I Survive

Well the cold has not gone but I feel a darn sight better today than yesterday so when I went out for my daily constitutional, I was able to stop and admire some camellias that were overhanging a wall. Camellias according to the RHS are woodland shrubs that flower from autumn to late spring but my experience of this particular plant is that it is at its best in spring as I don't recollect seeing it in flower earlier than that. Mind you it is growing in a town location anyway and not in a wood and the petals are already falling from many of the flowers. I think I caught this one at just the right time.

Something else that brightened the day was the arrival through the post of the latest addition to my CD collection. Featuring stars like Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Paul and Linda McCartney, Argent's Russ Ballard, Bob Henrit and Dave Wintour with a cover photo by Lord Snowdon, it is a reissue of a 1974 album with bonus tracks. Although making little impact at the time it is now regarded as a classic album and is highly regarded by music critics. A single of the opening track is minus the Blackmore introduction and was featured on Top Of The Pops in October 74. It is of course "I Survived" by Adam Faith.

It's Your Last Day

I know it's only a cold but I could have cheerfully stayed in bed this morning and when I finally did stagger downstairs the phrase "You look like death on legs" was not that far wide of the mark.That's how I felt anyway but it was still a shock when I opened up my emails to find one where the subject box read "It's Your Last Day Garth". It turned out to be from a company trying to sell me something announcing the last day of their sale except it's not really the last day as there'll be another sale starting tomorrow. As the morning progressed I began to feel better and decided a walk in the fresh air was called for. The dreary weather didn't help but I can assure you this picture below shows the nearest point I reached to a cemetery! I'm still alive and kicking and, God willing, will be back tomorrow with another picture.

Thankful

I've got a headache, my nose is streaming, it's raining and I'm not very warm either. There's a fault with Blogger and I can't upload today's photo at the moment so I'm having to write this in Notepad and hopefully will be able to copy it across when the fault has been resolved. Doesn't sound like one of my better days does it? I'm thankful though that I wasn't caught in the teatime traffic jam. There were a lot of people on Nottingham Road going nowhere fast. At least I was on foot and travelling much faster than all these vehicles that were almost at a standstill so it was quickly off home for another dose of paracetamol before doing today's post - but then Blogger went belly up! Oh well, things can only get better and if the Tricky Reds beat the Magpies tonight that will make up for the rest of the day.

Late update:

Well that just about sums it up. Newcastle 2 Forest 0 and when I switched my digital radio on to listen to the match, that didn't work either. I'm going to bed and hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Palm Sunday

Like many other places Palm Sunday was celebrated in Ilkeston with church services and in the sunshine this morning the congregation at St Mary's began their service by holding their palm crosses aloft outside the entrance as a sign of Christian witness.

Spring Forward

This is the weekend when the clocks are turned forward by an hour to British Summer Time and in the autumn they will be turned back again to Greenwich Mean Time. It's easy to remember "Spring forward, Fall back" but in this increasingly technological age, I ask is it really necessary any more?


There are arguments both for and against, one of them being that it keeps us in line with our European neighbours for business dealings but as much business is now conducted by the internet and outside normal working hours, this is fast losing any credence. There are also concerns about children travelling to and from school in the dark especially in the northern counties and Scotland but again, surely start and finish times could easily be adjusted to overcome this.

On a personal note and I'm sure it applies to many other people too, it takes my body clock about a fortnight to adjust to the change which means for approximately one month per year, I'm out of sync with everything. I firmly believe it's time for this nonsense to stop. I don't care whether it's GMT or BST, we should just decide on one and stick with it. Although many digital clocks and appliances update automatically think of the cumulative amount of time spent each year changing others manually.

We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.- H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946)

A Better Day

It was a much better day for the market traders than last Saturday when it rained nearly all day. Today it was much warmer, there were a lot more people about and many found time to stand and pass the time of day on Bath Street while listening to a busker playing a flute.


But before everyone discards their thermals there is a word of warning. There's a possibility of snow next Tuesday!

Keep Ilkeston Tidy

My wife and I are often in the Town Hall reporting places where litter needs removing. The Council has a responsibility to keep the streets clean but we realise that it is the residents of the town that create the eyesores. There are several litter bins strategically placed around the Market Place and one is visible outside the Library in this picture.


Why the youth in the white jacket in the centre of the picture chose to carefully balance his empty soft drink can on top of a bollard and then proceed past the bin is quite beyond me. Quite recently this area was packed with people applauding and cheering young men who had been fighting to preserve our freedom in Afghanistan who are about the same age as this idiot/lout/moron/imbecile/numpty (delete as appropriate or add your own word). Perhaps a few weeks with them would knock some sense into him and make him a bit more house proud. If the country is worth fighting for, then it's worth looking after and includes disposing of litter in the correct manner.

