It was such a beautiful day yesterday that rather than waste it we decided to go on a canal walk of our own beginning in our little town and walking in the opposite direction towards Halifax.  We joined the canal towpath a short distance from town where the little lockkeepers cottage is situated. Lot’s of other people had the same idea as us, and there were plenty of walkers and bicycle riders (plus one guy out jogging) taking the opportunity to enjoy the summer sunshine.

As is usual along the canal, there were lots of narrowboats travelling along and also lots of fishermen sitting quietly at the side of the canal patiently waiting for a bite. The new David Bailey aka J accompanied us again and insisted on snapping everything in sight including moving into lots of my intended shots of the surrounding area.  He frightened us at one point by disappearing into the side wooded area to take some shots of the river which runs adjacent to the canal. He had been gone for ages, and as is usual for this Mum (despite the fact he is now 26 years old!) I panicked thinking he might have fallen down into the river, it’s quite a steep drop where he had chosen to leave the towpath in order to make those ‘cant miss’ taking a photograph of that shots. Besides which K and I couldn't have rescued him if he had fallen in! He eventually emerged unscathed thank goodness and we continued along the towpath.

Everyone we met along the way smiled and greeted us with ‘Good mornings’ and conversation.  How different everyone seems when the sun is shining! Most were dressed appropriately in t-shirts, shorts and cool summer clothes. One fellow had a nifty sunhat that resembled one that an Australian person would wear with the corks hanging down.  As is often the case near water it felt cooler walking along the towpath.  We had the canal on the right hand side, and the river on the left with the cool shady trees in between. There are also quite a few locks to go  past and we  also saw two more lockkeepers cottages which were both sadly boarded up.

“I’d love to do that little cottage up” I said, “It would be so lovely living here at the side of the canal, so peaceful and quiet.” What a shame that they have been abandoned.

It was quite a walk, and K was unusually quiet.  So quiet in fact, that even J noticed she wasn’t herself. I kept asking her if she was okay, but she said she was.  She made J and myself laugh though during one of our forays into the wooded area to take some pictures of the waterfall on the river. Earlier whenever we passed one of the men fishing on the canal, I reminded J and K to be quiet or they would frighten the fish away, so when we entered the wooded area, we took a few photographs of the waterfall then turned around to return to the towpath.  As we returned K stepped on a twig which snapped under her foot. “Sorry I trod on a stick!” she said.  It sounded so funny as we were obviously miles away from any of the fishermen!

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Eventually we arrived at some civilization where an inviting public house called aptly the ‘Barge and Barrel’ was situated and we all had some lunch. I had a beef stew (without the accompanying large Yorkshire pudding of course) and K and J both had a Chinese chicken wrap with chips, all ably washed down with shandy for K, ( tell you she wasn’t herself. Shandy?)  a glass of white wine for me and a pint of Fosters for J.  Following that excellent and welcome meal to finish off our enjoyable walk we caught the bus home.  I so enjoyed the walk. It was a long way, but a wonderful way to spend a glorious summers  day.

TG

As is usual when embarking on these day trips, I was wide awake and up before the alarm went off, and K was not long after before she emerged either.  J had been instructed to be at our flat at 07.00am on the dot, but as usual at 07.15am there was no sign of him, so I had to call him on his mobile.  K and I had to set off down the cat steps for the bus and he came dashing down them just in time.  He was really puffed out!  When we arrived at Huddersfield station we had some time to wait for the train so we had a cup of tea and a toilet whilst waiting.

I made a complete fool of myself once on board the train, as I went down to coach C where I thought our reserved seats were, only to find some people sitting there. The guard was making his way towards us,  so I asked him about it. “Those are your return tickets!” he said, “your in coach B!”  Honestly I felt such a fool and had to apologize profusely to the poor people who must have been convinced I was going to insist on their giving up their seats!  Of course J wouldn’t stop laughing and no doubt will not let me forget that boob in a hurry!  “You go in like a bull in a china shop Mum!” he stated.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

On arrival at Scarborough, we quickly made our way from the station up to the Castle. It was fairly cloudy still, but the sun kept trying to peep out, and at least it was warm.  Rain had not been forecast. The walk up to the castle gives you a great opportunity to take shots of the North Bay and the walled walk up to the Castle keep. Its quite a steep walk, but very enjoyable. On arrival at the castle, we paid our entrance fee, cheaper because K is an English Heritage member, and then we made our way around all of the WW 2 tents and exhibition which was spread out in the castle grounds.

