We have just returned from another very enjoyable walk along the canal side with our friends from CREW. We all met up at the car park in town at 10.30am where firstly studied the provided Menu for our intended meal at the end of the walk, and made our choices for our lunch. That done, we all set off at a brisk pace by joining the canal towpath at the nearby bridge. It was an absolutely breathtaking day weather wise, blue skies, nice warm breeze, perfect conditions for an enjoyable hike along the canal in fact.

You will recall that K, J and I had already done this route some few weeks back when it was a lovely day where we went all the way along the towpath to Elland.  This time, the Crew group were not intending to go that far as we would need to return to where  everyone's cars were parked  and also return back to town where our lunch was booked.  Its a very enjoyable walk as there are some stunning views to the right as you walk along the canal where the woods cover the side of the hill. The plan was to walk up to opposite Park Wood and then turn around and make the return journey back to town.  As usual K attached herself to the nearest person that would allow her to hook up and have a natter with, whilst I spent the walk taking pictures and/or conversing with whoever happened to be walking nearest to me at the time. I love this part of the canal, with the river Calder on the left of you and the fishing lake and stunning wooded hillside on the right.

 We soon arrived at the turning point where the walk leader held a hasty discussion about whether or not we took a ‘detour’ route back or just simply returned the same route that we had just walked.  Most opted to go back along the towpath which we did, although we did decide to make a slight detour through the wooded area between the canal and the river. K had to stop and lean on me at one point when she got a stone in her shoe. As usual as we neared town on our return she suddenly ditched her latest escort and speeded past everyone in order to make a bee line for the pub where we were to have our lunch.

This was the The Old Ship Inn where we have enjoyed having a lunch following one of our walks before. Most of us had chosen to have the same meal, a delicious Chicken and Bacon Salad which we all really enjoyed. K was treated to a Chocolate Heaven dessert again by R  so I took some pictures of her devouring it at the table.  The meal was washed down with two glasses of White Zinfandel (me) and  a glass of White Zinfandel followed by half a shandy (K) When we had finished our meal,  R offered to run us home which elicited a sigh of relief from K as I had been toying with the idea of walking home, and she eagerly  accepted his kind offer. The meals in the Old Ship Inn are absolutely delicious and well worth partaking in, I thoroughly recommend paying it a visit if you ever happen to  find yourself making a visit to our  little town.  All in all, a wonderful and very enjoyable walk in beautiful weather, ending in a equally enjoyable meal. More pics available on flickr soon…..

TG   

On Saturday we set off for another visit to York. We had originally intended to visit Fountains Abbey near Ripon but as I couldn’t seem to find a way to get there via public transport, that idea had been quickly abandoned, and we decided to return to York which is one of our favourite venues for a day out. Besides which, K wanted to push J forward as a volunteer in the Yorkshire Dungeon when the lady torturer asked for someone to demonstrate all her torture equipment on. So I booked the tickets online and then picked them up on Friday from the FastTicket machine.

Saturday morning arrived, it was dull but warm, and we set off full of high spirits to catch the bus to take us to Huddersfield train station for our train to York. Our tickets were reserved on coach B, seats 31,32 and 36. The train arrived, we boarded coach B to find some people sitting in our allocated seats. There were no reservation cards in the seats either. Some gentleman sat opposite insisted that they too had reserved their seats but had to sit wherever they could! Huh? Excuse me! A reserved seat means that you are guaranteed to sit together in that particular seat! Someone obviously hadn’t done their job properly and you know me by now, I know my rights!

Leaving J (who had his ‘oh God no! My mothers starting again! She has her ‘thunder’ face on!) sat sheepishly in the first seat he saw, K and I marched down the train to find the conductor. He was in his room right at the end. I knocked and he came out and examined my tickets and the reservation numbers. “Come with me” he said. Hmm. How was he going to handle this delicate situation? Turf them out of our reserved seats? Or (as I secretly hoped) seat us in First Class?  We marched back up the train following him. He reached the folks sat in our reserved seats. Saw that there were no reservation tickets in the back. Asked me how many of us there were. Beckoned us to follow him and for my pains and complaints we ended up in spending the rest of the journey sat in First Class!  It was obvious what had happened. When a train arrives at the end of its journey and is cleaned and tidied for its return journey, all reservation tickets are usually placed in the correct holders at the back of each seat. Some dickhead had not done this.  So all those passengers with reserved seats who meekly got on the train and when they saw that someone was sat in their seats, they just sat elsewhere were idiots in  my opinion! Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the passengers fault who sat down in those seats, it was the fault of Transpennine Express staff not doing their job properly!

We soon arrived at York station after a very comfortable journey where J finally admitted that it paid to complain as he  had so enjoyed lowering his first class seat to reclining position and generally had made the most of our situation. Whilst K and I had a toilet break, he waltzed off for a smoke outside the station as he usually does, then we went and booked some tickets for York dungeon from the travel office. We then walked from the station towards the Minster, our first intended port of call. On the way there, we decided to take a walk around the Museum Gardens nearby where the ruins of an old hospital and Abbey are to be found. Here J made a firm friend of a squirrel. A kind lady gave him some cashew nuts to give to the squirrels and he then spent the next hour coaxing a squirrel to eat out of his hand whilst I took a picture of the whole proceedings! Meanwhile poor K had to just patiently wait.

