Dear McIntosh Clan,
This week something extraordinary happened.
Dr Thomas put his foot down.
Apparently, according to him, I needed a day off.
Now, for those of you who have followed McIntosh for any length of time, you'll know that my idea of a day off is working in a different room.
So when the doctor announced that I was leaving the office for the day, I made my position perfectly clear.
"I'm not going if my knitting isn't going."
A compromise was reached.
The knitting came too.
Yesterday was World Knit in Public Day and I don't know where you were knitting, but I was knitting on the London Overground.
That was only part of the spectacle.
You see, Dr Thomas and I were on our way to sing a telegram to one of his doctor friends who had just turned sixty.
So there we were, travelling across London whilst I knitted and the two of us rehearsed a singing telegram.
The other passengers handled this in the traditional British manner.
Nobody made eye contact.
Nobody asked questions.
Nobody acknowledged that there was a knitting man and a German doctor quietly singing on public transport.
Everyone simply stared out of the window and decided it was someone else's problem.
Our destination was Strawberry Hill.
For more than twenty years I've heard the station announced at Clapham Junction and always thought it sounded wonderfully romantic.
"The next station is Strawberry Hill."
It sounds like somewhere rabbits in waistcoats would live.
Yet somehow we'd never actually been.
Well, it turns out Strawberry Hill is home to a magnificent Gothic Revival mansion built by Horace Walpole.
Now, thanks to passing his Life in the UK Test, Dr Thomas knew exactly who Walpole was.
Last year the doctor spent months learning all sorts of useful British facts.
Britain's first Prime Minister.
Who invented the hovercraft.
Various kings, queens and battles.
Enough information to win a pub quiz in 1984.
What the test did not prepare him for was Peckham.
And so I have taken it upon myself to continue his education.
I am now teaching him advanced spoken English.
Specifically Cockney rhyming slang.
This week's lesson was:
Ruby Murray = Curry.
This became important later.
After our visit to Strawberry Hill, Dr Thomas treated me to dinner at Dishoom in the beautifully restored Battersea Power Station.
I ordered a Ruby Murray.
Purely for educational purposes, obviously.
The doctor listened patiently whilst I attempted to explain the finer points of Cockney rhyming slang through the medium of a Northern Irish accent.
I suspect he understood about twelve percent of what I was saying.
Which is still more than most Londoners.
Back at home, Dr Thomas has fully embraced semi-retirement.
By which I mean he now spends his free time rewiring things.
Apparently we are getting a new internet router.
Apparently we are getting faster broadband.
Apparently this is very exciting.
My late mum would have looked at the whole setup and said:
"Those technological things in the house are just for dusting."
I think she may have had a point.
Talking of exciting things, the Addi Yarn Arms arrived this week.
Goodness me, you've taken to them.
They are absolutely flying out and at the time of writing we only have ten left.
If you've been wondering what a Yarn Arm actually does, I've written a full review over on the McIntosh blog and you can read it below.
As for yarn, can we have a quick chat about this weather?
One minute it's summer.
The next minute you're wondering whether autumn has arrived early.
For this sort of gloriously confused weather I've been rather taken with REGINA by LANGYARNS.
It combines cotton, baby alpaca, silk and wool into a beautiful transseasonal yarn that seems perfectly suited to British weather's ongoing identity crisis.
We've got some gorgeous pattern kits using REGINA and you'll find those below as well.
And finally, as I write this, Dr Thomas and I are about to head off to Open Gardens Weekend.
Twenty years ago we'd have been going clubbing.
Now we're voluntarily spending our Sunday looking at other people's roses.
I fear we may have become middle-aged.
Although I have to admit, I'm rather enjoying it.
Have a wonderful week ahead.
Keep making.
Keep laughing.
And if you happen to spot a man knitting on public transport whilst teaching Cockney rhyming slang to a German doctor, do come and say hello.
With all best wishes,
James
James McIntosh - the one man band that is McIntosh and Dr Thomas my sidekick!