 One camp was the German  camp and the other the British.  There really was a lot of very interesting things to see, and all of the people taking part in the display were only too happy to tell you all about their uniforms and  what their job would have been during the war, and it was all very informative.  A lady who was dressed as a field nurse showed  us all of the surgeons instruments that would have been used at the front.  We also watched a demonstration showing all of the different uniforms and equipment that each different soldier in both the German army and the British army would have worn and used. They even demonstrated their rifles and guns by shooting a round or two.  It was very loud and K was not amused!  She spent the entire time during  this demonstration with her hands over her ears!

The fly past by the Dakota bomber was not due to occur until the afternoon, so as it was about lunch time, we decided that we would walk back down the alternative route, taking in St Marys church where Anne Bronte is buried and have something to eat in town, then return back to the Castle for the Battle demonstration and the subsequent fly over of  the Dakota.  J had wanted to watch the Spitfires but they were due to be part of the flyover until the day after.  As we made our way back into town, we passed a newly married couple who wanted their photo taken with two of the soldiers in uniform, so we took a quick snap of the happy couple as well!

Lunch over, we slowly made our way back the same way and this time we paid a visit to St Marys church as they had a flower arrangement display that day. Following that, we retraced our steps up to the castle. We were just in time for the start of the enactment of Operation Biting  where the British took a very important Radar from the Germans.  It was very thrilling to watch as they took the Germans completely by surprise and although the Germans gathered and retaliated they did capture the radar equipment.  This re-enactment was then followed by the fly past of the Dakota, and we were all waiving like mad at the pilot every time he went over our heads.

He actually flew overhead three times before disappearing into the distance. I was stopped by one of the local newspaper reporters who wanted to ask me some questions about the display and what had I thought of it all, and I willingly answered all his questions. There were obviously quite a few pressmen there, you could tell by their very expensively equipped cameras, and as J had been asking about the lens’s that some of them had, I asked one of them just how much his lens had cost.  Can’t remember just how much he said but it was into the thousands. I felt quite insignificant snapping away with my little Samsung!

 Following the fly past, we made our way back into the town, this time taking the path which brings you out at the North end where the rides all are. We took a very nice promenade walk along the walkway to the lighthouse. By now I was in my t-shirt as it was quite warm, in fact I hadn’t worn my raincoat for quite some time. Thank goodness for K and her roomy backpack is all I can say!  She manages to stuff sweatshirts, raincoats, drinks, cameras, everything but the kitchen sink, and it certainly comes in handy on our day trips!

Of course before we made our way home, I had to have my obligatory Knickerbocker Glory from the ice cream parlour and K had her usual chocolate sundae.  Then we had a ride up on the cable ride to the top and by this time all the shops were shut.  We had plenty of time before our train was due to depart, so K and J had some tea in McDonalds  (I didn’t feel hungry, but K gave me some of her chips and a bite of her McChicken sandwich, J on the other hand gave me nothing, ) then we slowly made our way back to the station feeling a little bit footsore by now!   Hmm, we must have walked about six miles in total today I thought to myself as we sat down on the platform bench to wait for our trains arrival.  Whilst at the WW2 display, we had bought a bottle of blackberry wine to share on the journey home, and it really made an enjoyable end to a perfect day, in fact, K and I became quite giggly!

“We’ll certainly sleep well tonight!” I said to K as we piled into bed after landing home, and we did!  My head hadn’t hit the pillow before I was asleep.  A perfect day out.  Full album below.