Eventually after a lifetime of ‘clucking and coaxing’ with me trying to get a good picture, we left the park and continued on towards the Minster. If ever you visit York, you MUST take in York Minster. It is a sight to be seen, you can’t really do the building justice with your camera simply because you can’t get its vastness in one shot. We went inside and decided to partake of the ‘Do Everything’ visit which allows you to go up the  Central Tower, visit the Undercroft and the Crypts as well as the general walk around the vast Mister itself.  And it was here where I made my biggest mistake.  I must have left my brains outside because I completely forgot that K has bother with spiral staircases in ancient buildings. We were warned that the climb was not suitable for certain categories of people to take, namely anyone with breathing difficulties i.e hay fever (step forward youngest son who is chock a block with his hay fever) anyone with heart problems (cough!) or anyone who suffered vertigo or a fear of heights.

We began the ascent with K in front. 275 spiral steps. Most of them very steep and narrow. K bravely soldiered on with J behind her and myself bringing up the rear of our trio. At first it wasn’t too bad, but by the time we reached the half way point, which brings you out onto a small narrow walkway on one of the roofs of the Minster, K was beggared. She rested and had a drink. Then we began the last leg of the climb. Hmm. What had I been thinking of dragging poor K up here?  We plodded on.  Now I began to really panic because she came to a point where she said that she couldn’t go on and would have to go back. Of course we couldn’t do that because there were others behind us coming up and anyway there was no way that you could pass to go back down. J was brilliant here. He and I coaxed her to just take another step. ‘We’re nearly there!’ he kept telling her despite the fact that all you could see above your head was the continuation of spiral steps!

What sort of uncaring mother was I? How thoughtless to expect my poor Down’s Syndrome daughter to climb 275 spiral steps up the Central Tower of York Minster! I felt awful to be honest. Eventually we emerged at the top where there were seats provided, and K sat down with a drink and a well earned rest. The return journey down was absolutely no problem for her but it was with some relief to all three of us when we landed on terra firmer again I can assure you! My legs were so tired they were shaking as we made our way around the rest of the Minster. We had a short break outside before looking around the Undercroft (well a smoke break actually for J). K made friends with a huge St Bernard dog who she insisted was Beethoven. (from the film.)

By the time that we finally ended our tour of the Minster it was time for some dinner so we made our way to McDonalds and from there we then found our way to the York Dungeon. I couldn’t take any photographs in there but they have now introduced a new feature where you all get a photo taken as you start the tour of the Dungeon. One of you has to position yourself in the stocks whilst another pretends to be the executioner with the axe. So we all ‘hammed’ it up for this picture before negotiating the dungeon itself.  This time, K clung onto J instead of me as she went round. At the same time she had her hands over her ears so that she couldn’t hear the blood curdling screams. Again, i would encourage anyone visiting London, York or Edinburgh to visit the dungeons, it really is good fun. The staff in these places really do ‘ham it up’ as they walk about with pretend blood all over their faces, dishevelled hair, costumes and big stary eyes! J thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing!

By the time that we emerged from there it was about 16.00pm and we still hadn’t visited the Railway Museum! So we made our way back to the train station (the railway museum is right next door) so that I could check up on my beloved Flying Scotsman to see just what progress had been made. I was to be bitterly disappointed though as it turned out that it still looks exactly the same as it did last year on my last visit! They are now asking for more donations as replacing the boiler and all the other necessary work has cost a great deal more than envisaged previously. I will try and send something to help. It is supposed to be back doing the Scarborough run next year, but……………its not looking too good at the moment!

We had some tea. Well should I say K and J had a Burger King meal each sat on the platform at York waiting for our train home and I just had a cup of tea.  I did have a few of K’s chips and one or two of her chicken bites that she offered to me, as usual J offered me zilch. This despite the fact that we had bought him two t-shirts in York because the one that he was wearing had a hole under the armpit causing him to have to keep his jacket on in the heat of the day! It was quite pleasant sitting on the platform cooling down as we waited. Soon our train pulled in and we clambered on board.

The journey back was very uneventful. Our seats were this time correctly ticketed and reserved and J and K both nodded off for most of the journey, so I spent the entire time gazing out of the window at the lovely scenery. On arrival in Huddersfield, we walked up to the bus station and were soon home. Our legs were already beginning to ache. K took a shower as soon as she could, I had acquired a rather nice blister on my left foot which really was painful, but we had enjoyed a wonderful day. I was full of praise for K and how she had battled on up those stairs! Is she the only Downs Syndrome person to attempt and do that climb I wonder? Does she deserve a certificate of endeavour! You bet! More pictures HERE.

TG

</a></a> On the Monday morning the day of my imminent departure I was washed, dressed, breakfast eaten, tablets taken, everything checked and re-checked ready and waiting at 09.00am!  The grandchildren were also up and getting themselves ready for school and after their breakfast they bid me a fond farewell.  Hmm.  Now I was waiting around. Twiddling my thumbs until C and C were ready to take me to Glasgow railway station. I hate waiting but I tried to keep myself occupied.  After all I reasoned to myself, the journey up had gone without a hitch so what could possibly go wrong with the return journey?