Anyone For Tennis?

By all accounts English tennis is in a sorry state and it is hardy surprising when local facilities like those on the Rutland Recreation Ground have been left to fall into disrepair. I've not played tennis for many, many years but spent many a happy hour here with friends when the courts were still usable.


I know we now have an indoor facility also on the Rec and when that was built other outdoor courts were also renovated. Since then however they too have undergone changes to create cricket nets so there is really nowhere for anyone to go and knock a ball about unless they want to contend with the broken glass, litter and derelict fencing. It's such a shame.

Bounding Into Spring

Jewl certainly had a spring in her step today when I let her off the lead for a run around the park. When out walking she only has two speeds anyway - fast and faster! But she adores to be let loose on grass and runs and runs and runs.


I just wish I had half her energy.

Told You So!

I said on Sunday that it wouldn't be long before the daffodils were flowering but I didn't expect it to be quite this quick.


Whilst out walking the dog today I spotted a glimpse of yellow in the grounds of a nursery school and lo and behold, it was a host (well nearly) of golden daffodils. It's amazing just what a couple of mild days, a little bit of sunshine and a few rain showers can do.

Just For The Record

Contractors excavating outside the Town Hall this morning coupled with a couple of Central Networks vans brought back a few disturbing memories of my former employment.


I gave them a wide berth so I'm not sure what they were doing but I can hazard a good guess. Experience tells me too that there's a high probability that a record of the alterations they make to the electricity distribution system are unlikely to reach the Records Department any time soon. Unless of course, things have changed drastically since I was there - but I very much doubt it!

First Day Or Mid Way?

I heard someone on the radio this morning say that it was the first day of spring which rather surprised me as I had heard something similar at least a couple of weeks ago. Looking into it I discovered that the Met Office regard March 1st as being the first day of spring but the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere in 2010 is actually March 20th. This is regarded by many as being the official first day but logically, if the summer solstice is the mid point of summer, then it follows that the vernal equinox is the mid point of spring so perhaps the Met Office is closer than we first thought.

Whatever your school of thought it cannot be denied that the cold winter has held back many of the spring flowers. Whilst daffodils have been plentiful in the shops and on the market stalls, those growing naturally in our parks and gardens have yet to burst into flower EXCEPT I was able to photograph this mini variety growing in a sheltered spot in our garden this afternoon.


And once the mini daffodils flower the full sized version are not long after. Spring is here whatever the date - rejoice!

Lovely Weather For Onions

It was not a good day to be a market trader today as it has been raining on and off all day. A friend emailed me this afternoon and said "nobody in their right mind would have been on Ilkeston Market Place this morning if they didn'y need to." Well unfortunately we needed to but there was none of the usual hustle and bustle and we were soon off back home.


I feel for those who have to work Monday through Friday as I remember when in the same position it often seemed to rain at weekends. Not strictly true of course but one of the major benefits of retirement is that you can usually pick and choose when to go out and when to stay in, when to do jobs and when to leave them. I'm so glad though we planted the onion sets yesterday. Today's rain should do them a power of good.

It's A Hard Life

Well that's the onions planted and the bean trench filled with compost. We've also removed some plants that were past their best and generally tidied the garden this afternoon. Probably pay for it tomorrow with muscles that we haven't used for a while beginning to ache but thought we'd better get something done before the rain started this evening. We were "helped" with the gardening by Pom who delights in digging holes in the freshly prepared soil. He likes to bring us presents of worms which he deposits on the kitchen floor. He's a strange animal but lovable with it. Yes it's been a busy afternoon for all of us and I'm now about to put my feet up and watch some of the Sport Relief programme but Pom has already curled up as you can see to recover from his exertions!

Waiting For The Sale

A new shop has opened on Nottingham Road where you can sell your gold for cash and another in the same trade is due to open on Bath Street. There's already a Money Shop on Bath Street among the charity shops, estate agents and mobile phone outlets.


I've not noticed the Money Shop giving any free samples away yet but I'm keeping my eye on it in case they have a sale. I wouldn't mind a few cut price pounds.

Irish For A Day

Anyone locally with any connection to Ireland was probably in Nottingham today for the annual St Patrick's Day Parade but in Ilkeston it appears to have passed largely unnoticed. There were of course window displays in the shops selling greetings cards but apart from that it was only outside the pubs that the day was advertised.