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TG

Yes everyone, before you all jump to the conclusion that I have finally flipped completely, I am fully aware that today is Sunday and this post is all about Friday, rendering it two days late, but we were away for the entire day yesterday and I couldn’t post about our successful search for a bag and a small trolley suitcase for my upcoming trip up to Scotland, so although it is now two days later here is my tale.

Friday turned out to be another repeat of Thursday weather wise, raining in the morning and then brightening up later. We waited for it to stop raining and the clouds to diminish before we made our way down the cat steps to catch the bus to Huddersfield. We began our search for a ‘crossover’ bag of a decent size in Peters, and then proceeded onto TKMaxx for a look around there. I did find one in TKMAxx that seemed suitable for my rather strange  demanding tastes, but it was as expensive as the previous one in Harveys that I refused to buy for that very reason the day before!

So we continued our search by moving on to British Home Stores but they had nothing at all suitable. They did have a small trolley suitcase though and they were in the sale, so I bought the smallest size. We looked at the ‘bag lady’ in the closed market. Nothing. By this time I was beginning to sag at the seams.  Following a quick dinner in Burger King, we were planning to catch a bus to H and get the expensive one from Harveys (on K’s insistence, I was actually all for giving up and going back home.)

As we were walking up the street, we had to pass Peters again. Something made me decide to enter once more and have another look around. I saw a large black bag with crossover strap on a sale display so we moseyed over to take a closer look. Hmm, this is nice I thought, but why didn’t I notice this bag when we were in the shop previously?  Price? £41.30! Cripes!

“It’s a Jane Shilton bag” the assistant stated as she wrapped up my guilty purchase. That was the explanation given to me when I admitted that I had never spent that sort of money on a bag before. (In fact, my usual bags cost about a £10 at the most!) and of course I  am no handbag designer expert, so I didn’t have a clue who Jane Shilton was. Hmm, I thought to myself, paying that sort of money for a bag, knowing how careful I am would probably result in my not using it at all for fear of some ‘Jane Shilton exclusive’ bag collector was suddenly going to pounce and make off with it!

Armed with my new bag and my new trolley suitcase, we made our way up to Sainsbury’s for K to grab some food (as usual) and finally we made our way to the bus station for the bus home.

“I shan’t be able to sleep tonight” I informed my youngest son who visited us that evening. “My conscience won’t let me after spending all that money on a bag!” 

We had an early night following my spending spree in preparation for our day out in Scarborough on Saturday for a World War 2 day at Scarborough Castle, and funnily enough I seem to have lost my conscience because as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep!  Blog about our day out later.

TG

The storm clouds blew over, the blue sky appeared, the sun began to shine so off went the two troubadours to do some shopping. We visited Matalan as stated for my pack of Sloggies, then I enjoyed being whisked into town in J’s open topped new car where I laughed to myself at how ironic it was that two hours ago we had been gazing out of our flat window at the rain bucketing down, and now here we were riding with the roof down in the glorious sun! (mind you I was relegated to the back seat as usual by K, and when J lowered the roof it hit me on the head!)

She dropped us off outside Marks and Sparks as she was sure they had a sale on. It turned out that they didn’t but I managed to get three t-shirts for £5 each. So, so far we had only made purchases for me! Wow!  Is K slipping up? We paid a visit to the local Tesco’s for something for tomorrows dinner, as needs must come first dear readers and you all know by know what K’s priority is! On exiting Tesco’s we then made our way through the indoor market in search of a bag.

Nothing caught my eye as  all the larger ones did not have long enough straps to enable being worn across , so we continued on up to BonMarche. I noticed a sudden quickness in K’s walking pace. Hmm, what could be afoot? As soon as we entered the shop she made a bee line for the jogging tops and trousers, and when she couldn’t find what she wanted, marched off to ask an assistant for help. She does things like this completely without my assistance. The assistant found her a top and then we found some matching bottoms so whilst she tried those on in the changing rooms, I found her a white top to go with the jogging suit. 

She now has another jogging suit to add to her collection. That’s one of each colour. Black, Navy Blue and Fawn. I think that we can all conclude  that K likes these jogging suits! As it was only a short walk up to Harveys from the BonMarche shop, we decided that we would take a quick look in there at the bags just to see if they had any suitable.