We set off from my son’s house at roughly about 10.45am. As it turned out, it was a good job that they decided to allow extra time for the journey because when we hit Erskine Bridge, we became part of a traffic jam that seemed to go on and on for miles in front of us.  I was sat on the back seat trying vainly to keep myself calm and collected. We were reduced to a crawl.  My son kept trying to reassure me. “Don’t worry Mum, we have plenty of time.”

At last we reached the outskirts of Glasgow and finally pulled up and parked inside the station. I had intended to buy a magazine in W.H.Smiths to read on the long journey home, but as it was now 11.40am I decided to go and find the platform which my train was due to depart from first and as it was already in and you could board it, I did just that.  Of course my coach was the furthest down the platform right at the far end so we had to walk all the way down.  C carried my suitcase on for me and placed it in the luggage rack, and I was pleased to see that my reserved seat was right next to it thereby enabling me to keep my beady eye on my suitcase easily.

We said our fond farewells and C and C then departed because they could only park up in the station for free as long as it is only for 20 minutes. The train wasn’t particularly busy and there were plenty of empty seats on board.  At precisely 11.50am we set off. I had some drinks with me, but when the trolley arrived I bought a cup of tea. The journey across Scotland was fairly uneventful and we were soon pulling into Edinburgh.  Ahh, now the best part of the journey!  Down the East coast line!  Hmm, I was again sat on the opposite side of the coach to where the fantastic views of the coastline was to be seen out of the windows!  Oh well, I would just have to strain and look across!  No one came to sit next to me for the entire journey so I could place my bag on the seat beside me rather than have to have it on my lap which was nice, although a young man did sit in my seat when I made a quick visit to the toilet but he quickly vacated it on my return.

It was a very pleasant journey so far running through the beautiful countryside and looking over at the coastline on the left.  Eventually we reached Darlington.  As we were stopped at the station, the train manager gave out an announcement that there had been a ‘lightening strike’ at York causing massive signal failure, therefore we were ‘being held’ at Darlington for the time being. We must await further announcements. We must have been stationary there for about 15 to 20 minutes before we were informed that we had to move out of Darlington  Station to make way for other trains to arrive, and were therefore being diverted to another route until such time as the signalling problems were sorted out at York.  Hmm.  This meant that obviously I would miss my connection at York, but we were all assured by the train staff that all tickets (including Advance tickets) would be honoured because of course this was out of our control.

Funnily enough throughout all this Technogran remained remarkably calm!  No panic attack, no hyperventilating!  I remained unmoved by it all sat in my cosy seat by myself!  Wow!  What a difference from Friday when I had been like a cat on a hot tin roof!  So we moved out of Darlington and slowly travelled along until the next announcement over the tannoy proclaimed that we had no need to divert as the signal problems had now been fixed, so we then continued into York station.  As I alighted from the train there was a member of the station staff on the platform so I asked her where I could now catch the  next train to Leeds. She told me which platform to head for (over the concourse) but didn’t inform me that the train I subsequently boarded was the slow train to Leeds!  We must have stopped at every station from York to Leeds with the result that by the time I finally arrived at Leeds it was 17.10pm!

Blast!  Just in time for Leeds Railway station rush hour when everyman, woman and child in Yorkshire needs to leave Leeds by train!  Then everything deteriorated into a bit of a farce to be honest and really spoiled the whole journey.  On the platform there were at least a thousand passengers (slight exaggeration I know, but it seemed like that) waiting for our train which always consists of just two carriages only no matter what time of day it departs and how many passengers are likely to be boarding.  How much does it cost a train company to put on an extra carriage?  Or at peak times even employ two more carriages?  When the train pulled in it was a mad free for all and every man, woman and granny for themselves, and its at times like this that I HATE not looking my age!  Don’t forget, I was complete with suitcase to lug on board as well.  I stashed that in the luggage rack with the help of a very nice lady  who I had previously struck up a conversation with on the platform  whilst waiting for the train to arrive. (You really had no choice but to strike up a conversation with the person next to you because we were all stood waiting on the platform crammed next to each other like sardines in a tin,  AND she was from my home town, so it would have been very difficult not be become rather more chatty than one would normally!  Anyway we are by nature a talkative lot who reside in our town even without an excuse!)

Most of us were all having to stand it the aisle.  I glared at anyone sat down who was obviously younger than me. (So that meant just about everyone.)  We were already late as well. This train SHOULD have departed Leeds at 17.13pm hours.  Suddenly a member of the station staff poked her head into the train doors further down, said something to the passengers which were stood near the door. Word of mouth became very handy here or should I say Chinese whispers, because suddenly the passengers near to the door where she had appeared all began getting off the train!

What was going on?  ”We’re all on the wrong train!” someone said so  we all  informed one another by passing the message on, (nice of the staff to let us all know wasn’t it) and so I quickly grabbed my suitcase from the luggage rack and joined the milling throng scurrying along the platform to another waiting train further down (still only consisting of two carriages by the way)  Huffing and puffing with some curses thrown in for good measure, we all again repeated the process as before by packing ourselves onto this other train.  It then finally departed Leeds approximately 25 to 30 minutes late!  No announcement, apology or explanation was forthcoming either.  Hmm.  Leeds Station is getting rather lax of late in my opinion!

