Day out in Worksop.

That was interesting, today I have been skip diving. Managed to rescue some stuff from going to the tip. Some things to keep and some to give away. I'll show you tomorrow what I've got. 

Yesterday I went to Rhodesia, which is a suburb of Worksop. I found a parking place right next to the canal. I have walked parts of the Chesterfield Canal on previous trips, but this time I wanted to walk in the opposite direction through the centre of Worksop. 

Twas a lovely sunny day, there were people with kids and dogs strolling along the waters edge. A lady stopped to ask for directions. She was walking in the opposite direction to me, so I was able to show her on the map what was further along. The conversation went on and on, probably due to me being a bit of a gas bag, and we ended up chatting for about half an hour. 

This pub is on the side of the canal, it would be with a name like that. The sun had brought a lot of people out. Sitting in the garden enjoying their drinks. 

This shopping centre is close to the canal, so I had a walk up there to see what shops there were. Nothing to tempt me. These types of centres have very little, if anything to interest me now. Uninspiring and boring. 

The canal goes right past this factory. Not sure what they produce, but in makes an interesting picture. 

I could hear noise, music and shouting. Just over yonder I spotted a fairground. Worth a look. I had to make a short detour to find the entrance as it was surrounded by a ditch on one side and it was fenced off. 

Oh wow, look at this lovely Scania. Fairground people always look after their trucks. They love the old British Foden's and ERF's. They keep them going for years after a normal haulier has finished with them. This Scania is not as old as some of them. 

There weren't many people about, and some of the rides were a bit expensive. £2 - £3, but I suppose they have been hit with the price of diesel to run their generators. 

Just across the road is a park. Nice gardens to walk round, a stream running through it with a duck pond, a playground for the kids, and a cafe. 

There were several of these colourful sculptures dotted about. Something to do with keeping bees happy. 

And opposite the park is Worksop Priory. What a fantastic building. Sadly not open so I had a walk around the grounds. There is a big cemetery at the back. 

I think this might have been the front door a long time ago. The entrance is now around the corner on the side of the building. 

The back of it looks like it's had a modern extension added. 

It is stunningly beautiful.

I went back to the canal to continue the walk and came across a boat waiting to go into a lock. There was a problem. Just look at all the rubbish floating in the water. A man had a pole with a hook on the end of it. He was trying to drag some of it out and was piling it up on the concrete. 

There was all kinds of rubbish, some of it natural weeds, but a lot was man made plastics. In fact I did see quite a lot of litter all along the parts of the canal where it went through the centre of Worksop. 

Eventually he cleared enough of it to take his boat through. 

I got to the part of the canal where I was going to come off and head back along the road. At that point a railway line goes over the top of it. Underneath the viaduct I spotted a couple of tents. I have no idea if they are in use, or if they have been abandoned. 

Coming back into Worksop on a busy road. I love these painted signs which show a bit of history of the place.

 

Arriving back at the car, I turned to take one last photo before I drove home.  

I bought a map of this whole area when I bought the Warwick map. I think I will be doing some more trips to Nottinghamshire.

I am on hedgehog watch. I didn't see any last night, but this morning I found the food plate empty and it had a hog poo on it, so they came. I have just looked out ten minutes ago and saw a hog with his nose in the water, and the food has been disturbed. I will report back. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona 

PS. Edit added. We are so lucky that we still have choices to do what we like with our lives. There are such a lot of people all over the world who are living in fear. I am thinking of those in China. The whole of Shanghai is locked down. People cannot leave their homes, they cannot get the food they need. They live in high rise apartments, a lot of them are no bigger than a rabbit hutch. This is mental torture for them. If you want to know how desperate they are watch this video. A recording made at night, people screaming from their balconies and windows. Please, I beg of everyone, do not dismiss the World Economic Forum and the Great Reset as a conspiracy theory. It is not, it is happening. If we do nothing, we will go the same way. 

Lovely sunset

I've had a nice day out today. I went to Worksop. I walked 11 miles, taking in the Chesterfield Canal and part of the town centre. Here are a couple of photo's of the sun going down five minutes before I arrived back in my village at 8pm.  

 I bought a bag of hedgehog food. There is some outside now on a plate. No takers as yet at 10.15pm. I am a bit tired so it won't be long before I go to bed. I'll get the photo's from the walk sorted out and post them tomorrow. 