Hmm. Well, Harveys is not exactly a cheap shop, and yes, I did see one that was suitable, trouble was the price! £69.00d for a bag!  I mean, I know I am very particular  when it comes to bags, but there is no way would I consider paying that sort of money for a bag!  It was nice though, and of course K stated the usual as she always does when I see something that I would  like but consider it too expensive, “Oh, go on, buy it Mum! My treat! Its your Christmas/birthday/bank holiday Monday/ present!  Go on!  treat yourself!”

It wouldn’t take long for us two to be penniless if I was to take any notice of my daughter!

So that’s it! Some Sloggies for moi plus three Marks and Sparks t-shirts, and another jogging suit for K with a new t-shirt. As for the bag, well, there’s always tomorrow if the sun shines and British Home Stores!

TG

Well the plan was to go down to exercise class, exercise like there’s no tomorrow, then whizz off to out nearest Matalan for some new clothes, and additionally  conduct a search around town for a new bag for me.  This plan has now been thoroughly scuppered by the downpour ensuing outside our window.

Quickly glancing at the weather forecast for our area it looks hopeful for this afternoon, so K is grasping onto the hope that this proves correct and we can then participate in her next favourite thing to eating, namely spending money.  In true fashion she insists that the whole expedition is to buy me some new Sloggies and other bits and bats, when of course we all know who will end up with new jeans, new top, new jogging suit ….. 

Now if the weather forecast for later today is correct, we will be moseying off to our nearest Matalan, and I shall return here with the full list for your perusal of our entire purchases. I want all my dear readers to note how many items are actually for me (which is according to K the reason for our shopping trip) and how many are for her.

Hmm, never thought I would thank the rain for saving me money!

TG

Yesterday we had another really cram packed day. It was the day of the  CREW Spring Fayre, and one of our members G is a Psychic reader. He also tells you your fortune via Tarot Cards, reading your Palm and he is also  a Reiki Master Healer. For the Spring Fayre, G was conducting Tarot Card readings for £10.

I have never had my fortune told. I have always wanted to have my fortune told, so I booked a Tarot reading with G for 13.00pm. I was a little sceptical for many reasons, and not because I don’t believe in such things, but more because he doesn’t look like anything you imagine as being a Spiritual person. In fact reading his bio on the flyer afterwards, he has been on the radio and television and studied at the College of Psychic Studies in Kensington.

He admitted to me that he had ‘formed an opinion’ about me from meeting me in the exercise classes. He held in his hand a crystal. He asked me to shuffle the Tarot cards. They were rather too large for my hands. Then he dealt them out in groups of three, some down one side, some down the other and some in the middle.

Then he proceeded to tell me about my past, my present and finally my future. He described what type of person I am, that I have had an unhappy life in the past, that I am strong and a fighter, that there have been many things that I could have done but for one reason or another didn’t manage to do, that he could see me as a supervisor or a manager, and regarding the future, that I should do what my instincts tell me to do and follow it through as I will make a big success out of it.

I have missed opportunities because I put others first, (he did say I needed to ‘do my own thing, and go my own way’.)  He also hinted of another relationship in the future. He admitted that the persona he had imagined I was from the exercise classes was nothing like the persona that he now saw in the Tarot cards, and he was genuinely surprised at this. All he told me was exactly right. His advice to me is to forget the past, stop living in it, move on to a new bright future where I have to take those opportunities and do those things that I want to do, and carry out my ideas because I will be successful.

He also noted that I am generous, a family person, and that I love to help others. All in all, I was very impressed and actually I might ask him to read my palm as well at some later time.

K had to sample the barbeque of course and had a burger, she also had a go at hooking the shark where she won some sweets which she promptly gave away again to A for her children, then we had to leave in order to dash over to Leeds Railway station (I am seriously considering K and I set up a tent complete with sleeping bags on platform 12) where I booked my tickets for my forthcoming planned  trip up to Scotland for my eldest sons 40th birthday.

