Post Comment Love 15 - 17 September

September 15, 2023

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week, posts which are older will be removed from the linky. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Thanks for your comments and support on the changes I’ve made to my blog recently, I’m really happy with my new space. Now I just need to get around to using it more - it’s true though, somehow time diminishes when you appear to have more of it at your disposal!

This week we’ve been out and about to Nottingham which is about 17 miles from us. Back in December 2022, when moving was on the cards but nowhere near confirmed, we booked tickets to see Echo & The Bunnymen for their concert, to play their album Ocean Rain, with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Our thinking back then was if we hadn’t moved then we could book a trip just for the concert, and if we had moved then we hoped we wouldn’t be too far away.

We had nothing to lose!

As it turned out we weren’t too far away, though there was a fair bit of traffic on a rainy Tuesday getting into Nottingham and it took me about three circuits of the one way system, including a lap of a car park we hadn’t booked, to find the car park that we’d booked parking in. So that was fun!

The venue was great, as was the concert. I loved the addition of the orchestra, which is a good thing as we’re also booked to see a similar treatment of ABC’s Lexicon of Love next spring. Thankfully getting home was much easier, no doubt partly due to my earlier unplanned orientation session, and of course because of less traffic. We were out of the venue and home within forty minutes, which was fab.

Post Comment Love 8 - 10 September

September 8, 2023

You’ll also have spotted that I’ve updated my blog! I’ve linked the post which explains more and welcomes you to my refreshed space, thank you for continuing to be here.

Well September has had a treat in store for us here after a pretty dismal August. This week we’ve had temperatures in the mid-twenties with the warmest day predicted to be this weekend. It’s been quite a surprise though, even though it was forecast. Last week I was buying more autumnal food, think creamy potato dauphinoise and dark, green earthy kale, but this week it’s the very last thing we’ve wanted to eat!

We also got out on our bikes again on Wednesday, cycling off to see the Tour of Britain on the Sherwood to Newark stage. We took a less direct route there and back, clocking up a twenty mile cycle in the process - my longest cycle for quite a while. The thing is though, the peloton was past us in about 10 seconds!!

It was good fun though, and it was great to see people out on the streets supporting the event. We had a bit of a close shave with one of the team cars on the way home though, or rather MOH did. We’d left the disused railway line (the one that we went searching for the previous week) and were cycling along the country roads; there were cars passing us sensibly, and the road undulated a fair bit (or a fair bit for me, anyway). With more gears and more practice at cycling MOH had gone ahead, which was fine, and I was down in first (or granny gear) plodding along. I sensed a car behind me waiting for the opportunity to overtake, and all was fine.

Next thing I knew, one of the team cars had overtaken the car behind me, sped past me and bombed on to overtake MOH too. The female driver behind me did overtake after a little while, and I was thankful for the space she’d given me. Even more so when I caught up with MOH who immediately asked how close the team car had come to me. I was lucky that the female driver was shielding me, as MOH said it had passed him at an uncomfortably close distance, and the closest any car had come to him since we’ve been up here.

I am sure the team cars are used to driving past cyclists and other people as part of their role in the races, but I’m not so sure they should be doing it in that way outside of a race environment. Thankfully though no harm was done. If I’d have noted the team name I would definitely be contacting the tour organisers, as I’m sure that’s not the reputation they want either.

A paper Tour of Britain flag in my bike's wicker basket along with my cycling helmet as we stand on the roadside waiting for the race to go past

Post Comment Love 1 - 3 September

September 1, 2023

Happy 1 September!

I know it comes every year, but so soon? I hope you’ve had a good summer and whatever September brings for you is good. We are definitely noticing a change is starting to take place in the seasons, the sun is still here at times, but the mornings and evenings have more of a chill to them. Our windows are open less, and more are closed than ever before in our almost two months in our new house.

We’re noticing the differences in the hedgerows too. The image below was one from an impromptu nine mile walk on bank holiday Monday, which saw us searching out an old disused railway which is now used as a cycle path and pedestrian route into Newark.

We found it and when we got there we realised we’d been there before. Not in a supernatural kind of way, literally we’d been there before back in 2016 on our first visit to the area, when moving wasn’t even a twinkle in our eye. Now we live just a few miles from there - isn’t it funny how life turns out?

Thank you for your comments on my post last week about a new blog name - it’s all really helped, and I have secured a new domain and hope to be making the changes in the next few days, all going well. Exciting times!