Cheerio for now. Toodle pip.   ilona

Hog news.

 Good morning. It's Sunny Saturday. I went shopping last night at 7.15pm. Before I went I put out some food for the hogs, because I didn't know what time I would be back. They didn't have any hedgehog food in Home Bargains, I will have to try somewhere else for that. Maybe The Range would be a good place, they seem to have a good selection of pet food. 

I went to Aldi as well, got my essentials. I was a bit earlier than usual there, and a bit quicker going round the shop. I wanted to get back and check the hog plate.

Arrived home at 9pm. The plate was empty, something had scoffed the lot. There was a lone hedgehog with it's nose in the water bowl. Hog disappeared under the hedge. Did he have it, or did the neighbourhood cats get it. That is the question. Who gets there first. Straight away I refilled the plate, with wet cat food and dry Whiskas. I noticed that the hogs prefer the dry. 

I put the shopping away, and put the outside light on so I could check if there were any takers from the plate of nosh. Ten minutes later a hog appeared, and tucked into the dry Whiskas. 

I have noticed that if I light the area and leave it on, the hogs don't seem to mind that. But if it is dark and I then put the light on when they are about, they freeze because they are frightened. 

I might rig up some extra lighting so I can video them. I can see that this is going to be my routine for a while now. Put hedgehog food out at night. 

Have a good weekend. I hope this sun stays, I want to go out. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

Garden visitors

 Busy preparing a nest for a new family. I have these feather dusters in my garden. They aren't growing, I erm, borrowed them from a friends garden, with his permission of course. A bit of decoration for my small bushes. They provide the perfect material for nest building. 

Last night I did my duty as a hedgehog mummy and put some food out. I have a desk light on the craft table and if I angle it towards the window it lights up the area close to the house. As I continued my button sewing I kept getting up to have a look to see if there was anything happening. 

A big surprise, not one hog but two. They were having a bit of a tussle. I wondered if they were playing, or if they were fighting for first scoffs at the food. One of them stayed in the shadows of the bush while this one tucked in. 

Ooooh, that was nice, now I will have a drink. That bowl of water is permanently there for any animal that wants a drink. After slurping for a minute or two it wandered off. 

A few minutes later the second one came out from under the bush. Plenty left for number two. 

Why not make the most of it and fill my boots, ha ha. 

I have no idea how to alter the settings on the camera. The pictures might have been better if I did. I left it on auto and let it do it's thing. 

It was 11pm when I went to bed, there was still quite a lot of food left on the plate. This morning I found it licked clean. Probably wandering cats came by and polished it off. 

It's a sunny start to the day, still cold though. A dog walk later. The small button heart is almost finished. I need to go to Home Bargains at some point, must remember to buy hedgehog food. Need to step up the pace on the walking, I have been a bit lazy just lately. 

Thanks for popping in. Have a good weekend. Toodle pip.   ilona

Repotting the plants

What a wild and windy day today. It went from one extreme to the other. Chucking it down then brilliant sunshine. I got out into the garden for an hour and potted up the new plants. They will have to be moved on to bigger pots, probably by the end of the summer. 

There were four plugs in one pot for £9. I separated them into four plants and put them into in smaller pots. I had one of these last year and it is doing really well. 

Here are the labels. Don't ask me names of plants. I can't remember them, and I am not interested in what they are called. I buy the ones I like the look of. I throw the labels away. 

Lunch today was mushrooms, spiralised courgette, and noodles, on two pieces of garlic bread. A lot of my food is yellow because I put turmeric in it. 

Dinner tonight was half a pouch of sliced potatoes in cheese sauce, with an egg on top. Couldn't be bothered to cook. 

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.   ilona

Garden Centre visit and a chat

I went to the Garden Centre today, Angela came with me. She has a lovely garden and likes looking around for new plants. I was amazed when we pulled in. They have never had trees in pots this big before. They looked pretty spectacular. It is a small family owned garden centre and this is not something I would expect to see here. Looks like they have stocked up for Easter. 

Only £600. I'm sure there are enough wealthy people who would love these standing at the front door of their mansions. As well as the tree they will have to buy a gigantic pot to accommodate it. 

I made a short detour into Appleby village to take a photo of this cottage. It looks lovely with all the daffs out. 

