March Blog

March still continues cold.

The first day was Sunday and the highlight was a visit from Jan, Lawrence and Jennifer

On Wednesday we braved the cold to have a walk in Wollaton Park. There was some warmth in the sun on arrival but a bitter wind got up. There were next to no camellias in their house.

The next day we had a special visit of the mayor to our ‘Haven Eagles’ group.

I was able to give the car a good clean and polish and Saturday. And on Sunday we determinedly pressed on to complete the Picasso jigsaw.

 On Wednesday we took the Leicester House ladies to the Haven café and they thoroughly enjoyed it. When we got back workmen were on the roof. A small job of stopping birds entering the loft space to steal my insulation, replacing fascia and a damaged tile became a major job. But the whole roof is now as good as new (probably better) and the guttering runs well and does not leak.

The work was completed on the following day while we were walking around the gardens at Matlock Bath and visiting the lead mining museum. It was fascinating. The café turned out to be a lady at the reception desk putting on a kettle and (because of the danger of lead poisoning) having a ‘Twix Bar’ instead of cake.

 There was a big ‘Health Fayre’ event in the Community Centre which we attended with the ‘Eagles’ on Thursday afternoon.

Dr Doddy

 The sun shone on Wednesday. Although it was cold we decided that the walking season had begun. Going via Wilkos in Ilkeston we headed for the village of Hartington. It is a very pretty village with a duck pond. It was difficult to find a parking space. But we did and then found a café for our coffee and Bakewell tart. We did not have time to visit the cheese shop where Chiltern cheese originates. (After the walk we needed to be back to meet the people who were buying our freezer.)

The walk started at the car park next to the Hartington signal box. It was only a short walk alongside field were the first of the lambs were on show. At the end of the two miles we came to the Parsley Hay refreshment stop. As expected, it was closed. However, the picnic tables were available to sit and have food, before using the toilets before the walk back.

The sale of the freezer went well.

The whole country was excited about the partial eclipse on Friday. The midlands were about the only area to be completely cloud free and allow us to view the phenomena on my improvised screen.

There was a different type of excitement about Saturday. The morning was clear and we were able to continue painting the fences until the preservative ran out. It was at this point we remembered what it was that we should have collected at B and Q. But the real fun was to be had with Paul. We went to the Nottingham Model Railway Society’s annual exhibit. The car park was very full, but inside it was not overcrowded with more exhibits than I saw a previous year. Paul and I were particularly impressed by the mechanism to tilt a truck of coal into a hopper.

The day went on as we returned Paul home and Mary had prepared the four of a us a delicious three course meal.

Back home we over indulged ourselves with chocolate washed down with a glass of beer.

Our Sunday was the usual church service. The sun was bright and warm so we just had to set off to B and Q to buy the preservative and complete the fence.

Joni and Fiona came for a meal on Wednesday night and it was our opportunity to give them a engagement present as well as Fiona's birthday present.

The final walk of the month was to do a further stretch of the Tissington Trail. We arrived in Tissington just as the waitress from the café arrived. I asked her about parking and was told that nobody checks the spaces marked ‘Parking for Two Hours Only’. We followed her to the café for our usual coffee and cake. It was nice bur pricey.

The walk to the toilet at the start of the trail was quite short. We completed the three mile walk to the car park at Alsop in just over an hour. It was when we arrived there that I realised we should have driven from the toilet to this car park and walked the three miles back to the Tissington toilets. A lesson learned, but we did complete the six miles without much of a problem.

The main feature of this walk was the sound of sheep bleating and crows cawing. We spotted at least three rabbits ripped to pieces in a cutting. The foxes must have been busy. We were also impressed by the care that the authority has taken to provide a safe and pleasant walking route.

Today March is ending as it typically was; cold and wet, but with wind driven rain. Welcome to the UK Zoe and Ian.

February Blog

This was not one of my best months. I spent several days confined to base; firstly with man flu and later with a back ache that caused me to have a lot of time lying flat. Despite this we seem to have fitted in some outings and I did make a start on another acrylic painting.

For the first visit I was fully well and we made a journey out to Hopton Hall to see the snowdrops. It was quite magical as we drove through the Derbyshire snow fields to find snow drops surrounded by the white stuff. On the way back we had a short walk along Carsington Water.

The next day we attended the funeral of our friend Margaret Cornish O.B.E. It was good to see the church so full and hear about the positive work that she did as an inspector of primary education in Nottingham. Rest in peace ‘Hat Lady’.

On Friday I started an acrylic painting and took photographs of the amaryllis that Joe and Julia bought for mum.

At the beginning of the next week I was beginning to feel unwell. Never-the-less we had a journey to Masson Mill in Matlock Bath. It is basically a shopping area but part of it is a cotton spinning museum. We had a personal demonstration of the machinery. The older machines used to be driven by a drive shaft from the watermill. Now one smallish electric motor runs them. There was also a modern machine which went at great speed. It was quite surprising that the modern machinery was fed by cotton carried from Liverpool on a mule.

Out next visit was with Tim and family to Kedlestone. 

They stayed overnight and the following day we made a trip to McArthur Glenn. Their main aim was clothes buying for Izzy but also chocolate. I bought some new shoes and a copy of ‘A Brief History of Time’. I have read it and I am pleased with how much I understand about what Steven Hawkins is saying.

After their visit I spent the next three day flat on my back. I must say that they had no part in my difficulties and that their visit was very enjoyable.

By Wednesday I was ready to make another visit. This was to ‘Potteries Museum’ at Stoke on Trent. We recommend the refreshments which were good and about the cheapest price that we have paid. I had my camera, but no card so I took pictures on my tablet, but they will not open.

The next day was our regular ‘Haven Eagles’ meeting. We had a speaker who, forty years ago, spent two year in the Antarctic studying the Aurora. His coloured slides were impressive. The colours were vivid and the images clear despite their age and the fact that he had processed them under the Antarctic ice.