Day Trip to the Seaside

Easter Saturday, a fine sunny day, perfect for a trip to the seaside with 2 friends.

Set off on the 9.10 train to Cleethorpes. Friends delighted when I produced bucks fizz and plastic wine glasses from my bag. Hilarity as tried to pour without spilling on table. Poor chap occupying fourth seat asked to move – not because he was getting off, but because we were getting lary.

First time for me in Cleethorpes.  Very excited because I love the sea, having grown up on the south coast.  Living in landlocked Sheffield, had not seen the sea for 3 years. Friends said the sea at Cleethorpes is in fact the Humber estuary and very tidal. When tide is out, there are acres of sand flats, so you can barely even see the sea then.  Well, if I go all the way to the seaside and don’t see the sea, there’ll be trouble.  Fortunately when we got off the train, the sea was all there.

View from the pier

On the pier

Pretty awful run-down seaside tat around the station. Pier had been cut down to a few yards in wartime. Traditional seaside donkeys and hardy British bucket-and-spaders despite chilly wind.

Strolled down the prom to the bird sanctuary and were passed by a delightful miniature steam train going ‘toot-toot’!  Everyone waved.

Stopped at the point where the line of zero longitude crosses the east coast, marked by a signpost and a metal plate in the pavement ‘Greenwich Meridian Longitude – zero’.

Greenwich Meridian marker

Found the miniature train station complete with traditional signage, men in railway uniforms of yesteryear, and a stout man in a bowler hat announcing departures via a cordless microphone. A fusion of old and new in one fat controller!

Then came across a wonderful boating lake, big, with 3 islands and a host of ducks, geese and swans. And tourists trying to row against the stiff breeze off the North sea. I have sea legs so insisted we join in. Seven quid for 30 minutes, he said, but we filled our boots for an hour and no-one minded.

On the boating lake

Boat man held boat steady as we clambered out, and asked him where’s the best place round here for fish and chips? Steele’s in the market place, without a doubt.  Found Steele’s, and even though it was nearly 3pm and past the lunchtime rush, a queue out the door. Worth the wait. Slap-up fish and chips, traditional style. Comes with a pot of tea and bread-and-butter. Pot of tea comes with a jug of hot water – the mark of quality. Dessert menu included banana split, knickerbocker glory, and spotted dick. Wonderful. But a bridge too far for us.  Besides, there were freshly-baked donuts to buy back on the prom. And sticks of rock. And cinder toffee.

Seaside rock shoppe

Back on the prom, the sea had gone!

Bye-bye seaside,

Till next time,

L x

 

Big Changes Ahead

Stressful times at KR. This morning I simply had to get out of the house so I grabbed my bag and keys, and set off walking. I considered walking and walking and walking all day, but after a brisk half-hour I felt calmer. It is unseasonably warm and sunny here, and I turned homewards, thinking of a cup of tea in the garden and some reassurance with the OH.

I have just four more days left in my job of 16 years. My redundancy is going to be paid in tiny monthly instalments, instead of the lump sum I am entitled to, and was counting on, since I have no other job to go to yet.  I have to take my employer to court in order to get the lump sum.  This could take months and will incur costs. Financially, this is a huge worry. In the meantime I have to turn up and do my job, through gritted teeth and with a false smile on my face. I am very sad about this because I have enjoyed this job very much, and I never thought it would end like this.

Still, fingers crossed that I will get another job soon, even if it’s only temporary.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a dear friend in the city centre. The sun was shining. We took our picture reflected in these great spherical water features in the Peace Gardens.

Water feature in Sheffield Peace Gardens

Onwards and upwards!

L xx

An Award!

An Award!

Jackie at Knittingwithheart has kindly nominated me for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. Thank you so much Jackie for following my blog and for thinking of me. It’s almost a year since I started this blog and not only is it great fun to be part of an online community, but it also keeps me motivated. I aim to post once a week and I like to be disciplined about that and make sure I have something new to share.

I am loving the beautiful copper sun symbol of this award, and amazingly enough we have had lots of sun here in Sheffield, UK. But this is northern UK sun. So it’s not ever so warm, not warm enough to make you uncomfortable, but pleasantly warm.  Warm enough to have the windows open and to go outside without a jacket or a cardigan. Our sun also hides behind clouds quite a lot and sends us the odd shower, so you don’t really need your sunglasses on because there’s no harsh glare, and the summer rain makes the garden grow, nice and lush.

Ha! I’m such a northern European, eh?

We have lots of trees in our garden so it’s nice and shady, perfect for maintaining my pasty-white northern European features. Sometimes I move my chair to sit in the sun, just for the sheer novelty of feeling its warmth. As for ‘getting a tan’, that’s more likely to happen whilst I’m out and about in the fields walking the dogs.

My shady garden

The round thing on the left is a copper sun garden ornament hanging on the climbing rose – how appropriate for this post!

The roses are just starting and their scent is wonderful.  The honeysuckle is well-established and rampant, covering the entire trellis from wall to wall, and because Spring was so late this year we have honeysuckle at the same time as the roses.

Competing with the honeysuckle on the trellis and just about holding its own, is my clematis, the gloriously-named Crystal Fountain Fairy Blue.

When the outer petals fade and drop off, the centres stay, leaving us with little puffballs of blue dotted around the trellis.

Also competing with the honeysuckle on the trellis is the rare species known as Little Herb.

View from the kitchen window – Herbie

He likes to hang out on the wall with the stone lion, overseeing the garden and plucking bees off the honeysuckle.

But back to the point – the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees. I am very happy to nominate these wonderful and inspirational blogs: Buzy Day, Stitch and Purl, All Kinds of Knitting, Lana Plantae, Agujas Blog, Skyscrapers and String, Measured and Slow, All She Wants to do is Knit, Montana Designs, Hollis Plample, A Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventure, Introverted Knitter, My Spare Moments, Pipknits.

Spread the sunshine, until next time!

L x