Go Mango!

It sounds like a cry from the Rock'n'Roll age but "Go Mango!" refers to the man dressed as a mango on Ilkeston Market Place today. He was there to help celebrate a birthday. It was just a year ago that Trent Barton unveiled the new buses for the Two service between Ilkeston and Nottingham and today saw the start of a long distance balloon race with a free bus pass for a year for the winner.

Looking For Bones

The Erewash Museum is running a series of weekly themed events throughout the summer school holidays and we went along today to sample the Archaeology Week. It was great fun with the grandsons hunting for bone shaped cut outs that had been hidden in the different rooms in the building. Next week the Romans will be the theme so there will probably be another visit then.

Rescued

Just had to rescue a bee from a water butt. We left it to dry out in the greenhouse for about twenty minutes and then it flew off into the sunset, no doubt to add swimming to its CV.

Inconsiderate

It's turning into one of those whinging weeks but the driver of this stretched car is not only breaking the law by parking on a corner on double yellow lines but his/her inconsiderate actions mean the the dropped pavement access for wheelchairs, pushchairs, prams etc is also blocked. Nice car, shame about the parking!

Never mind David Cameron's "Big Society" and Theresa May's "get the community involved in policing" where are the Traffic Wardens when you need them?

Curtailment

As part of the government's cost cutting exercise, free swimming for youngsters is to cease but the local council have decided to postpone the new policy until after the schools re-open in September which means schoolchildren will still be able to enjoy free sessions during the summer holidays. It is to be hoped they also spend some time improving their language skills instead of using the foul mouthed obscenities that passed between a group of youngsters who crossed from the direction of the Leisure Centre and entered Victoria Park as I was taking this photo this afternoon.

School's Out

The first day of the school holidays and there were lots of children around the town centre this morning. There were not quite so many later as the weather had turned it into a drizzly afternoon so what do you do with the children to keep them amused. Some people found the answer by queuing to see the latest movie at the Scala.

Some parents may already be thinking "Roll on September" but I thought it was a bit off last week when one major retail outlet was advertising "Back To School" goods before the schools had actually closed for the summer!

Preferred Sport

The wicket was ready, the stumps were in and the boundary flags were in place but the players were conspicuous by their absence and the sport of choice this afternoon by several groups of youngsters was obviously football. There's still a couple of weeks to go before the start of the new season but it seems it can't come soon enough. And despite what the sign says about Rutland Sports Park, it's still the Rec to Ilkestonians.