I didn’t manage to grab a seat until Dewsbury.  What an end to my Scotland visit!  Surely nothing else could go wrong?  WRONG!  On eventually arriving at our little station the heavens opened and it absolutely  poured down!  This is when I discovered to my horror that my ‘roll up’ raincoat is NOT waterproof!  I just might as well not have worn it for all the good it did. I was fed up by the time my suitcase and I rumbled into the town centre,  and one of the taxi guys spotted me struggling along pulling my suitcase and looking like a wet dishcloth, so he waited for me and I gratefully tumbled wet and bedraggled into the taxi for the ride home.  What a day!  I was exhausted by the time I entered the flat. I rang C to let him know that I had now reached home and also rang K as well.

It had been a wonderful few days up in Scotland seeing my eldest son and his family and visiting such wonderful places, but it was also nice to arrive home even if I had ended up soaking wet!

TG

Long Loch,Scotland

On the Sunday after our breakfast, my son informed me that he was taking me to see a Loch which surpassed any views that we had seen so far.

“Wait Mum until you see the scenery and views, its spectacular!” so we all piled into the car for the journey there. Again it was quite a drive, and reminded me very much of the drive we made last year when we went to Stirling Castle. Mountains and moors, the long and winding road but unfortunately the rain began to come down, and by the time that we reached Loch Long it was absolutely pelting down!

I took a few photographs by winding down the window of the car which wasn’t ideal and it really spoiled the visit somewhat. I was treating everyone (including C’s mum who we therefore needed to collect) to a meal at the Stonefield (some of you will no doubt remember me raving about this place on our last visit because we had a carvery meal where you could have as much as you wanted for just £3.50 or thereabouts)  As it was a Sunday the carvery was actually more expensive this time at about £6.50 per person, but still good value in my eyes.

A quick consultation and it was decided by my son and C that we would make our way to the Lomond Shores retail park at Ben  Lomond way where at least if it was still raining there was plenty to do and see, so we then set off to drive there. Funnily enough, by the time we reached it the rain had stopped and the sun  was shining! After parking the car, we all went to admire the view across the Loch and also spot all the fish swimming there.  Then I sauntered  over to a shoe and bag shop which was handily placed just behind where we were standing.  They had some lovely sandals outside in the sale and despite the fact that the size was stated to be only a 4, I could tell they would fit me. They had been reduced from nearly £40.00d to £19.99d. I tried them on and they fit me perfectly so I bought them as my other summer sandals are now on their last legs and have acquired some large holes in the soles.

Nearby were some trampolines with some ‘bungee jumping’ from them, so the grandchildren both went on there and we had a sit down and rest whilst we watched them. It became quite warm as the sun shone, and  I  had now seen first hand just how changeable  the weather can be around those parts of Scotland where my son and his family live. Soon it was time to leave so that we could go and collect C’s Mum and then journey to the Stonefield for our dinner.

By the time we reached the Stonefield and chose our meals, it was so warm that we all decided to sit outside at one of the tables to eat it. I had turkey for my dinner with lots of  vegetables and some new potatoes. It was delicious!  That was all washed down with some White Zinfandel wine which has now become a firm favourite with me.  We all really enjoyed it. The children finished off with some ‘sticky toffee pudding’ which they love from there. Then we all returned to C and C’s and ended up sat out in the garden drinking some more wine.  We did hear some thunder whilst we were sat out and it did keep trying to ‘spit’ a little but thankfully we didn’t suffer another downpour. To say that before I had arrived up there it has said it would rain for the duration of my visit, I think we did pretty well weather wise!

It was a lovely day, only spoiled by the rain that we encountered over at Long Loch.  I shall have to keep my fingers crossed that if we ever return there in the future it stays brighter next time .

TG 

Our day out in Largs and the Isle of Cumbrae

On the Saturday it was my eldest son’s birthday, so it began with the opening of cards, much merriment by everyone, gentle hints dropped about a ‘golf driver’ in my general  direction, and a trip to the supermarket for some bits and pieces for me to eat during my short stay.  The itinery planned for that day was a trip to Largs and then a ferry trip over to the Island of Cumbrae. Once everyone was showered, breakfasted and dressed, we set off for the drive to Largs.

I was informed that it was a ‘seaside’ type of place, and I was exited to see it as I have often thought that this was probably where the Large family originated from. It was quite a drive to get there, but the weather held up despite the fact that rain had been forecast for the entire duration of my stay, we hadn’t experienced any yet, and it was quite warm as well.  Once we arrived at Larg  my son tried to get his car into the car park right on the front but it was full, so we had to park in a side street away from the front.

By the time that we finally strolled along the promenade it was nearly dinner time, and a quick conference took place, where C and C decided that we would have some dinner first and then go across via the ferry to the Isle of Cumbrae.  So we all made our way to a ‘fish and chip’ shop on the front where I ordered some chicken and chips (not really my cup of tea, but all that I could have) and then we sat on the front promenade to eat it whilst watching the ferries come and go. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the temperature was just right, and we had lots of admirers around us in the form of lots and lots of seagulls!  There were lots of prominent notices everywhere warning you not to feed them so we didn’t, but they did come very close, one was right behind us and they are very big in size.  I actually quite enjoyed the meal and the views at the dining table were fabulous!

