We’re into September – it’s the 4th today, and feeling quite autumnal. We’ve had a lot of rain recently but this morning the sun put in an appearance to cheer us up and promised to pop in and out throughout the day.

Seven of us Zoomed. The topic of conversation for most of our meeting was parking. Not parking your knitting somewhere and forgetting where it is! No, actual car parking and the problems associated with it.

There’s been some talk on local FB groups about proposed traffic calming measures on Heaton Moor Road, some of which can be seen on the map here. Local residents raised objections about the suspension of parking bays in the area and David, our Councillor, reported this back to the council with the result that it will no longer be happening. However, the ‘humps’ might still be introduced. The idea behind the proposals is to make the local shopping area safer for everyone who uses it, initially for a temporary period, until spring next year. You can read more about the plans on the council’s website.

We also chatted about the perils of pavement parking as there’s currently a discussion document on the Department for Transport’s site about proposals to introduce a ban on pavement parking everywhere. London has had this ban since the 1970’s.

Parking inconsiderately often happens in the vicinity of schools. Sarah’s road is affected by this and the grass verges are also subject to tyre damage, particularly in wet weather. One way of discouraging parking on such roads is to have logs, rocks or bollards on the edges of the verges. Sarah told us that one day a man knocked on her door and said: ‘Your rock has hit my car and damaged it’. He invited her to inspect his car, which she did and agreed that it had indeed been scratched and dented. She then politely pointed out that ‘her’ rock is stationary, legally positioned, very visible and not causing an obstruction. Ha! I wonder if he put that on his insurance claim!

You might wonder whether there was any talk about knitting today. Well there was, but just a little, a token gesture if you like.

We mentioned hats and loom knitting and some of us confessed to knitting/craft disasters. May’s disaster was when she made a bell out of beads (hundreds of them) which had to be placed on a mould – she made good progress only to find that it wouldn’t fit. Judith confessed to knitting a sweater for her son many years ago and making the neck so tight that when he tried it on for size, it very nearly couldn’t be taken off. I admitted to knitting a top for myself, out of a bamboo and cotton yarn, which after washing increased by about 5 sizes. We all agreed that bamboo is not a good yarn to use.

Liz has recently crocheted a beautiful blanket – a triumph not a disaster! Hopefully we’ll have a photo of it next week. Bye for now 🙂

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