On the Market Place an A-board exhorted people to become "Irish For A Day" with live Irish music from 6pm and another to celebrate the day with a pint of the black stuff. It's been quiet during the day but no doubt there will be plenty of good craic tonight.

Swan Lake, Swan Lake

With the cold wind dropping, today was positively springlike and we were tempted to take a short walk around Swan Lake (Straw's Bridge Nature Reserve) without coats! We were not the only ones taking advantage of the weather either as an artist was busy capturing the scene in oils.


He was making a really good job of it too but broke off to spend a few minutes chatting to us before kindly agreed to let me take this photo. He had obviously spent quite some time on his work but for me I captured two images in one with just a click of a button. I often envy though the talent of people who can create such works of art but it wouldn't do for us all to be the same and at least I can admire the results of their labours.

Spring into Summer

I've seen better displays of crocuses here on Chaucer Old Park in previous years but after the cold winter we've had, it's still a pleasure to see the colour returning to herald the start of spring. It's still none too warm though but in less than a fortnight, we'll be turning the clocks forward by an hour as we enter British Summer Time! We've had a high pressure system hovering around us for the last two weeks and have seen plenty of sunshine and clear skies. Now we have to hope and pray we get similar conditions when the sun has moved a bit further north and the temperature has climbed even further.

Mothering Sunday

All the ladies in church this morning were given a gift of a small posy of flowers by the children after they came out of Sunday School. The posies were to celebrate Mothering Sunday and had been donated and prepared by members of the Mothers' Union. As there were more than enough to go round, many of the fathers also received one and I was lucky enough to be one of them.

Mothers rarely get what they deserve:
On them is dumped the dirt of our dreams.
Their joys must be ours, as they serve
Hard time, which only our love redeems.
Each day your love and faith my days renew;
Rejoice, then, on this day reserved for you.

poem: copyright Nicholas Gordon.

Buckets Full Of Love

The cold winter may have held back the growth of spring flowers but there was no shortage on sale this weekend at several places in town and many like this one on Bath Street had blooms by the bucketful.


The reason of course is that tomorrow is Mothering Sunday not to be confused with the American Mother's Day which is in May. Other countries celebrate Mother's Day at various times during the year but Mothering Sunday is a Christian celebration that always falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent. Whatever the date and wherever you are, a simple gift of flowers to your mother has the same meaning around the world - love.

Shades of Les Mis

There has been water bubbling out of a hole on market Street for at least a two weeks and in the last couple of days some barricades have appeared opposite. It looks as though they are expecting a large number of people turning up to watch when the excavation team arrive on site and need the barriers to exercise some crowd control.


Or maybe some amateur group are going to assemble to rehearse for a new production of Les Misérables and if so, we'll know they've arrived when we hear the people sing.

Confusion & Chaos

At one time of day you could rely on the Council workmen to let you know what day it was. If there were cones out on Chalons Way to protect them as they tended to the verges then it was Tuesday. They've been missing for a few weeks though but reappeared today, Thursday. Not only that, the refuse collectors now come on Thursday instead of Monday and if you haven't got your wits about you, it can all be a little confusing.


I wonder though why the person responsible for planning the work would choose Thursday to reduce the width of Chalons Way by 50%. Thursday is a market day and so there is usually more traffic in town and the result of today's actions meant a foul up of traffic around the islands at each end of the road. So to add to the confusion, we also had traffic chaos. I bet it was some faceless bureaucrat who knows little about Ilkeston and cares even less, sat in an office somewhere (probably at Long Eaton) leaving his workforce to face the wrath of furious drivers and the populace of the town unnecessarily inconvenienced as public transport caught in the traffic were unable to keep to their published timetables.

Banking On A Deposit

It's more than ten years since I was in Sussex on holiday and at the time I was quite impressed by the quality of the buskers that were in the streets. Most of them seemed like professional musicians rather than the three chord guitar strummers with raucous voices that were prevalent in the East Midlands at that time. Since then there has been a significant improvement in this area and this duo in Derby today were really very good.


I was a little concerned though that they were stationed outside a Bank and just wondered if they were employees charged with helping to balance the books. If so, they'll be there a long time!

Two Men Went To Mow

Well the cloudy day we were expecting didn't materialise until after lunch so I took advantage of another fine morning to take a walk in the Park and on the Rutland Rec where the groundsman were just finishing mowing the cricket square.


Not sure that is a good sign as once you start mowing it's a constant job until well into the autumn and it also means I shall have to start work in my own garden soon.

