Cooling Off

After a period of fine dry weather, today was yet another hot and sticky one but it did cool off sufficiently to tempt us out for a pleasant walk along the canal this evening. And we were not the only ones enjoying warm evening sunshine but the two dogs playing ball in the water had perhaps the best way of keeping cool.

Much Better

Another watery picture but a much pleasanter view from the tow-path of the Erewash Canal than yesterday's sodden Market Place.

"What a difference a day made" is an overused expression but today brought us weather much more in keeping with memories of distant June days from my youth. Isn't it amazing that when we look back to summers of years gone by, we tend to remember the sunny days although I'm sure we must have had rainy days too.

Birds Of A Feather

There seems to be a bit of a theme developing here concerning water fowl. Yesterday we saw ducks in the middle of town and today there were a number of different species as we walked along the canal on the edge of town.

We have a shed at the bottom of our garden; some people claim to have fairies but if your property backs onto the canal, well there's no knowing who or what's going to turn up.

War Con - Walk On

I went for a pneumonia injection this afternoon in my left arm but also had a 'flu jab in the right arm. The nurse said that my arms may ache for a couple of days and after returning home, the left arm was starting to ache a little. I took myself off for a walk and was by the Erewash Canal in less than five minutes where I watched the swans, ducks and coots for a while and all thoughts of aching limbs were soon forgotten.


I had been listening to "The Essential Barbra Steisand" in the car and the last track was "You'll Never Walk Alone" - you know the one "Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart". There are several tracks on the double CD where her diction is far from perfect (who am I to talk?) and her rendition of this classic leaves a lot to be desired. She sings "War con, war con" and puts an aitch in the middle of words where there shouldn't be one. It's really irritating but when I saw this duck trying to "walk on" thin ice on the canal I was trying to come up with something witty to say to link the two - but failed miserably!

Although I like some of Streisand's singing and I've also enjoyed her films in the past, I still find it rather puzzling how she has become the musical legend she is now regarded as. I'll probably be bombarded now by emails from Streisand fans but I've got my defence all ready - for breath control and diction you only have to listen to Frank Sinatra. When I next listen to this CD, I think there will be several tracks that I won't "walk on" by but more likely skip over.