I will be up there just for the weekend unfortunately, as he returns to work on the Tuesday, and so he would not be available to take me to the station in Glasgow and it is a fair distance from where they live.  K will be in respite that week, and I will be catching the through train from Leeds to Glasgow (which ironically will have come from Penzance, talk about rubbing my nose into it!) and  I will then return on the Monday.  I would have liked to have stayed until Wednesday, but there you go, beggars can’t be choosers.

TG  So another dashing all over Yorkshire day! Oh and my bag strap broke AGAIN! Will have to look for another one as this is the third time now, and I am getting really rather fed up with it. What is it with me and bags?

Seacroft Hospital. Leeds

I meant to post this yesterday evening after getting back, but I was so tired and fed up that I just couldn’t muster up the effort to do so, so here is my account of yesterday, a day late.

Because we had to go over to Leeds for K’s dental appointment, we attended the earlier Exercise session which began at 10.30am. Luckily as it turned out, the instructor for this class isn’t as demanding as our usual one, and we emerged about 11.30am with still some energy to spare, well K did, I was already beginning to flag at the thoughts of the journey we needed to make later.

We had our dinner in Tesco’s, I had steak pie (and had to leave all the pastry by wheedling out of it all the beef) and K had Chicken Tikka  Masala with rice. We did have a few bits and bobs to buy (well K has to make sure she is stocked up on food even if it means we have to carry it with us all around Yorkshire)  and following that we walked down to the bus stop to catch the X6 limited stop to Leeds.

Now as is usual whenever I am embarking on a journey to somewhere I have never been before, I had previously been on the West Yorkshire Metro site, inputted our journey and then printed out the subsequent route planner containing buses to catch, routes to walk, connections to make etc. We were (according to the planned journey) supposed to be catching the 13.03pm X6 which would then deposit us at stand G1 in the Leeds bus station at 1405pm  where we had to then just mosey over to the next bay and catch the 56 bus to the Seacroft Hospital at stand G2.  Easy peasy!

Funnily enough the actual X6 we caught was the previous one which was obviously running late. We boarded it at 12.55am, and actually landed in the Leeds bus station more or less the stated time but not at stand G1. There wasn’t a stand G1, or G2, or any G’s to be seen.  All the bus stand numbers were now completely different and we only had 10 minutes in which to find this 56 bus. I quickly grabbed K’s hand and we rushed down to the bus stations Information Centre where a  young man gave me instructions regarding whereabouts the 56 bus departed from.

“You need to go out of the bus station from the bottom door, then cross the road to the Playhouse, and the 56 bus stand is right outside.” I quickly thanked him, and off we went. Hmm. Trouble was the ‘road’ was a very busy dual carriageway, and we had to use the ‘green man’ crossings to get across to the other side. Eventually and after seeing one bus go hurtling past (I do hope they are frequent I thought) we made it to the correct bus stand where a man and lady were also waiting for the same bus to take them to the same hospital.

Eventually on arrival at the hospital and after getting directions from the hospital porter K saw her dentist at last.  We were only in there about 20 minutes. She has two wisdom teeth which he is a little bit concerned about, one hasn’t come through yet, but the other is so far back in her mouth that he couldn’t  even see it clearly with his mirror, but he could tell that K wasn’t cleaning it properly. He stated that she would have to take care to try and clean it thoroughly so that it wouldn’t decay, and the other one also gave him concern because he thinks that her back tooth might be getting in the way of it fully emerging.  He discussed taking them both out and will therefore have an X ray done of K’s mouth in September when we are due to return. Thankfully he thinks they will by then be reinstated in their usual place in the Leeds Dental Teaching hospital in the city centre.

We had an uneventful journey back, made our way from the bus station to the train station, I bought a Senior Railcard so that I can go up to Scotland without K if need be, then we went into McDonalds for our tea and finally caught the train home. By the time I placed the key in the lock of our flat it was about 18.10pm, and I was just about ready to collapse. Hopefully we shouldn’t have to make that trek again and luckily the threatened rain had held off all day which was a blessing. I dunno, I think that I must be getting too old for all this traipsing about malarkey!

