Catching up......

I've been quite tardy in not updating this since mid July, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. I thought that it was probably about time that I posted a quick catch up, so in no particular order...

I changed jobs. This wasn't my decision mind you, but a consequence of my life as a contractor. I joined this client for 6 weeks and they kept me for 6 months. Eventually however they couldn't negotiate any further extensions with Head Office and the axe fell on 31st July, which was very disappointing as I did enjoy working there and would have accepted a permanent deal if one had been offered. Never mind, it's a contractors life I guess ? However, in anticipation of my impending departure I had already arranged a new contract to begin a week after my old contract expired. This was so I could take the opportunity of having a week off to chill out. This was to be my first week off in 13 months and I was looking forward to it immensely. Unfortunately the weather in early August was awful so I didn't do as much as I would have liked.

Whilst I was off on my weeks leave, I did take a long overdue trip to Chester Zoo. I love the Zoo, especially the Bat cave which is just the best exhibit. One of the reasons that I love Chester Zoo especially, is the large number of enclosures where there aren't any bars. The enclosures are cleverly designed to allow the animals to be fully viewed but without any danger of the animals escaping. The bat cave is a prime example of this. The bats fly around the enclosure whilst the public walk about beneath them. Occasionally a bat comes down to the floor and you really have to watch your step to avoid treading on them. Another example of the fabulous enclosures at the zoo is Lemur Island. Quite literally this is an island, viewable from all sides and the Lemurs swing about in the trees, just like nature intended. No bars. No cages. No restrictions. Other highlights were the elephants, the Orangutans and the almost un-noticed leaf cutter ants that live on a small tree in the middle of a public walkway and busily go about cutting leaves and carrying them back to their nest. Most people don't notice them, assuming as I did, that the tree it's nothing more than a fancy "house plant" decoration but closer inspection proves otherwise. As always a day at Chester Zoo is a fantastic day out.

I've bought a bike ! I'd been thinking of buying one for ages and eventually found a great deal on the Internet. It's a 21 speed, flappy paddle gearbox Raleigh Toronto mountain bike with disc breaks. It should have cost me £260 but because it was 'end of line', I picked it up for £130.. result ! My plan is to ride it mainly on the various cycle path's around my area, rather than on the roads. Having acquired the usual safety accessories, I've taken it out on a handful of occasions but I don't expect to get much use out of it until the Spring, given the weather we experience from this time of the year.

I'm still kayaking regularly on the River Dee and luckily we've had a few decent weekends, weather wise in order to do it. The tranquility of the river is particularly engaging and I'm always amazed by the acceptance of the wildlife of my presence. The ducks and swans ignore me as I paddle past as do the kingfishers, herons, cormorants, water voles and numerous other creatures that inhabit that particular section of the river. It was only recently when flying over Chester on yet another trip into Europe, that I was dismayed to see how short a distance I paddle when I'm out on the water. I always assumed I was paddling for miles as my usual route takes me a couple of hours from start to finish but, when viewed from above, it was an embarrassingly short distance ! Never mind, I think it's good exercise and incredibly relaxing.

I spent one of my days off going to the delightful town (or is it a village?) of Betwsy Coed in North Wales within the heart of the Snowdonia National Park. As always the town was alive with tourists but it's easy to see why. Betswy Coed is surrounded by the soaring mountains of Snowdonia, has the River Conwy running through it in a seemingly never ending rush towards the distant sea. This rush creating white water over the rapids. Betwsy Coed has delightfully pretty cottages with picket fences and colourful hanging baskets and is well worth a visit. Additionally, I always enjoy the drive to Betswy Coed, preferring to take the quiet back roads through the countryside, dodging the grazing sheep rather than taking the featureless A55 dual carriageway along the coast. The photo at the top of this post, and the ones below were taken on one of these back roads. The photo immediately above shows the River Conwy passing through Betwsy Coed.





I went ghost hunting at Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire with my friend Susie from Birmingham. As regular readers will know, Woodchester Mansion is one of my favourite haunted locations and it must be a year since I was last there. Susie had never been and was really looking forward to it. The drive to the mansion is spooky in itself as you have to drive slowly through the woods. On this particular occasion the wind was strong and the enormous clouds were depositing large volumes of rainwater. The wind and the rain made the woods very noisy as we passed through in near total darkness, apart from the convoy of car headlights from our fellow paranormal investigators. The clouds were scuttling across the sky but every so often a break in the clouds would expose a full moon making the whole scene very eerie indeed. Unfortunately, the mansion was quieter than usual in terms of paranormal activity with very little of note occurring. However, as always it was a privilege to spend an evening there. We broke at around 5am and after a brief sleep in a local Travelodge, we headed over to nearby Bath for lunch. The traffic into Bath was truly horrific. It must have taken us well over an hour to travel a couple of miles into what seemed to be the only car park in the City. The weather was now glorious, an astonishing change from the night before and once we had parked (by now, mid afternoon) we enjoyed a pleasant Saturday afternoon stroll through the city - dodging an unprecedented number of Ambulances. Bath has never struck me as being a dangerous place but I think that Susie and I were the only one's in Bath not in need of medical assistance that day ! Although, I do wonder whether calling an ambulance was a subtle method the locals use to get through the traffic ?? Bath was superb, reminding me very much of Chester and York. A fact I put down to the Roman heritage it shares with both of those cities. We did head towards the river but couldn't find a route to the waters edge and the restaurants at the rivers edge all required a mortgage to eat there, which put us off somewhat. We did however enjoy a very tasty Thai lunch at a very reasonable price a little later. Susie had spotted the restaurant on the way in to the city and somehow managed to find it again within the myriad of narrow streets that comprise the centre of this roman city. My sense of direction was sadly lacking in that respect and we'd still be looking even now if restaurant navigation was down to me. We eventually headed back to the car and after stopping for strawberries at a street side seller, headed for our respective homes. The picture below is an panoramic of Bath Cathedral.


My killifish have been breeding and rather than let the fry fend for themselves in the tank as usual - which in reality means they get eaten, I decided to remove the eggs and rear them myself. This entailed purchasing a small 10 litre tank, a heater, filter and other essentials. Now some 2 months on, I have 11 baby killifish and 2 baby Leopard Danio (whose eggs must have sneaked in with the killi's). I've added a short video below that I recently shot. I'm not sure what to do with the fish as yet. I don't really have the room to keep them and I'm fully stocked in my main tank so I suspect they'll end up being given to a local fish shop for sale. I could sell them on EBay but I don't think I can be bothered with all the hassle, especially with the mail order problems of posting live fish across the UK.



I've some other trips planned for the near future. I'm heading off to Italy for a weekend one day soon. I've trips to see both little bro and his family in Sussex and older bro and his family in France. I've already booked a trip to Barcelona next year. I'm also making plans to drop into the street where they filmed the 80s comedy, Bread and also visit the road where they filmed Brookside.

Things that have made me smile this week:-

Comedian Bob Levy on The Howard Stern Show "I was having sex with this woman who was so old, when she shouted "I'm coming" she was talking to God !"

Until the next time, when I'll be writing about my Italian trip.....