Chim Chim Cher-ee

Don't really know what to write about today's image but as it was the only one I captured, I don't really have a choice. There was just something about these chimneys that caught my eye. Whether it was the fact that there appeared to be one missing on the right or the plants growing around the left hand of the two terracotta pots I don't know. It could just have been that they stood out against the clear blue sky as we enjoyed another bright day under a high pressure system. This could be the last for a few days though as the cloud cover increased throughout the afternoon and is expected to last for the rest of the week. It should mean some warmer nights though and give those spring flowers we all want to see a little more encouragement.


Well there's the chimneys, all we need now is Dick Van Dyke:

Crocus Colour

A week of clear skies and plenty of sunshine has certainly brought the spring flowers on despite the cold nights and frosty mornings. These crocuses are adding a welcome splash of colour to our own garden and coupled with the fine weather make everyday seem a whole lot brighter.


People in general when met in town also seem more cheerful but as I've always said "If we didn't have the dull days we wouldn't appreciate the bright ones half as much."

Welcome Home

The Mercian Regiment exercised their right to march through the town today for a "Welcome Home and Freedom Parade" after their tour of service in Afghanistan and were given a rousing reception by hundreds of flag waving, applauding and cheering townsfolk.


The parade started on Stanton Road as seen above and proceeded up South Street to the Market Place where market traders left their stalls to join the crowd and show support and appreciation for our troops. The Mercians carried on down Bath Street where more people were waiting to greet them. Whatever your opinion of war, there is no doubting the esteem in which these young men fighting to preserve our freedom are held.

It Just Gets Better

It was my misfortune, not by choice you understand and I'm not really a sad person who wanders round supermarkets for fun, but I had to go to Tesco's again today. And following on from yesterday's labelling fiasco I spotted an even better one.


Now even my seven year old grandson knows that twice 68 is less than 150 so it does make you wonder about the intelligence and education of the staff responsible for pricing and labelling in Tesco's. When I mentioned the mistake at Customer Service I was told "She knows about it, she knew yesterday" which is all well and good but why didn't "she" (whoever "she" is) at least remove the offending label. The "special offer" doesn't end until March 23rd but I don't expect anything will happen before then and I certainly don't intend going again to check. Tesco's twice in two days is more than enough for me!

Elementary My Dear Tesco

You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that if one item costs one pound then two would be two pounds but Tesco seem to think everyone who trades in their is not that bright. The small print on the label goes on to say the special offer will end on March 8th.


I have to admit however that it does seem a better offer than the one they had for bottles of pineapple squash some time ago. They were labelled as 99p each and two for £2.00.


Still "Every Little Helps"as they say and all these pennies must going towards paying the wages of whoever organises all these labels.

Patience

Patience is a virtue but these two dogs waiting for their master outside a supermarket seemed thoroughly fed up and dejected. Even a crowd of noisy schoolchildren that passed by failed to rouse them from their lethargy.

Mistaken Identity? Yes & No

For the second day running we awoke to a frosty morning with clear skies and a brilliant yellow object shining down on us. Just the day for a brisk walk I thought so wrapped up warm I set off to enjoy the moment. The scarf and gloves didn't last long and I was soon unfastening my coat too. You could almost believe it was spring. As I was walking I saw from a distance at the top of a tree a whitish object with what looked like orange legs. "Could it be a heron?" I thought. Even looking at the object through the camera at maximum zoom I still couldn't be sure. When I did get close enough the object turned out to be two white balloons with orange strings but I wasn't disappointed for long as I turned a corner there in a field stood a statue-like figure and sure enough it was a heron.


I couldn't get close to it so once again resorted to employing the full zoom on the camera for the above picture. I think it was camera shy for as soon as I had taken this image it took off and flew away in the opposite direction.

St David's Day

As it is St David's Day I made a special journey to the park to see if the daffodils were flowering yet, although with the cold weather of recent days I went more in hope than expectation. There were some clumps of snowdrops, yellow crocuses were flowering and even a few purple ones were starting to open but all I could see of the daffodils were green leaves that were only a few inches high. So I had to resort to the shops for today's picture and outside a fruit and vegetable shop were some pot plants that contained some miniature flowers.


Not only that but outside the same shop were some trays of leeks, that other symbol of Wales and often worn on the lapel of Welshmen today like a buttonhole flower. I think these were a little too big to wear though, not that I would want to as I'm not Welsh. The wife's maiden name though was Evans so there must be some Celtic ancestry somewhere along the line.