TG 

Our new bus station is now officially open!  It opened this Sunday 11th May. Those horrible temporary stands that we all shivered beneath this winter  have now been demolished as well and everything's back to normal……….or is it?   You must be all dying to know whether or not we long suffering passengers were all invited to a slap up party with wine, buffet, and showered with gifts to thank us all for enduring the worst winter for 15 years in those measly open temporary shelters?  Did the Metro management come and shake our hands whilst presenting our oldest and frailest residents with diplomas for surviving it all without dying of Hyperthermia?  And more importantly, were we all thanked for surviving eight  whole months of that ‘trumped up, bullying, full of himself’ idiot that they put in charge of ‘helping passengers during the changes’’ but who did nothing of the sort, instead just spending the entire time bellowing at anyone who dared to run across the road at the wrong place when their bus was in and ready to set off without them?  Was any public acknowledgement made to any of us about how patient and tolerant we had all been during the upheaval?  Well?  Read on dear readers, read on!

K and I didn’t even bother to attend the ‘official opening’ so disgusted and annoyed are we at the entire monstrosity that has emerged as our lovely little towns new Bus station.  Children are now asking their mothers if they can go for a ride on it. yes I did say ON IT.   Travel through our town via the dual carriageway and you could be forgiven for thinking you were passing  Blackpool pleasure beach.  But all this would be forgiven if the end result had the passengers welfare and well being at its heart.

For example, does it  contain in its capacious spacial interior any toilets in case a passenger needs to urgently relieve themselves as they wait patiently for their bus?  Answer in one word, NO.  We are obviously not deemed worthy of such consideration of our personal needs. There are two ‘mysterious’ rooms at the far end, but what they are for we can only hazard a guess.  Probably as a recovery room for passengers awaiting the ambulance as they faint from heat exhaustion. (for full explanation of this remark, read on)  There will also have to be a resident nurse installed in there in a few weeks time for the same reason.  But the biggest gripe for the poor long suffering bus users of this little town is this, that the whole building, huge and long as it is provides just fifteen seats in total. Yes folks, you read that correctly, 15 seats in the whole bus station!  In the top half we have a total of nine, three alongside three separate stands, and in the lower half, the poor passengers waiting at the two remaining stands have been provided with just a total of six.

Now I know that probably the average height of residents in this small town might be said to be slightly smaller than the rest of the  country’s average height, but honestly!  I don’t know how many millions this Bus Station has cost in total, but 15 seats!  Told you the planner had it in for someone who lives here in our town didn’t I?   So now we are all stood moaning and complaining about the lack of provided seats and all that wasted space. (well that is if someone has beaten you to the three seats available at your particular stand, and already if you happen to be lucky enough to bag a seat, you are on the receiving end of some rather nasty looks)  I’m surprised that fights haven’t already broken out amongst the older generation!

On enquiring of the resident ‘know it all supervisors’  as to why we have only been provided with the barest minimum of seating, we are told that they couldn’t afford to put anymore in!  ( Yes dear readers, HE is still here unfortunately, pacing up and down taking great delight in not only bossing us passengers about, but now also directing the bus drivers as to which new stand they should pull in at, and he has been joined by another one who seems to speak an entirely different language to the rest of us as you can’t tell a word he says, so looks like we are lumbered with HIM permanently) 

Luckily so far the younger Bus station users seem to have taken to parking their backsides along the ample window ledges (which luckily are just wide enough for a small backside to park on, but would obviously be no good to us older travellers with much ampler proportions!)  However, whether or not they will be quite happy to continue this mode of seating all through the summer when the windowsills  will no doubt reach temperatures in excess of 150% Fahrenheit is entirely a different matter, and I can visualise some very nasty hospital trips with burnt posteriors taking place shortly.  (The Bus station resident nurse to be will be kept busy no doubt, good job the ambulance station isn’t far away as well!)