After placing any left over food carefully in the bins provided so’s not to encourage the seagulls, we then made our way over to the ferry where we paid our fare.  C had decided to take the car over as well, so I paid for us and they paid for the car. He went to fetch it from where it was parked and we all clambered in and then drove onto the ferry. Once we were correctly parked up, we all piled out and went up on the deck for the journey across. It was fabulous going across and I took the opportunity to take some great pictures of them all stood on the deck. It didn’t take all that long for us to arrive on the Island, and we were soon driving off and beginning a wonderful journey around one of the most picturesque places I have ever visited.

Everyone and I mean everyone on this small island use pedal bikes to get around, and I fully understood why. The road which circulates the island is only narrow, if another car or vehicle is coming the other way you have to slow right down and pull over somewhat to get past one another.  Families were out in abundance on their bikes (there was a hire shop right where the ferry deposits its passengers) there were bikes pulling small ‘pod type’ containers for the very small children and toddlers, tandem type bikes, every imaginable type of pedal bikes were being fully utilised by the visitors to this lovely little island.   Everyone went at such a leisurely pace.  Every so often there was a lay-by area where you could pull in and get out to explore and my two grandchildren were in their element!  They had purchased a fishing net over in Largs and this was put to very good use as my granddaughter explored around the many rocks next to the shore.  She caught a jellyfish first of all and brought it to show us, and later she caught a small crab and some more jellyfish.

I walked along the rocks taking pictures and when it was time to move on somewhere else, instead of walking back the same way I had come across the tops of the visible rocks, I made the big mistake of trying to return by walking straight up from the spot where I was to the road with the result that I nearly fell into all the numerous potholes that were invisible to the eye amongst the grass.  It was really tough going trying to make any headway, and I was absolutely beggared by the time I finally reached the car!  Hmm. That’ll teach me to go wandering off on my own!  Next stop was a restaurant where the children and I enjoyed an ice cream as we sat at one of the many provided picnic table enjoying the sunshine and the fantastic views.

The next stop in our circular tour of the Island was the town of Millport and the grandchildren quickly made a bee line for the beach once we had parked up.  R went paddling in the sea without rolling up his trousers so of course they ended up soaking wet through and had to be taken off before he could get back into the car. C and C sat on the beach, but I had a stroll along it to take some pictures of two seagulls who were sunning themselves on a rock.  You could see more islands far out to sea from this beach and I think that one of them was the island of Arran which I would love to visit sometime.  Eventually it was time to leave and we set off to complete the circular tour around the rest of the island and then wait for the ferry to take us back across to Larg.

It was an absolutely wonderful place to visit or even stay for a holiday and I was so glad that  C and C had decided to take me there.  The weather was just right, the children were in their element, yes, I certainly would recommend anyone to give Larg and the Island of Cumbrae a visit! More photos HERE.

TG

This weekend I went back up to Scotland to celebrate my eldest son’s 40th birthday.  K was off to respite for the week which explains why I was making the journey alone. We did all our packing on the Thursday so that we would not be rushing about on Friday,  and K was due to be collected by the Access bus at 11.00am.  I was not due to catch my train to Glasgow until 16.05pm from Leeds as I had chosen to journey on a ‘straight through’ train with no changes to make between Leeds and Glasgow.

The day had begun well enough with K and I doing the usual checking and re-checking that we both had everything packed in our suitcases, and following that we patiently waited for the Access bus to arrive. They have never, all the time that they have been collecting K and we are talking here of at least six or seven years, been late, in fact they are usually early because if any of the drivers are dropping passengers off around this area, they will often pick K up whilst in the neighbourhood.  Of course this has never really been of much concern previously, as I have never ever been setting off anywhere for it to matter whether they are early, late or don’t turn up at all, so you can imagine my angst when 11.00am came and went with no sign of any Access bus reversing up the nearby road.  By 11.15am K was beginning to panic and asked me to phone the Access bus headquarters.

“Oh, the driver has missed seeing her on his list,” I was told following the guy contacting the assigned driver and ringing me back, “he has some passengers to drop off first and then he will collect her, it’ll be about 12.00pm.” 

Hmm.  Funny how this occurs just when I am setting off somewhere for the first time ever when K is in respite!  Needless to say, about 12.15pm the Access bus did eventually turn up and I waved K off as usual. Then I had a shower to refresh myself and then got ready for my own journey.  I had been in a ‘bit of a state’ to be honest with you, visualising as usual the worst possible outcomes of making such a long journey all by myself.  I was pacing up and down and trying to keep myself occupied and calm but it was a losing battle.  Why oh why do I get so uptight? Why can’t I be cool, calm and collected?  The waiting was the worst part, and I was so glad when I  could finally lock the door and catch the bus to take me down to the station.  I had decided to catch the earlier Leeds train as I reasoned that if that missed then there was always the later fast train to get me there in plenty of time.

Leeds station was very busy as usual but once I had arrived, I had lot’s of time for a toilet break before making my way to Platform 9 for the Glasgow train.  When I had been trying to get a reservation on this train, all the ticket staff at Leeds  (and the lady at Cross-country  trains) had insisted that it would be a quiet train with plenty of spare seats, but judging from the amount of passengers waiting with me to climb aboard it, I was so glad that I had insisted on reserving one. The platform was jam packed!  It seemed as if the whole population of  Leeds was off up to Glasgow! 

