Another first for me .....

On what started as a very wet dreary Friday morning I set off after the school run for a meet up with a fellow blogger and SCC forum member in St Albans.  This is the first time I have ever done anything like this and my phone was buzzing with messages from my daughters asking if I was OK as they were worried to death that I was going to meet a mad axe murderer !!  Nothing could be further from the truth, more or less exactly at the planned time (my fault as I over-estimated my fitness for the walk up the hill towards the cathedral) I met with Serenata at the Old Town Hall ..... there we both were clutching our hand made bags which we instantly recognised.  Cold and nervous we decided to first thaw out a bit in Starbucks with a steaming cuppa.  Two total strangers who had met online because of our mutual interests in crafting & thrifting then managed to spend fours together, which flew by very quickly, talking about our lives and family, our makes and finds and also fitting in a browse around the charity shops, two little antique shops and a few other pretty shops and lunch!  Neither of us had been to St Albans for shopping for a long time although it turns out that we both regularly visit Verulanium Park to walk dogs and I take my minded children to the splash zone in the summer months.  We were both somewhat disappointed with the shopping experience, the few charity shops that are left there now were a little expensive (yes I know it's for charity but some are taking the mick a little with their pricing) and there seemed to be nowhere to purchase crafting items such as fabric, yarn or haberdashery. 

We both had our cameras with us but totally forgot once we got chatting so the only pics I have are these taken on my walk back down the hill to the car park.  As you can see the skies had cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful autumn day.  This lovely diversion from the daily grind was much needed as far as I was concerned as the day before had been the funeral of my sister-in-law and with everything else that has been going on in our lives recently I really needed to get away from the house for a few hours.

Serenata brought this lovely present for me .... just look at the lovely warm autumnal colours

 I couldn't resist these two ..... they were in a little gift cum antique shop and were only £8.95 for the pair so not too extravagant and they are just like my Hermione.

If anyone else is thinking of taking the plunge and meeting a fellow blogger I would highly recommend it ..... we live in a world of doom and gloom and if we believed all the stories in the press that there is danger round every corner we may as well batten down the hatches and stay indoors permanently.  I am a firm believer that there are far more good people out there than bad and blogging is great way of bringing the good together to share their lives, experiences and interests.  I am so glad that I found it earlier on this year.

Go on take the plunge .... you will love it.