I am just waiting for the towns resident skateboarders to move in, I expect them anytime now, as the result of the  ‘can’t afford more than 15 seats’ policy has now left the bus station with huge empty areas just right for some serious skateboarding.  They will probably whizz up and down trying to make the automatic doors at each end open and shut as they whizz past.  And mentioning the windows as I did in the previous paragraph, remember in my post about how we had endured this last freezing winter stood in those open stands?  Sheltering behind one another?  Well guess what?  This summer, which now that we have our new fully enclosed super duper big dipper Bus station, will no doubt turn out to be  the hottest on record ensuring that we will all end up fainting with heat exhaustion!  The  ambulance service might as well be provided with a bay of their own in anticipation of the towns bus passengers suffering heat stoke.  Why?  Because the entire Bus station is entirely all glass from nearly the floor to the very top.  Already it feels like you are stood in a greenhouse and temperatures so far have not really been all that high!  As soon as the sun puts in an appearance the internal temperature soars.

What have we poor residents of this small town done wrong to Metro that we deserve to be plunged from one extreme of temperature to the other?  Why haven’t we been provided with ample seating?  We do have an elderly population here, we aren’t all school age, teen age or middle age?  Is someone trying to completely empty this town of bus users?  If so they are definitely going the right way about it!  So now after surviving the winter, we have to survive the hot house that the Bus station will become this summer.

Hmm. That gives me an idea!   We could grow tomatoes in tubs in the spaces afforded by the ‘let the so and so’s stand ’ policy!   We could turn it into a thriving town business!  There’s certainly room for a couple of stalls in there!   And as the children are all wanting rides on the Bus station roof now, we can charge for that as well!

Its nickname by all the local residents?  The Big Dipper, and I don’t think you’ll be at all surprised.  Will we all survive this summer by using it is my main concern.

TG   P.S As an Addendum to this post it cost £2.38 million pounds!

On Saturday we went for one of our walks with Crew.  We were again offered  a lift by R to where the walk was to begin in Mirfield and we all met up in the car park.  Everyone then had to decide what they were going to order for our lunch in the pub after the walk, I ordered Roast Turkey and Yorkshire pudding (which of course I wouldn’t be able to eat, wheat, gluten etc) and K ordered Beef Lasagne and chips.  D then rang the public house and put the whole order in so that it would then  be cooked ready for us when we all piled into the pub at the end of the walk.

That accomplished we all set off.  It was a beautiful day weather wise, not too warm (you soon get warmed up walking!) and everyone was in very good spirits.  K hooked up with R’s wife rather than walk with me (she is no fool, she hates my speed of walking and would rather stroll at a more leisurely pace hand in hand with anyone who will take the time to listen to her, as usually from the beginning of the walk to the end she usually never stops talking, which really explains why her pace is always so slow as she hasn’t seemed to conquer the ability to walk AND talk at the same time! )

Luckily for her the others don’t seem to mind her clinging on to them for the duration of the walk, if they did she would have to walk with me and stay silent whilst keeping up or alternatively  I would have to slow to a snails pace as usual.  The other members  have told me to walk ahead and not worry about her staying with them as she tells them her life history, and although I don’t really like doing this R has said ‘Look these walks are to help you relax, give you a break, so we don’t mind taking her off your hands whilst you walk on ahead.’

Of course there is also the photograph taking that I love to do along the way as well, and as K (and her current listener) are usually some way behind me, it does give me the chance to take pictures of her coming towards me in the distance.  Strangely enough as we reached the end of the walk (and therefore began nearing  the public house where we were to consume our meal) K suddenly decided to abandon her ever patient escort and sprang into quite a swift speed of walking (all thoughts of talking or any loyalty to her patient listener now obviously forgotten  as she had a different goal in mind!)  where she actually passed me at one point!  And I took a picture to prove it!