When the train eventually pulled in, I made my way to Coach C, parked my suitcase in the luggage rack, and found my seat 13.  Hurrah!  A window seat . Boo!  Facing backwards!  And it was now that I was to find out the pitfalls of travelling by oneself. The train was busy.  First of all a lovely young lady sat next to me who confessed that she hadn’t reserved a seat, but as we got chatting she hoped that the person who had reserved it from York might not catch the train, then she could remain there.  She was using one of those lovely little netbooks and of course we struck up a conversation about that as I am considering getting one. Trouble was the passenger who’s seat she was occupying DID get on at York, so she had to vacate it so that he could sit there.  He being a young man who then spent his entire journey listening to music on his iPod. He didn’t attempt any conversation with me at all!

“Come back K, all is forgiven!” I thought to myself. (Her constant chattering can become annoying at times, but oh, how I longed to hear it right then!  Its such a long journey to make sat next to someone who doesn’t speak a word to you. I had my tea which I had managed to carry in my voluptuous new bag (now you see why I search and buy huge bags don’t you?) I had some prawn salad followed by some fruit, both in plastic containers, washed down with a bottle of fruit shoot spring water again carried in my bag.  I would have actually preferred some tea, but of the mysterious ‘trolley service’, which incidentally had been announced way back when leaving Leeds, there was no sign. This train journey is of such length that the train staff change over and we had some new staff board at Newcastle.  I knew this because ‘Peter’ who introduced himself as we boarded at Leeds, departed to be replaced by someone else (sorry didn’t catch his name over the tannoy) who was to  be our train ‘person’ for the rest of the journey to Glasgow.

Ahh!  As we departed Newcastle the trolley suddenly made an appearance!  Now for the longed for cup of tea!   Also at Newcastle the iPod young man departed to be replaced by a dark suited older man who again spent the entire rest of the journey in total silence, although he did have a habit of constantly getting up and disappearing along the carriage.  I kept thinking he had either disembarked or decided to sit somewhere else (seeing as now there were plenty of vacant seats) and so I kept putting my bag on his seat, only to have him return some minutes later much to my annoyance.

The whole journey so far (as far as Edinburgh) had really flown along, we had not been held up at all or stopped between any of the stations that we called at. I rang my eldest son just to let him  know that we were on time, and would be landing in Glasgow at 20.25pm.  Once we left Edinburgh though the journey was not quite as fast as before.  I love travelling by train especially up the East Coast main line. You have the sea on your right hand side and some beautiful countryside on your left. It really is one of the most enjoyable train journeys for anyone to make.  The journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow is also very picturesque as it passes through the mountains and some gorgeous scenery. 

And so we arrived at Glasgow central.  It had certainly been an experience for me and not all pleasant, especially the getting used to sitting next to some stranger and travelling in total silence. As I stepped from the train, my granddaughter came running towards me closely followed by my youngest grandson and my son and his partner.  I was so pleased to see them all and we quickly made our way to his car for the journey from Glasgow to their house.  I wondered what they had planned in the way of days out for my short visit. After all, the weather was staying fine.  Find our where we went in my next post.

TG 

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!

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) 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 bring to an end our enjoyable walk we caught the bus home.  I really  enjoyed this walk. It was a long walk  but a wonderful way to spend a glorious summers  day. Rest of the photos HERE.

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 offered me nothing, ) then we slowly made our way back to the station feeling a little bit foot sore 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 all 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.  More pictures HERE.

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!

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! The rest of the pictures are HERE.

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!

Yes, I know! Your all fed up of reading about my recycling woes but I promise that this is my last rant about it, okay?  On the ball Technogran had all her receptacles out as instructed at 07.00am yesterday morning and waltzed back into the flat feeling smug and cocky. No sign of anyone else, ha! First again! Noticed later that morning that the close neighbours hadn’t put the same out as me. No green bag, just the slop bucket (caddy) white sack (plastic bottles) and the black box (glass jars, wine bottles etc)

Swift check of Week A’s collection instructions.   Oops!  Got it wrong!  So rushed down the stairs, outside in the pouring rain with the correct black box and brought the incorrect green bag (now soaking wet) back inside. Hmm.

Now the instructions state quite clearly that we householders MUST have the containers waiting to be collected by 07.00am on our designated day of collection.  So of course I obeyed and most of the neighbours weren’t all that far behind this week I have to admit. The day wore on. The rain came down. The black box slowly filled with rainwater. The green bag did the same. The sack has a velcro closure so that was at least immune.  K arrived home.  We decided because of the inclement weather we wouldn’t be going down to exercise class.  We ate our tea.  I asked her if the containers had been emptied yet. (She can see them from her bedroom window.) ‘No Mum, they're still there!’

Guess what time they finally showed up to empty the containers?  19.00pm!  12 hours late!  I brought everything back in and it was all wet through! I had to put the black box and the slop bucket (caddy) in the shower and give it a good dose of cleaner and bleach then leave it overnight. (For those of you who at this point can’t understand anyone  in their right mind putting a black box and brown caddy into a shower, you must realise that we have no bath in this flat in which to place such receptacles in order to give them a thorough clean, so the shower cubicle has to suffice.)

