Thursday 31 July 2014

My Month in Numbers 2014: July


Hello hello.

One of the best tips I always offer to anyone looking for a starting point to a Month in Numbers post is: browse through all the photos you took during the month, all your moments are there, just look for the numbers in them.

And, when I did that myself for my July I realised that the entire month was coloured by two - quite opposite - themes. All my photographs were either of the 5 Christmas magazine commissions I've completed ... or were the hundreds James and I took on our summer holiday!

To spare you the unseasonal mind-shift I'll just focus on my holiday statistics!  Here goes ...

Reference No. 39047 + 39046 = the numbers on our tickets for the RAF Waddington Air Show:
And, as you can see on the pedometer, we fitted in 12,596 steps in while looking around. Thank goodness for comfortable shoes!

I've blogged my annual exploits as James's non-expert-sidekick-who-just-goes-for-the-day-out many times before here so I won't bore you with the details ... but do let me tell you a tale about what happened before the show - less than 24 hours before to be exact - which almost led to us not going ...

A few weeks ago on Facebook I wrote a silly status mentioning how I'd just casually dropped by the page of the hotel we'd booked to just double-check it hadn't experienced some calamity that would ruin my holiday! Fortunately everything was in order ... and I continued looking forward to the break.

Then, on the morning we were due to set off for Lincoln, while James had something last-minute to organise at the office, something made me do the same 'just checking for calamities' thing with the air show's page ...  which is where I learnt, for the 1st time that ...

... all tickets to the show had to be bought in advance!! No tickets would be on sale at the gate. Anyone without a ticket would be turned away.

Which meant us.

Now, it wouldn't have ruined my week if I didn't get to see another noisy plane doing a flying thingy ... but I knew a man who'd feel differently!

So, angel that I am, I read up about where on earth we could get tickets in the remaining 7 hours we had left before places closed for the weekend. Especially considering we live 2.5 hours and 130 miles from the showground itself!

And then ... I had to just had to sit wait until he got home to break the news to him!

Fortunately ... the website detailed where the tickets were on sale; branches of HSBC bank and Morrison's supermarkets, so I printed off the full list of all the participating stores in the hope that at least 1 of them along the route down would have 2 tickets for 2 very stressed holiday makers. [well, one was more stressed than the other ...].

If you can remember Anneka Rice running around the country collecting clues against the clock in the Treasure Hunt TV show in the 80s ... you might get an idea of how I expected the afternoon to pan out!

But - stop the clock, stop the clock!! At 12.40pm-ish,  4 hours 20 minutes before the close of day, in a HSBC close to home we finally breathed-out ... because we secured 2 tickets!!!!

And we let the holiday commence ...

2 = number of rooms we stayed in over 6 nights at The Rest hotel.  This was purely due to a scheduling/ room availability thing and was something we knew when we booked the holiday. And as both rooms were lovely [and the helpful staff moved all our bags while we were out!] it was rather fun ... as if we'd stayed in 2 different places!

The first room, named 'Sunflowers' was on the ground floor:
 ... and then we literally moved up into the tree tops ... kind of ...
As you might have already spotted each room was decorated with a wallpaper whose pattern reflected the name of the room, here's the arboreal paper and side-lamps of our 'Treetops' room:
And the remainder of the rooms continued the matching name/paper theme too!

[I cannot confirm how I know this. OK, alright then, I peeked in all of the windows on our floor when I learnt that we were the only guests staying on that level one particular night!]

14% = the gradient of the steepest part of 'Steep Hill' Lincoln ... on which our hotel stood, so if we wanted to go anywhere ... and then return home again ... we couldn't avoid tackling the hill at least once a day [and more often several times!]. I shared photos of this noteworthy street - including the ways people ascend and descend it, in a Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt post earlier this month here.
 
The outdoor veranda overlooked Steep Hill and from there, in between people-watching, I wrote out my 6 postcards for Sian's 'Pile of Postcards Exchange' and enjoyed some guilt-free holiday reading: 
1 = the number of books I read this month. Just when I thought there couldn't possibly be room in my life for yet another Sherlock Holmes adaptation ...

...I came across 'The Beekeeper's Apprentice' the first in Laurie King's Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes stories in a charity shop. It's a fun read, nothing too taxing [which is what you need on your hols isn't it?] and, if I come across the next in the series for a bargain price ... I might just continue with them.

