Saturday 28^th February 2015

Difficulty in getting to sleep again last night. Tsk!

Got up later than usual and made a cuppa and pot of porridge then took me medications.

WC’d.

Cloudy and gloomy this morning – and the weathers the same. Hehe!

Laptop on and did some work on me blog.

Must get the things sorted for the Nottingham Hospice shop in a bit.

Did a bit of Facebooking and WordPress reading.

WC’d.

Eventually I found me hearing-aids in me cap on top of the burnt-out cooker in the kitchen.

Polished myself up and got ready to go for a walk to the Nottingham Arboretum being as the weather looked okay – windy but not cold with it at all. Feed the mallard ducks their earthworms and the pigeons their seeds and bit of bread like, as well as get some exercise to Arthur Itis’s joints. Hehe!

The sky looked alright as I set off.

Not many folk about this morning.

I slipped the local pigeons some seed as I walked through the twitchell onto Mansfield Road and started me limp along Mansfield Road.

As I approached the junction and traffic islands near the Forest Recreation ground: Wait for it…

“I saw a bicyclist cycling on the road and not pavement – honestly!”

I took his photo to prove it!I was so shocked I nearly got hit by a car as I crossed the road.

Further up on the hill up to the cemetery I espied an ambulance parked up with its blues going – so I increased me walking speed to 2 m.p.h. to investigate before it disappeared.

As I walked passed their was also a Paramedics car in the side road, and they were packing up the defibrillator stuff.

No idea what happened of course, the ambulance men were talking to three young lads.

I crossed the road and up the hill the sky was not looking as friendly as it did earlier.

Still not many folk around.

Hobbled up to the traffic light junction and turned right then left down North Sherwood Street down through the students accommodation quarter to the East entrance into the Arboretum.

I entered and walked down to the famous Muggers Tunnel into the Arboretum proper.

Took a photograph from the end of the tunnel hoping to catch a bit of atmosphericalisation in it.

Quite pleased with the result for once.

There is a photographer name of Paul Militaru who posts some of the most amazing shots on WordPress – I’ve sort of made his standard me target – a bit hopefully I know.

But even using only me Cannon digital camera I do like it the odd time one comes out as I’d planned and hoped for like what this one of the end of the tunnel into the Nottingham Arboretum did… ish…

As I walked down through to the lake/pond at the bottom of the site, I tried to catch a squirrel or two as I like the challenge (Even the many failures) of trying to capture them.

But today they were very scarce for some reason.

I enjoyed feeding the ducks and pigeons while chatting merrily away to them – much to the amazement of those few folk that were around me.

I must say the mallards and the pigeons were a lot plumper here in the Arboretum than the poor things on the canal.

Next time methinks I’ll got to the canal and feed those instead, a much more needy case I reckon.

In the Aviary they had started to show some birds again – Parakeets of some type, but they had not put up the usual descriptive signs yet.

I tried to take a decent photograph of the Parakeets (If that is what they were) in the cages but this one is the best I could manage.

I was tempted momentarily to throw them some seeds – but thought better of it to be on the safe side I thought. Because I didn’t know if they would agree with them.

TFZer friend Richard Johnson will let me now I hope.

I moved down to the exit gates near the keepers lodge and walked slowly into the City Centre along the tram route then into Trinity Square.

There was a temporary mini-market being held in the square, second world war based/themed.

They was a few stalls and someone singing second world war songs on a temporary stage. (Not very well mind! She was more interested in selling stuff to the few Nottinghomians that had gathered).

An uphill battle there I thought.

One stall had some original stuff from the 1940’s on sale though they were heavily priced and the wise tight Nottinghomians were having none of it while I was there.

I noticed the ‘Le Petie Four’ cafe was doing better today – five customers in at the same time.

I tried to translate it on the web (‘Le Petie Four’). It told me it meant ‘The Small Oven’. Over to Cyber-pal Lynton Cox for confirmation?

I wandered down to the bus stop, making sure I’d got me bus-pass with like.

On the way I took a photograph of the Nottinghomians crossing the lights on red again.

The three lads having just crossed against the light were not impressed with me photographicalisationing at all.

I moved down to the bus stop and caught one back to Carrington.

En route I remembered I’d forgotten the Nottingham Hospice Charity shop stuff – and I also had forgotten to get some milk.

So I got off the bus a stop early and called into Lidl in Carrington.

Got some kitchen towels, bird seed and milk. And the lady on the till must have been new, because she didn’t get irritated when I fundled with me arthritic hands to pay her – and she didn’t sneer at me either. Shook me that did!

Poddled back to the dump and WC’d.

Started the laptop, made a cuppa, passed wind and updated this diary.

Then made a flask of tea – spilling boiling water on me left hand. Huh!

I plan to have the last of me beef slices later, with some tinned potatoes and garden peas but by then who knows? The world is my oyster when it come to choosing between a beef slice pasty or some slightly out-of-date frankfurters yer know?

Hey-ho.

The rumbling innards seem to on the wane today, and to that hurrah!