I had to do this anyway because the food caddy absolutely stank. The plastic bags that we are issued with to use in these food caddy’s in order to put all your waste food into are biodegradable which largely explains why both caddy’s state in big letters on their sides, NO PLASTIC BAGS. Its a special kind of material but…….as your left over food and raw uncooked food ages a few days, it begins to ferment. These special biodegradable bags do NOT contain the aroma despite fastening them really tightly at the top.  And so the food caddy smelled absolutely awful!  It really should be stored outside either next to the wheelie bin or on top of it, but of course after my black box went for a walk and never returned, I am very reluctant to place it outside in case that does a disappearing act as well. Of course the answer is to put our flat number on it in large white numbers and hope that it will then deter any would be caddy thief.  I shall have to find a solution because I know this, I can’t keep it inside the flat during the warm summer months in the heat!  K and I will never survive the smell! We will be found both overcome by fumes!

And if the collectors continue to not appear until 19.00pm during the hot summer months, then the whole estate will no doubt be overcome!  We will all have to go out wearing gas masks! Its a good job that the lid locks (it says to keep dogs and animals out, but I doubt they would touch it with a six foot barge pole as it really smells rancid, and K and I don’t have all that much left over food compared to other households.  Well let’s face it, I am the only one in this household who ever leaves anything!)  Yes, I know what you are all now thinking, well don’t put it out until the afternoon.  Ahh!  But remember Technogran’s law?   As soon as I leave it until later  in the day, they’ll arrive at 07.00am and I’ll be back to my old habit of  flying down the stairs with containers clutched in both hands and shouting out ‘Hey, wait for me!’

TG     I promise that’s my very last moan about recycling…..

As is usual whenever we are about to set off on one of these day trips I didn’t sleep at all well, and was wide awake before the alarm had a chance to set off at 04.45am.  A quick shower, wake daughter up from slumber, pack bag with food and drinks for our ‘on board the train’ lunch, a quick run through of our ‘must take with us’  and ‘don’t forget’ list before our exit out of the door at 06.00am and into the waiting taxi.

On arrival at our  local station we found that we were the first arrivals but we were soon joined by others with merry greetings and hopes of a nice day weather wise. The Green Express arrived slightly early at 6.30am and we all quickly climbed on board and made our way down to our respective carriages to take our seats.  We were in carriage D which was roughly half way down the train . Of course as its mostly the same people who tend to go on these  railtours, everyone tends to know everyone else even if you don’t meet up on other occasions apart from these excursions, so there were lots of ‘Hello, how have you been?’ and ‘Hey nice to see you again, we wondered if you would be going today!’ greetings taking place at every pick up point. 

We had a very pleasant journey down to Bath and kept fairly to time which is no mean feat as a train such as this has to be ‘fitted in’ amongst the normal traffic on the railways which of course must take precedence at all times. This often results during our journey of us having to stop and wait whilst the normal trains run through.  We  arrived in Bath at precisely the allotted time on our ‘timetable’ which every passenger is given when they board so that you can wile away the long journey checking off at each point along the route whether or not we are running ‘in front or behind’ the allotted time stated.

On arrival, we all piled off at Bath station clutching in our hands our 10% off leaflets for the Bath tour buses, and made our way out and along the road to where the tour buses were all parked waiting.  K and I had  decided to visit the Jane Austen Centre first, so we rode on the Tour bus until it reached that point and then we got off.  By now it was really warm, and we didn’t need to wear our coats at all the whole time we were there.  We had a good tour around the Jane Austen Centre (although I have to confess I was a trifle disappointed in this and wished we had stayed on the tour bus and continued on to the Abbey and the Roman Baths.)

We then got back on a tour bus (you can ‘hop on and hop off these tour buses with the same ticket) and had a very interesting and  pleasant journey around some of the very attractive Georgian buildings to be seen in Bath and then we disembarked at the stop outside the  Abbey and Roman Baths, but by now we were having to do some ‘clock watching’ as we had only been allocated about three and a half hours to spend in Bath. It actually sounds a lot, but when you haven’t visited a place before and therefore don’t know what you have time to incorporate during your visit, it just isn’t long enough.  I had hoped to visit the Abbey AND the Roman Baths,but as it turned out we only had time for the visit to the Roman Baths before we had to begin making our way back to the Railway station.

We were allowed to tour the Roman Baths free (because of K’s disability, although we wouldn’t have had much to pay anyway as its a Heritage site.)  You have to use these listening devices which look somewhat similar to a TV remote in appearance. They hang around your neck and Are called Audioguides. As you reached each item in the Roman Baths,there was a number allocated to it, you inputted the number into your handset, and then listened to the narrative which then told you all the information about that object or room. They were fairly easy to use and K soon got the hang of hers.  I on the other hand kept forgetting how to turn the sound down with the result that mine was blasting out all the information to all and sundry!

