Happy New Year
A belated Happy New Year to all my fellow ‘ramblers’! I have stumbled upon a word which I quite like which describes my ‘e-ramblings’ well, ‘gallimaufry’, which apparently means ‘a confused medley, or a jumble of things’!! Enough said!
Wind and Rain
And what a start to the year weather-wise! The wind has howled its way through the past few days nonstop, accompanied by lashings of cold, stinging rain! Hanging out the washing was like taking my life in my hands! At one point I could hear the next gust of wind hurtling up the adjoining field sounding similar to an express train! I fully expected to be lifted off my feet and deposited far from home, next item of laundry in hand! Thankfully that didn’t happen and I’m still here! The Mary Poppins experience and not an umbrella in sight!
Bird of Prey Experience
Talking of experiences, at the beginning of December I was treated to a ‘bird of prey experience’, the highlight of which was holding a golden eagle! Amazing! She weighed as much as a turkey, about eleven pounds, which I am reliably informed is nearly five kilos in new money! It was a freezing cold afternoon somewhere on the outskirts of Nottingham of Sheriff fame! Something one doesn’t get to do every day, that’s holding the eagle not travelling to Notts, which can be done if and when!
Wayne Manor
Whilst in the vicinity we also visited Wollaton Hall, a very impressive building, apparently used as Wayne Manor in the new Batman film! The building is stuffed with equally well stuffed animals and birds, and hosted a craft fair on the day we were there! A definite place to visit in better weather!
The Festive Season
Apart from that not much has occurred since I last spoke to you! Of course we’ve eaten our way through the festive season and emerged reasonably unscathed into another new year! At least we must be grateful for small mercies, the weather is about 10 degrees warmer than it was this time last year! It was a case of scraping the ice off the house windows to see out! And it was the first time it had ever frozen the water solid in the redundant dustbin which stood under the downspout for garden watering purposes! We had to buy a new bin as the force of the ice had split the plastic!
The Life of Cars
Cars I find are unpredictable things! Embarking on a trip to our local ‘town’ a few days ago a strange ‘clanking’ emanated from somewhere on the vehicle! After inspecting the outside and finding nothing untoward we gradually realised that the central locking had taken on a life of its own! Presumably fed up with being told when and where to perform it decided it was going to switch itself on and off, and on and off…you get the picture! Not only that but when the vehicle was stopped for petrol the windows decided to wind up and down willy-nilly! Herbie all over again! Talk about going bananas!! Anyway, after a small repair to a broken wire in the door the noise still persisted! But… when the garage fetched it a couple of days later there was apparently no noise and the diagnostic contraption couldn’t find anything wrong!! Grrr…!! Give me back my Morris Traveller and windows which wind up and down with a handle!! What do you think?
Thanks for your time!
The Bumpkin Rambler xx
