April Blog

How do you describe the weather this April? Perhaps you could say it was unseasonably cold, sometimes very grey and miserable, odd blue skies and wet at the wrong times.

For us at ‘The Oaks’ it had a very exciting start. It was Wednesday 1^st April. It was seven in the morning. I opened my eyes and looked into Irene’s. I thought why are you not getting up to brew (mash) the tea. It was her turn. She said, ‘Is it Tuesday?’ The phone rang. It was Joni ringing to tell us that Ian and Zoe were at the front door waiting to come in. So, dressing gowns were hurriedly thrown on and down we went to meet our guests who were just at the end of their 24,000 mile trip. What excitement as we opened the door to a bubbly 10 old Zoe and her, slightly quieter, father. Instantly Zoe was on the go and started by finding a piece to my impossipuzzle. This cost me £1.

We had not expected them to leave their Heathrow hotel   at 5.00 am and drive straight to us. However, by degrees we had breakfast, got dressed and made plans for the day.

Our first stop was the Denby pottery factory. Zoe thoroughly enjoyed the factory tour and was the only visitor who had a correct answer to how long it took to make a mug. Next we all made a clay frog. Zoe painted a dish for herself and I painted a dish for Emily. We left them to be fired, went back home and out to Trowell Garden Centre for lunch. The food was enjoyable. Zoe was impressed by the fish in the aquariums.

So far the rain had kept off. We drove to Wollaton Hall. The climbing frame looked appealing but we went up to the hall itself. The hall had been used as the set to a Batman movie. Zoe enjoyed dressing up and posing with the cardboard cut-outs. The rain came as we left the hall so it was straight home for our evening meal and an early night for our guests.

The next day also started with something of a shock. Once more our next set of guests took us by surprise. Tim, Isla, Iona and Izzie turned up in time for breakfast. Zoe had already started on the pancakes. All three girls busied themselves in the kitchen and quickly a few pancakes became enough to feed us all. Joni and Fiona turned up and the party left Irene and me behind and set off to Nottingham to do the ‘Robin Hood’ bit.

Later,after a cold sit in the park when the girls chased one another up the hill we made our way to the Vivo Italian restaurant to have a meal together. This was very pleasant and good value. I succeeded in my ambition to eat there.

Friday was a very wet, miserable day so together with Joni and Fiona we took our Kiwi guests to the ‘Space Centre’ at Leicester. Zoe enjoyed making snot (non-Newtonian liquid) and the ‘Grossology’ lecture on life in a spaceship.

Battling gravity

Snot / Non-Newtonian Liquid

For lunch we went to MacDonald’s in Leicester before taking Zoe and Ian to Joni and Fiona’s house. Zoe entertained us with a quiz before we went home. This was the last night that Zoe and Ian stayed with us. In the morning we did the Easter traditions, which was our giving of eggs and the Clarke’s tradition of the egg hunt, organised by Zoe. They left for London via Denby Pottery to collect the fired dishes. It was an all too short visit.

The following week continued cold and wet. The highlight of it was a visit to the skip at Ilkeston on Saturday morning.

There was a committee meeting on Tuesday 15^th. This meant that we would need to go shopping on Wednesday morning. Part of our shopping was two decking planks which we carried home through the open car window. I had no intention of pushing the windscreen out again. I am now waiting for the blackbird and sparrow eggs to hatch before I begin the noisy work on the decking. Instead I have begun on sanding and white painting the downstairs varnished doors.

In the afternoon we went in to Nottingham. The exhibition at the Contemporary was not as inspiring as previous ones had been. But after our lunch sitting eating and drinking stuff from Greggs we found our way to ‘Castle Fine Arts’ and we were drawn to the vivid paintings by Bob Dillon. The assistant was pleased to show us around. Apparently Bob Dillon had kept a sketch book during his tours; someone looked at it and said that he should make larger paintings from them. These are the paintings that were on display at around £3000.

We then popped over to ‘The Works’ where I purchased my largest canvas yet. It now sits on the easel awaiting inspiration.

The following day I was at the Haven Centre. I took my camera to take a picture of the blackbird that was sitting on a nest not far away at the other side of the glass.

The next day I put in the last piece of the ‘Impossipuzzle’. As Isla says it was not really an ‘Impossipuzzle’.

The next week we had two outings. The first was on Tuesday afternoon when we joined a group to be escorted around Stapleford by two county archaeologists. I went to one or two places that I had not visited before. The most significant piece of information was that ‘staple’ meant ‘post’. Hence the town name means ‘ford marked by a post’. The question is ‘where was the ford?’ Place name and other evidence show the position of the medieval village with the mill at the end of a lane next to the river. From the mill there is a clear view to Sandiacre church. Speculation is that the ford crossed the river to link the village centres which were close to the churches.

Cemetery Entrance

Our guide near the site of the pinfold

Previous course of the Erewash

Saxon Cross

On Wednesday the weather was again pleasant so we had an additional walk which was along the canal at Cossall. Work had been carried out to clear the path and canal surrounds. The may blossoms were amazing and reflected well in the still water of the canal.

Two days later we set off to Brighton for a visit with Joe and Julia. The weather on the first day was not too spectacular so I avoided taking my camera into the park. We had picked Joe up at the university and walked through Preston Park with him to spend a pleasant evening with them both before going back to drive off to our room at Hickstead ‘Travelodge’. Both nights we slept soundly on the comfortable bed, undisturbed by any noise at all.

The following day started off damp but became sunny and quite pleasant. The four of us spent the afternoon enjoying a walk around ‘Nyman’s’ Gardens' which included a house. It is a big area with plenty to see and good views across the ‘Downs’.

 In the evening we enjoyed a vegetarian Chinese take away and another game of ‘Carcasson’ before going off to our final night at the ‘Travelodge’.

We woke on Sunday morning to another damp day and set off back to Brighton for another meeting with Joe. Once more the weather was inclement and so I did not carry my camera. 

After breakfast at the ‘Rotunda’ café in the park we walked to the rock garden. I took some pictures on my phone. 

 Then, having said goodbye to Joe, we drove to Rottingdean to have short walk by the sea. This time I did have my camera. 

Having paid our respects to the ‘English Channel’ we made our way home; stopping for lunch at ‘Cobham Services’ and a milkshake at ‘Northampton Services’. A good end to a great weekend.

To end the walking month, on a changeable, cold day we went the reservoir at Moorgreen. The object was to view the bluebells. It was four years and one day ago that we last visited the place. Then we were accompanied by Joni and the sun was so much brighter and warmer.

The last significant event of the month was to attend the general election hustings on that same evening. I have to say the choice between the candidates, as people, was hard. They were all sincere. They all scored and lost the same number of points. The results, next week, will be very interesting.