Thursday, 8 August 2013

Ravensthorpe Walk


Mam and I went for a walk yesterday around Ravensthorpe reservoir. We used to come here loads, but neither of us had been in a long time.

Here's some photos. If you click on them they should enlarge - especially good for these panoramics.

On the Bridge

The Old Water Pump

Other Side of the Lake

Walking down the hill.

Slug!

In the woods.

Crossing the bridge.

The old pump house.

Canada Geese

Boats

Caterpillar!

Miscanthus grass, grown for eco-fuel.

Pretty cottage in Coton
 

Sunflower
Sunset

It was really nice, and we ended up in the pub for a pint with friends.

Also went back to the New Inn at Long Buckby the other day for another pint of draft Hobs.



We were visiting Aunty Heron, who was up preparing Celia for her tri-annual MOT.



Walking to the boat, we passed another one which was actually called Heron!  It had a rather unfortunate sign in the window...

Heron
 

Watching boat approaching lock from the comfort of pub.

Also worthy of note this week is the croque-monsieur that mam made for breakfast the other day. Best breakfast ever? Quite possibly.


It's Pirate's Day at my nephew's sailing club on Saturday. Expect funny photos to follow...

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Somewhere Beyond the Sea...


Yesterday was a great big train wreck of a work day. Just about everything and anything that could have gone wrong went wrong, from early in the morning until the final e-mail at eleven at night. I woke up in a stressy mood, which must have been a premonition of things to come. Something must be in retrograde.

Things perked up a bit in the middle, though.

Finally managed to grab a breather and high tailed it down to the sailing club just in time for our friends David and Harry to take me out for a spin in my nephew's boat, Frisky.

It was my first ever time sailing, and I must admit, as fun as it was, it isn't really my thing. It looks so much more relaxing than it actually is. It would be relaxing if you weren't constantly worrying about getting knocked out by the boom, or switching places to 'come about'. It's actually fairly hard work. 

Though I will admit it's fun when the wind picks up and you're skimming across the surface at a 45° angle to the water. That's pretty cool. Think I prefer my kicks with four legs, though.


Frisky

Or four wheels. Look what someone parked outside! It's a Lea-Francis, and my new obsession. I don't ever recall seeing one before, not even at Hollowell Rally. I always thought of myself as a Bentley kinda gal, or perhaps a classic MG, but I must admit this was hard to walk past.




Talking of driving, Mum's mister left for Germany at 6am this morning. His radio's broken, so I took pity and packed him off with a couple of albums, including a random eclectic playlist which runs as follow:

Shuffle - Bombay Bicycle Club
Taste of Rum - Peatbog Faeries
Break My Stride - Bluelagoon
Bring Me Your Cup - UB40
You Can Be The Boss - Lana Del Rey
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Strong Enough - Sheryl Crow
Smoke And Ashes - Tracy Chapman
Should I Stay Or Should I Go - The Clash
Seven Army Nation - The White Stripes
Rhythm Of Love - Plain White T's
Ray Charles - Chiddy Bang
Rainbow Stone - Fresh Body Shop
Life - Bob Andy
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker - Sandi Thom
I Got Rhythm Remix - from Take the Lead
Gypsy - Susan Vega
Go Outside - Cults
Get Your Rocks Off - Primal Scream
Forget You - Cee Lo Green

It was fun picking through my playlist trying to select tracks he might like.

Happy to think of him invading mainland Europe with those tunes.

Thursday, 1 August 2013

Lughnasadh


Very strange yesterday morning. Woke up at 5:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. Took a photograph of the sunrise as evidence. Two friends posted that they had both been up unusually early: 5:13 and 5:40. Weird.

Also woke from a dream about horses, and one of my best mates said she also dreamed of me riding a beautiful horse that night. Must be suffering withdrawals - missing Simon.

Despite the lack of sleep and an ungodly hangover, it turned into a lovely day. Met up with my mate Morgen, who incidentally set her alarm for 5:45 to give her housemate a lift to work. We spent the entire day hiding in the cinema. We watched Monsters University and then World's End.

Today, I made a little beer money ringing for a wedding in the village. Nearly dropped something at this beautiful reconditioned Daimler.




And took a funky picture of the main entrance to the church... with two giant cats inside.


We go in through the tradesman's entrance, round back.

Ringers' Entrance

Bells Up
Peephole View

One of the bridesmaids was an incredible violinist and did a couple of solos.

Lepers Window

Suffered for my art. First time I have ever managed to get rope burn in almost two decades of ringing. Still, the free champagne took the edge off.

Quite enjoyed myself. We played Queens, which is my favourite. Though it was really warm, and we were sweating a bit after half an hour of swinging these back and forth.

 

For more on bells, check out my ding-a-ling.

After that, I bundled my brother into the car and showed him the secret road down to the lake. Sean and Jim weren't home, but we spread our towels and took a lovely lazy swim.

He's taken some photos which I'll get up soon.

Then we headed down to Hollowell Sailing Club, where my nephew has just completed his summer sailing course, and is now on windsurfing. Having a wonderful time in the water, like last year.








My nephew, helping to carry a sail.

Rigging his boat for the race.

Setting sail (centre).

Going for one last dive-bomb before home.

Ready...

Steady...

Splash!
Ten years old and he's already an accomplished sailor. We've just acquired a boat, and I'm hoping he'll take me out in it before the week is out.

Our New Boat