This is what I bought. Three bags of compost and some plants. Now a few £'s lighter. I have some spare pots and will plant them up tomorrow. 

A coffee chat video which I recorded this morning and set it to upload while I was out. 

After a fabulous meal, made by me of course, I am now chilling with a glass of wine. I have put food out for the hedgehog so I keep looking out of the window hoping I can see it eating. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

I can feel a rant coming on.

 More bullshit. They are on a mission to push out smart meters for gas and electricity. Here you go, the latest news.  Huge smart meter change could see gas and electricity bills slashed for home owners. Changes are set to come into play by regulators Ofgem, which may in turn result in energy bills dropping. Automatic updates will be sent regarding energy usage every half hour from next month. The change will allow suppliers to introduce more time of use tariffs. Busy times will be more expensive, quieter times will be cheaper. 

So, are you going to organise your day depending on when is the lowest cost to do your washing and cook a meal? Will you be up all night doing the hoovering and baking cakes? Then go to bed in the morning up until midday? Recording everything you want to watch on the tele so you watch at the cheapest times? 

Little bits of our lives are being taken over by Big Tech, and people are happy to let it happen. If you haven't got a smart meter don't fall for the bullshit. It isn't there to help you save money, it is to control you. Can you see the pattern now. 

Hugo Talks explains exactly what is coming. If you don't listen to me, listen to Hugo Talks. 

Tattybyes.   ilona 

Yeah but no thanks.

 Big Tech are on to me. They are asking for my help. The University of Maryland want to predict the spread of the big bug by me answering a short survey. It will only take a few minutes. 

Ilona, take a COVID-19 survey, even if you feel well

Even people who feel well can help health researchers predict the spread of COVID-19 by answering a short survey from the University of Maryland. Can you spare a few minutes to help?

Ha, yeah but no. From their track record so far, they may as well chuck a load of numbered balls into a drum and pull a few out. What is the point of predicting what might happen when they have been widely off the mark over the last two years. Why aren't they spending money on treating sick and poorly people to make them well again. Oh no, that would be too simple. If they can beef up the numbers now before the end of the year that would give them ammo for more lockdowns. It is so bloody obvious. 

Here is my short survey. I have not had as much as a sniffle in the last two years, can't remember when I last caught a cold. My natural immune system seems to be working.

Looking like a good start to the day. I may go out. ilona 

Simple. Job done.

Every year for a long time I have been paying for breakdown cover direct to the RAC. Every year the cost went up, and every year I rang them to ask why, and could they do a better deal. They always found a way of bringing it down a few £'s. I got fed up with that and when I was on the phone to my insurance broker, who I have been with for 50 years, I mentioned it to her. She said we can get you the same cover at a discount price. She sent me the blurb and when it next came up for renewal I took her up on the offer. 

I cancelled my payment to the RAC, and now I get it from Vadis Insurance Brokers.  

The RAC kept trying to entice me back for a while, with offers. Little did they know I was still covered by them, but I choose to spend my money elsewhere. I don't know if they have finally discovered what has happened, by cross checking their records, but they have stopped sending me letters. 

I have just come off the phone. It is payment time again. A simple phone call to Vadis and the job is done for another year. The price stays the same, £68. This covers, 

Misfuel

Roadside Assistance

Unlimited roadside repair time. 

Cover for your vehicle while at home. 

Recovery to UK Destination. 

Car hire or alternative transport

Cover in 50 European countries. (I won't be needing that)

Some people might question why I use a broker in the first place, why don't I look for a car insurance policy on the comparison sites. As I said, I have been with Vadis for 50 years, ever since I started driving. They know my requirements, they look for a deal which suits me, and send me a letter every year, I ring them up. I speak to the same person every time. I give them a card number which goes through their secure system, and job done. 

No trawling for hours through a bank of numbers getting a headache, and peace of mind for me. The RAC have looked after me over the years, although I have hardly ever needed them. New battery fitted at home. Recovery from 100 miles away, back home. I broke down on the motorway once and they were there pretty quickly. Can't fault them for that. Luckily we have an orange van in our village, so if he is available it would take a couple of minutes for him to get here. 

Weather not looking too good at the moment. Windy with a sprinkling of rain. I shall carry on sewing a few more buttons on the heart. I finished the last of the pasta and vegetable stew for breakfast. Billy dog walk later. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

A small button project.