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It’s funny how peaceful it all seems when you walk along a canal or waterway.  We are going to take a canal boat ride later in the year, and we saw the basin where we will all be meeting up to climb aboard the narrowboat, but that won’t be until September.  By the time we reached the pub we were all ready for our meal.  A table had been reserved for us, and the meal was absolutely delicious and one of the best that we have had so far, and we were all agreed about that.  The waitresses were attentative and the meal itself really good.  The wine that K and I had went down well too, so much so that we ended up having quite a few glasses of it and exited the pub feeling quite tipsy!  It was in a small bottle (about two glasses full) and was a White Zinfandel Californian wine by Stowells. (Although funnily enough it wasn’t white but rosy, well unless I was more tipsy than I thought!)  We enjoyed it so much that we are trying to get our hands on some but neither Tesco’s nor Sainsbury’s in town sell it.

We all returned to the car park and were soon back home where both of us went for an afternoon sleep! Hmm.  I am beginning to think that these walks might not be quite so healthy for us after all!

TG   

Thought I would relate our happenings today as most of it has been quite hilarious but have  also concerned me having one of those days where everything I do seems to go wrong.   It began by being quite funny when I asked our resident shopper and chooser of meal menu K  (in other words the boss) what we would  be having for dinner.

“Oh that Pork Mum with the apple sauce” so I duly took them out (they being Loin steaks) to defrost before we returned from going to pick up my repeat prescription from the surgery in town.  Then it suddenly occurred to me that this was actually the second time this week that we were having Pork for dinner.  Hmm.   Coincidence?

As we left the flat I remarked about this to K.  “We seem to be having a lot of Pork this week K, is it because of the Swine flu?”  to which she replied “ Don’t know Mum,  Baaaa! “  I was nearly on the floor with laughing.  Then the day continued to slowly deteriorate as these days tend to do when you are unfortunate to  have one, in that everything began to go wrong.  I picked up my repeat prescription from the doctors and took it to the Pharmacy.   It was fairly busy as usual. “There’s a 15 minute wait!”  the assistant said.   I said we would wait.  About 5 minutes later she shouted my name out.  My prescription hadn’t been signed by the doctor!   So I had to quickly dash up to the Surgery to get it signed. (Good job it is right next door!)    That is the first time ever that this has ever  occurred to me.    K didn't  budge whilst I dashed back into the surgery  by the way, remaining firmly fixed to one of the chairs provided in the Pharmacy.

Next we were just about to make our way to the bus station when K remembered we needed some money from the cash point machine as we are going on one of the Crew walks along the canal tomorrow and of course we will need some ready cash for all that food we will no doubt consume after our healthy calorie losing walk.  (Note here dear readers what a brilliant memory K has whenever the outcome entails either spending, drinking copious amounts of wine or eating.)  There were two people using the cash machines as we arrived and we only had 5 minutes before the bus was due to depart!  Just as it came round to being  my turn, the blasted cash machine ran out, so I had to wait until the other person had finished!   Hmm.   Again that doesn’t often happen to me!  This day was turning out to be ‘One of those days when you wish you had stayed in bed days’ that we all seem to get now and again.

Arrived home and later I began cooking the dinner.   At the same time I stupidly began trying to compose my other blog which entailed some messing around with one or two of my panoramic pictures stored online.   I had completely forgotten that since getting older (well since turning 50 actually, no, I tell a lie, more like after 40 or was it 30?) I have completely lost that wonderful ability that most females seem to  possess of being able to multitask!   Suddenly I smelled burning and dashed into the kitchen to find the carrots nicely blackening and sticking to the none stick pan!    Oh well, luckily  I did manage to salvage most of them.   Hopefully there won’t be any more mishaps as K wants me to make some Chocolate Heaven sundaes for tea, that is as long as those chocolate raisins haven’t disappeared into the wide blue yonder since I last checked the cupboard!

If your wondering what these are they are our version of the giant Sundae that someone treat K to on our walk to Wainhouse Tower.  Difference being that as we have no proper sundae glasses in our possession, they will be smaller versions in plastic champagne glasses.  And here’s a picture of the finished Sundaes before being devoured. (Don’t ask how many calories, I am trying not to count!)

TG      P.S.   I bet K is thinking that if we eat lots of Pork we’ll  develop some sort of immunity to the Swine flu!