At the start of the book Mr. Holmes is in his mid-50s and I must admit I spent a good part of my reading time trying to think of a hot actor in his 50s who I could visualise in the part!! Call me shallow but, I like my Sherlocks to be beautiful as well as clever! [Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch have utterly spoiled me!]. ;-)
 
£2 = all I spent after browsing the hundreds of thousands items at Hemswell Antiques Centres! £2!!  
One full day of our break was spent wandering around the VAST antiques centres at Hemswell - which consists of several huge, sprawling ex-RAF buildings. And even after being there all day, we didn't get to see inside all the buildings on the site!
 
While browsing though I did stumble across this number ...
 
902 = the code for one of the dealers, inside one of the Antiques Centres, who dared label one item of his stock like this ...
... and the hairstyle in question? Was this one ...
I hope his wife never visits  ...

---------------------------------
 
So, those were my vital July statistics ... how about yours?
 
If you'd like to join in - this month, next, or at any time at all then all the My Month in Numbers rules/details can be found here. Everyone's welcome. If you've lived through a month and can throw a few numbers at it ...  then you're in!

You can visit all previous contributions from both me and the entire number-crunching community on the Month in Numbers Pinterest board here.
 
Here's to doing anything we can to keep the summery / holiday atmosphere going well into August [especially as Christmas is almost over for me!].
 
Julie :-D

13 comments:

  1. Hi Julie! I enjoyed reading about your crazy ticket chase and your holidays but the last bit with the doll made me laugh out loud! Ah, the British have such a great sense of humour :) i posted my Month in Numbers page as well, and as usual it's one month behind: http://anounceofcreativity.blogspot.fr/2014/07/my-month-in-numbers-june-2014.html
    Enjoy your month of August!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely stories Julie! I too laughed out loud at the doll's hair!! I've done my month in numbers about my holiday too: http://linda-lindasphotoblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/month-in-numbersholiday-edition.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. I may very interesting! I may try this once I'm settled in the new house.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That hotel looks fab. I love the over sized headboard. It looks like one huge chair. I'm so glad that you got tickets, he would have been one very disappointed man!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your blog is so fun to read. I couldn't quit laughing when I read the tag that the man wrote and then scrolled down to see what style of hair his "wife" had. LOL That is hilarious! : ) Thanks again for a much needed smile. (Hugs)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well I do believe I just lost my comment - I'm not as handy with my new computer as one would hope. But in any case, sounds like you've had a wonderful month Julie. Those lovely hotel rooms have me thinking wallpaper would be a marvelous addition to my home. Except for the part where it's a total pain to hang. That might be a snagging point. Nice calamity prevention save! Wishing you a wonderful August with lots of good things to count. I'm playing along this month as well: http://deborah-weber.com/counting-house-handing-gifts/

    ReplyDelete
  7. As always you had me giggling away. Lucky you got the tickets ... and averted disaster. The hotel you stayed in looks beautiful and lucky you getting to try two different rooms, especially considering they were not the common identical-throughout-the-hotel rooms.

    I've posted my July numbers:

    http://mgstebbins.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/my-month-in-numbers-july-2014.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hahaha! Again, Julie, you had me in stitches! Thought I might collapse laughing over the porcelain doll and accompanying tag - bad hair day! I've read most of Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series and quite enjoyed them.
    Here is my July numbers:
    http://haallred.blogspot.com/2014/08/month-of-july-in-numbers.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. A great read Julie. That doll looks like it could have belonged to my sister: she used to pull hers around by the hair while I used to set mine up and look at them (she probably had more fun..)

    You have got me trying to come up with a Sherlock suggestion now..

    ReplyDelete
  10. hello to recognising the need for calamity checking - glad it all turned out OK and your hotel looks fabulous. I've posted my numbers for July http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/summing-up-july.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. I enjoyed reading about your mad dash to find tickets for the show; I would not want to walk up that steep hill too often. I did laugh at the label for the doll - what a cheek.. I have posted my entry for this month (late again, sorry) . http://starnitesky.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/my-month-in-numbers-july.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. Still laughing with taht hairstyle picture!
    I remember last year´s Air Show. :) Love the different rooms and the fact that you checked it was indeed a theme. ;)
    I´m saving the name of the hotel. If I ever visit, I want that view. Cool.
    Here are my numbers:
    http://keepitsimplemakeitgreat.blogspot.com.ar/2014/08/my-month-in-numbers-for-july-2014how-to.html

    PS: only one more left at that address, then I am moving. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Glad you finally managed to secure your tickets to the airshow, looks a very nice hotel. LOL at the doll label!! And here I am quite early for a change (for me LOL!!!) http://kkfantasticplace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/my-month-in-numbers-july.html

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving me a comment, asking me a question, sharing your own story or just randomly saying hello.