It's a wild and windy day outside. I am not tempted to go for a walk. Best stay indoors and get stuck into some stitchery. Do you remember the big button heart I did? It took ages to do. Here is a smaller version, inside a hoop. I have plenty of small buttons for this. 

To kill two birds with one stone, (not literally) ha ha, I listened to an interview on the old yoooohooootooob. It was 3 hours 21 minutes long. Candace Owens was speaking with Robert Malone. Those who have been following the current situation will recognise that name. I have seen several of his interviews. Most of what he says I already know about. In this interview he joins the dots and fills in the gaps. At the end he gives some very good pointers about what he thinks will happen, and what needs to happen to get us past this. Worth a listen if you are interested and have some sewing to keep your hands busy while your brain is taking it in. I won't embed it, the link is here. 

I was looking for something on my blog. Going way back to previous posts I see that some of the videos I have featured have been removed, for various reasons. I always thought yoootooob was a sharing site, apparently not now. It sort of spoils the look of the blog, but there is nothing I can do about it. Maybe best if I just add links from now on. It won't affect my own videos which I put on here, just videos from other sources. 

Time for dinner. A portion of a deeeeelishus pasta and vegetable stew I made yesterday. 

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon. ilona

Yesterday and today

Yesterday I made some decorations for the garden. The flower shapes I cut from vinyl I got from the Scrapstore. The stalks are knitting needles. Old cd's are the base. I fastened the flowers together with wire through a button at the front and twisting it around the knitting needle at the back. A big blob from the hot glue gun holds it all in place. 

Today I went a walk. I see that Trevor has been to tidy up Angie's bench. There are fresh flowers, and planted flowers. The bird feeder has been filled up. There are two containers of water to fill up the dog bowl. The grass has been cut, and the seat has been polished. It's looking good. 

It has been sunny but cold today. I wore my big jacket with the furry hood, I didn't want to get caught out like yesterday when I did the dog walk. When the clouds cover the sun it goes really cold. There were tractors in the fields today, preparing the ground ready for planting. 

That's all for now. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.  ilona

Down the plughole

 Someone from our Heritage Group posted something on our facebuck page about remembering the Falklands War, April 82 to June 82. I see quite a lot of memorials of past wars talked about. Yes, these atrocities should be remembered. They should also be a reminder that we should never put ourselves in that position again. 

Conflicts can never be resolved by physically attacking each other. They will go off the boil from time to time, but will continue to simmer until the next flare up. It's like the shifting of the desert sands, or the changing ferocity of the sea. The calm before the storm happens with predictable consequences.  

We are in danger of spending too much time preoccupying ourselves with the past, and diverting our attention away from the current situation. The bravery of those who lost their lives should never be forgotten, and there will always be memorials. At the same time we shouldn't take our eyes off the ball, and must be prepared for what is to come. It's a precarious balance that needs to be taken into consideration. 

People think they are coming out of a two year long sleep. We've weathered the storm and now we can live our lives again. That's a comforting thought, and we all need some morsel of hope to cling on to. For what is life without hope. 

Putting aside the pockets of war which are going on in several countries, there is a bigger war which involves everyone, everywhere in the world. People don't recognise it as a war because they are willing to comply with whatever instructions they are issued with. Now we have the internet it is easy to find out what is happening in other countries. Admitted some of it will be propaganda, but increasingly a lot of news coming through these channels can be verified. 

There is a plan to suck us all down the same plughole. We have to decide whether we want to go there or not. There should always be choices, but there are those who are in the driving seat because of their vast amounts of money. They have elevated themselves into such God like positions that they can railroad us all into subservience. They have  not been elected to take over all of our lives, they put themselves there. 

They have built up such a tight infrastructure with their so called 'partners', that it is going to be hard to break that down. There are links everywhere between world leaders, politicians, the media, and the rich and famous. Those that fit the criteria and who can add money to the pot are welcomed in. If we lay down and accept every plan that they come up with we all go down the plughole. 

Be awake, be observant, and question everything. Look at the advertising that is being wheeled out now, it is all going in the same direction. Life will become more difficult for us, they will make it that way. Every new law and new rule, is designed to help them achieve their goal. They are not doing this for the good of their health, or our health, they are only doing it to increase their power.  