I loved this part of our visit, and I took quite a few photographs in here. There was even a lady in costume who came and sat down at the side of the main Bath. She told you a little bit about what life was like in Roman times, and all of her make up was nearby on a table for you to examine.  It was all really very interesting. You are advised to allow two hours to really see the Roman Baths properly but of course we hadn’t got that luxury and it was all too soon that we had to make our way back outside. I had also wanted to visit the Abbey but that had to be curtailed.  A quick ‘splash out’ on some very expensive chocolates as a treat and then we began to make our way towards the railway station.  We were slightly impeded in this because there was quite a lot of roadwork's taking place and I had to ask a passer by which way to go, and after following her directions we eventually arrived back at Bath station where we had a very welcome cup of tea and a sit down before the train was due to arrive to take us home.

 It had been a very enjoyable visit, and one that I would certainly do again, only this time we would just visit the Roman Baths and the Abbey which is situated right next door. The journey home was uneventful and we arrived back at precisely the allotted time of 21.45pm. We then caught a bus home, and after quickly washing and tidying away all our lunch containers, leaflets etc, we headed  straight to bed as we were both very tired. 

All in all a very enjoyable day made more so by the fantastic weather we had and we didn’t need to wear our coats all day! More pictures HERE.

TG 

Sorry I have been so long in blogging about our first recycling collection taking place on Monday. Did I get the wrong day?  Did I put out the wrong containers?  Did my containers get emptied or not?  You must be all gagging to know the outcome. No?  Oh well I will tell it to you anyway!

On Monday morning I duly put out all relevant containers that the instructions told me to for week B, the larger brown ‘slop bucket’, the white sack containing washed out plastic bottles, the green paper and cardboard bag and the wheelie bin which I parked at the end of our path (where it had been left when they delivered them previously.)  I did all this at approximately 06.30am that morning as the instructions stated that the collections began at 07.00am and I didn’t want to be caught out as I have been in the past.  Dashing downstairs with a black box and green bag as I hear the sound of tinkling bottles in the distance is one thing, dashing down the path armed with a white sack, medium sized slop bucket, green bag and pulling along a Wheelie bin is quite another!

I then (after seeing K off to day care) busied myself with the usual mundane tasks that we women do everyday, dusting, washing, hoovering, blah blah blah, all the time keeping my eye and ears peeled for the sounds of someone arriving to collect said refuse.  By the time it came to about 11.00am I began to panic.  I was the only person in the near vicinity who had put their new containers outside!  Had I got it completely wrong?  Had Technogran done the usual and made herself the laughing stock of the neighbourhood?  Would it be in large letters on the front page of our weekly news tome, Technogran tussles with Recycling! Gets it all wrong?  I went outside to the end of the path to check if anyone else had put their containers out, and only one neighbour was putting his out and he was just copying me I think. Gulp!

I decided to give the council a ring to check the date of my collection. I was beginning to feel a right fool.  A young man answered the phone. “Oh I’m sorry” he replied to my question about had I got the wrong day, “I don’t usually work in this department, I have been drafted in just to help, I’ll get someone who will know the answer to ring you back.’ Hmm.  I thought, that didn’t help much!  Then I arrived at a  decision.  If they hadn’t arrived by 12.00pm I would go out and fetch the whole lot back inside.  (well except the Wheelie bin which wouldn’t fit inside the flat of course, that would have to be wheeled back into its place beside the old dustbin.)

Just as I had decided on this course of action, I heard the sound of a wagon, lots of masculine shouts going on, so I peered out of K’s bedroom window and Yes! They were here!  I quickly dashed down just as they were taking my next door neighbours black bags and putting them all in my Wheelie bin (remember I was the only one for miles around who had bothered to put their Wheelie bin at the end of the path) in order to  take it to the back of the wagon to be emptied.  P next door but one was also out, obviously having been taken completely by surprise by the whole affair.

When the guy returned with my Wheelie bin from the wagon, I asked him where I should leave it in future as this had not been stated on the instructions, was it at the end of our path or not?  “No, you should wheel it to the end there at the roadside kerb so that we can then just tip it into the wagon” he replied. ‘What!” I exclaimed.  “Oh well, good job I have applied to be exempt then as I am 65 and that is too far for me.”  I replied.  He looked at me in disbelief and shouted loudly to one of his compatriots who was busy carrying some black bags from one of the flats further down. “Oye Sid!  She’s 65! Would you believe it?”  No reply from Sid by the way, who had a face like thunder as of course none of them expected to be still humping black bags full of rubbish about.   However, they didn’t take the other containers and after enquiring when they would be collected we were told that the relevant team  were ‘on their way’ so I left them there and pulled the Wheelie bin back into its place.

K arrived back home at 15.00pm. We set off at 16.45pm to exercise class. The other containers were still there at the end of the path unemptied. Mind you, on our way we noted that other people had put theirs out to be collected as well.  Would this other gang of collectors ever arrive?  Well when we returned at 18.00pm they had been because all the containers had by then been emptied.  So the outcome of this boring tale is that for once in my life I was actually on the ball! In step with reality!  The only one around my nearest neighbourhood to have my recycling containers there ready and waiting instead of my usual dashing out last minute or having to chase them down the path in my slippers shouting out ”Hang on!”

I ended up being rather pleased with myself at the end of the day. Hmm, maybe this recycling isn’t such a bad idea after all!  Mind you, I am still forgetting to put the used tea bags into the slop bucket!

TG