John and I had a lovely anniversary; many thanks for all your kind words! We ended up going for a curry here. Now I know curry isn’t what most people associate with romantic occassions, but we loved it! The first time we went here was 5 years ago. I was doing a PGCE (teacher training) at the time and was dreadfully unhappy with the way my life was going. I was working from 8am until midnight each and every day in a terrible school with little support and bloody awful kids (you do get bad kids, contrary to what touchy-feely types would have you believe). To cheer me up, John took me out for a Fliss-friendly day in the Christmas hols, which consisted of feeding ducks, walking through the park and eating curry at the Aagrah! It was during that meal that he convinced me to quit my PGCE and apply for a PhD (as all my tutors had tried to a year prior). Since then I’ve never look back, and the Aagrah always holds a special place in my heart (not to mention my tum 
). As it was Hallowe’en, I did make a sartorial nod to the occassion too.
I was also spoiled by a love pressie from Johnny. I got a new addtion to my burgeoning elephant family. Can you see him?
It’s Babyphant! Don’t worry – Flissyphant and Johnphant have only been touching trunks as Babyphant is their futuristic cousin from the planet Phant
Hot on the heels of Hallowe’en was Bonfire Night, which if truth be told is my favourite out of the two events. I do feel that poor old Bonfire Night is being increasingly squeezed out by Hallowe’en, which is a shame. I feel nostalgic about Bonfire Night in a way that I never will about Hallowe’en; do you remember all the warnings on Blue Peter about checking your bonfire for hedgehogs before you lit it, or the dangers of picking up extinguished sparklers? Good, tradtional stuff Nowadays, bonfire just seem to be an excuse for pubs to make money – set alight a load of old pallets and park a burger van outside, whilst ensuring that the local yoof don’t pepper the fire with used Lynx cans. And as such it’s always on a weekend, regardless of when 5th November actually falls. Fortunately, the ever-benevolent Leeds City Council had provided a series of free bonfires and firework displays across the city on the appropriate day. We had great fun and my ears are still ringing!
But the action-packed week didn’t end there! On Tuesday we had a night out in Blackpool. Now, under ordinary circumstances, this is not something I’d recommend, despite my local affinity to the place. But Tuesday was different; we had tickets to see The Verve! Originally I had tickets to see them in 1995 (supporting Oasis for the princely sum of £8.50!), but they split up before the gig. I honestly thought I’d never get to see them again, so when they reformed and I managed to get tickets, I was like a dog with two tails! It was a really good gig – they’re great musicians and so talented too, and they were on stage for a full two hours! My only complaint (small) is that some of the songs were jammed out slightly too long in the mid-section, and that I’d have liked a few more tunes from A Northern Soul to have been played. I guess this was inevitable, though, as Urban Hymns is what made them mainstream (shame). Nonetheless I couldn’t help but cringe at the lighters-out-vibe during ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ – it’s not a lovesong kids, but a tale about the physical decline and eventual death of Richard Ashcroft’s father. But this isn’t The Verve’s fault and they were still great.
In other news, I’m STILL plugging away at mum’s bag. I’m now on the strap. 31 inches down, 27 to go. Mental not to self – next pattern MUST use bigger needles than 3mm as my patience is being sorely tested. John’s going out with his dad tonight, so I should be able to get a few more inches done…