Slowly one by one people are waking up. Even politicians are saying I want no more of this. This article about George Christensen is one example. 

Outspoken Queensland representative for Dawson, George Christensen (LNP) gave a farewell speech to Parliament on Thursday. He gave reasons for leaving and ripped into the toxic erosion of  the Westminster standard of good governance in Australia. He criticized the political response to C, saying, we've blown up freedoms, bodily autonomy, medical privacy, human rights, many businesses and jobs. It should never have happened and yet some of it is still happening. More details of his speech is here. 

Posts like this don't come easy for me. I didn't have a privileged education, had to leave school at the first opportunity to earn a living. I write from the heart, it's how I see it. 

Thank you for popping in. Enjoy your Sunday. We have sun so I shall be going out for a walk. Toodle pip.   ilona

The weaving is finished

It's been a freezing cold day. I didn't realise how cold it was until I took Billy dog for a walk. We went along the edge of a field behind the big posh houses. I hadn't put a big jacket on because it looked sunny through the window. The wind whipped across that field and I ended up with earache. The hail and snow came down for a few minutes. The good news is that Billy's mum has a negative test result, and she looks a lot better. Her hairdresser was due so she needed to wash her hair. That's why I went an hour earlier than the normal 3pm. 

I finished this wall hanging last week. It is 24 inches by 13 inches. The woven background is old tee shirts and other scraps of material. There is one leg from a pair of tights in there.

The tree is made from coated wire the sort you buy for tying up plants in the garden. I wrapped it in tee shirt fabric and added some blanket stitch onto it to give the impression of bark. I'm not sure if I like the tree. It could have been better. 

I put blue loops on to colour match the sky.

I covered the back with the snooker table green baize that a friend gave me. It has been useful for so many jobs now. There isn't much left. The hanger is driftwood picked up from the river bank. 

I stitched the back and front together with blanket stitch. That was hellish to do. Sticking the needle through multi layers was achieved by using a pair of pliers. 

The job took longer than I thought it would. The initial idea seemed so simple, but the weaving needed to be tight so I was working with two inch wide strips. The ends had to be fastened together with a few stitches so they wouldn't come adrift. Then they had to be trimmed to get rid of some of the bulk so I could get a needle through them. I had to keep taking a break and walking away from it. But as it was taking shape I was spurred on to get it finished. 

Today I have been busy making something else, which I will show tomorrow. Now I'm going to relax with a glass of cider, and hope the weather is a bit better tomorrow. 

Have a nice weekend. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.  ilona

Interesting skies.

I was in two minds whether to go out today or not. The weather is so unpredictable. I made my mind up at 2pm, but as soon as I put my big jacket on it went black and chucked it down with rain and hail stones. Five minutes later it stopped so I thought, it's now or never. Even when the sun is out it is cold. 

I have walked this route many times before so there isn't really anything I haven't taken a picture of. With the sky changing quite quickly from black over Bills mothers, to a sunny spring afternoon, I looked up for my inspiration. 

The last photo I took as I passed the fishing pond. 

Ten minutes later it changed again and I was caught in a big downpour with the wind blowing it sideways across the fields. Hood up and keep going. 

Don't forget, use your gas and leccy sparingly, now that the price has skyrocketed. I have been trying to put my meter readings into the BG web site. Because of the volume of people wanting to do the same, the site cannot cope with the rush and has crashed. There is a link to another page which can be filled in, but it keeps telling me that my telephone number doesn't look right. How annoying, of course it's right, I do know my own telephone number. I will keep checking to see if I can access my account. 

Thanks to those walkers who have sent in their mileage. It's nice to see people are keeping up with their keeping fit routine. Only nine months to go. 😎 

Time for dinner. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.   ilona

Check in for the Walking Group.

 Good morning. It's that time again, the first day of a new month when the members of the International Walking Group check in with their progress reports. With the first three months gone, how are you all doing. Have you reached the target of 250 miles? Or do you have your own targets and did you make it? 

I am on 257 miles. The day on the canal was a good boost. 

So let's hear it from you. Don't forget, it's your health that is at stake here. The more you move about in the open air the more your body will clear your head and nourish your brain. 

Random photo from the archives. Knackered after doing a marathon, two sponsored walks back to back. 

A cold and frosty start this morning. Looking good outside now at 9.22am, the sun has come out. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.

Toodle pip.  ilona.