.  C reports that the apple, cinnamon and raisin one is wonderful, G likes the Blossom Earl Grey, and my friend J just sent me some bags of Twinings Chai tea which is like drinking a hug, it is so lovely ( I thought that the chai might be too sweet, and I really don't like sugary tea, but happily it is unsweetened for you to add your own sugar - or not).
• I've bought the new Carol Ann Duffy book for O for Christmas.  There is a beautiful window display to promote it at Foyles in Charing Cross Road, which if you are nearby is well worth a detour to go and admire.

• Tyrozets are the best sore throat sweets around.  They have anaesthetic in them so they actually work.
• I am yearning to go back to Switzerland.
• I have had to adjust the quantity of pasta I cook.  After years of cooking pasta for the family, I know precisely how much pasta would feed all four of us, and leave a box of leftovers for somebody's lunch the next day.  But G's ironman training and C's new and enlarged pre-teen appetite have thrown everything into disarray.  For a while there were no leftovers on pasta days, then there were no leftovers and people complained they were still hungry.  So I started cooking 50g and then 100g more at each meal. There are still no leftovers though, and C is still growing and G is still training, so I may have to cook even more soon.
• C and I are watching Sherlock on a Sunday evening on BBC3.  It is a series of just three programmes, which were first shown over the summer, but so very good.  The final installment is this coming Sunday but the previous episodes are still available on iPlayer.
• For the first time ever I had to rip back some knitting.  I feel more like a proper knitter now.
• The Archers has a new website, which is perfect for losing hours of your precious time at.  I particularly love the three minute explanation of The Archers by Stephen Fry and the build up to the 60th birthday celebrations in January.
• To ease my longing for Switzerland, I bought this tin of Swiss chocolate biscuits from M&S.  They are very good.  And because I bought them, I get to keep the tin afterwards.