Showing posts with label Owl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owl. Show all posts

Wednesday 16 May 2018

Meandering Waffle


I managed to survive the big day on Sunday, 'Textile Day' was a roaring success and by a clever trick I survived this day - I stayed at home!  It appears the multitudes did arrive, did spend money, did buy loads of cards in handfuls, did gossip, admire and altogether have a real good time.  I had better, I stayed in bed.
Tuesday however I was warned of a group arriving to visit, this soon occurred.  One woman arrived just after ten when she claimed they all would be meeting, ignoring the women gathering outside.  Eventually another woman arrived and then they came together to the prearranged meeting with one of my many bosses.  However still they women arrived, all of dubious ages, as there was a second group meeting here but not informing us, and they happily gathered themselves together slowly until they all arrived much later than planned.  It was however not their fault.  
This at a time when we have just begun to replace the heating system therefore half the museum is out of bounds.  Plumbers and staff, not me I must not leave my post, spent the day moving, clearing, carrying and hiding things while I attended to the ladies.  


While one meeting went quickly, as quickly as any all female meeting can go, the other group sauntered around examining each item and discussing its merits and meaning. I did not listen in, I had my own opinions.  The girls happily spent much time on each exhibit, and some it must be said are very well done, before coming in to the shop on the way out and spending money!  This was pleasing.  Such exhibitions do not attract great crowds during the year so to see groups making the most of them and enjoying themselves, and they appeared happy, was a good thing.


The laptop has been playing up.  It has been running slow and I have run all the proper items to speed things and also removed and altered other items.  On top of this the online banking has not allowed me in, so I must spend time changing all the info to see how much I have not got.  All this takes time as I also have been sorting out all the items on those memory sticks which are lying around.  These have become somewhat confused and there are several items (big items) on more than one disk and often twice on that!  
During this process, in between the grunts, swear words and oops I've closed it down somehow, reactions I have been discovering old pictures.  This one taken at Sandbanks a while back.  How lovely to be there when the sun shines, or indeed at other times.  At one time I considered moving there but it never felt right, which is a pity as I miss the sea and friends are there, but they at least are happy so that is one thing I suppose.


This Lightship was based at St Katherine's Dock positioned as you can see near Tower Bridge.  These one time busy docks had been transformed into residences of a variety of ships and the warehouses around contained shops etc and flats above for the upcoming rich.  In the late 70's I wandered down Wapping High Street, until then I had always known High Streets as laces full of shops and businesses but here I discovered, in between the empty spaces left by WW2 bombing, towering warehouses on both sides of the street.  A bit run down and seedy with the occasional burnt out church or ruin but quiet enough at the time.  How many people worked alongside these buildings?  How many famous or predecessors of famous people walked up Wapping Steps off shipping in days gone by.  How many foggy London nights saw ships rocking gently in the tide?  In the 70's all this had gone, only an occasional moored barge on the far side reflected the distant past. When I wandered there in the 90's these warehouses were now expensive flats with their own 'Oddbins' wine shop at the foot in easy reach for the trendy residents.  The two up, two down, houses of the late Victorian era had not survived the council planners even if they had survived the blitz.  Modern housing, expensive at that, filled the area outside the ex-warehouses and sleek cars sped past where once growling lorries or horse and carts had pulled their loads.  


Now you folks with any sense will regard this picture as boring.  There is a reason for this, it is a boring picture!  It is one I took some 20 years ago when I first had the bike and sauntered out around the area looking at the sky, dangerous on a bike, and watching green fields with strange crops therein.  Having sent so many years in the concrete jungle this was refreshing to the eyes and the locals could not see it because it was just always there!  I could see it and enjoy it, no matter how boring such pictures appear to be.  All around that road there were fields, they must be similar today, crops pushing into the sky cheering the farmer and possibly encouraging wildlife.  I am not so sure such fields help wildlife myself though the number of fields left fallow under EU rules has meant these fields do encourage birds and bees and other creatures to thrive.  I did however here a warning that rabbits, once covering the UK have disappeared from many areas.  In Scotland some 80% of rabbits have gone, about 60% in the rest of the UK.  Why I did not hear but many birds are also failing, sparrows are less in evidence and the Swifts that must soon appear are less in  number each year.  Maybe people have taken to eating rabbits rather than use foodbanks...?



Tuesday 25 July 2017

What a Day!


They were queueing outside the door before ten this morning.  At the bells dinging on the Town Hall clock I opened the door and looked at the few in the queue and found the few went round the side of the building and down to the gate!  There must have been folks standing along the street but I dare not look out....
It took two of us to man the till and one to man the phone and deal with folks booking workshops for the kids!  We took the first money at ten and the queue just went on and on and on...  When there was a short break I checked the watch, 11:35 it read!
There were hundreds of them, kids bringing parents and grandparents and a few parents and grandparents bringing kids.  We soon ran out of small change and we had refreshed this three times! The short break was just that, we never got a chance to move and discover how things were going on elsewhere as we had more folks coming in no time to stop.  Add to this the trouble of controlling two, three or more kids, the need to offer them trails and things to look for, and some coming in while others go out, you can imagine the controlled chaos.  Occasionally I asked "Are these all yours?" To receive the gleeful answer "No!"  There were questions re prices and kids wishing to buy this and that at the same time as this was going on, VIPs (they say) coming in to look (One councillor actually paid an entrance fee!  I made sure he had his receipt in case he needs to claim it back) and the VIPs then left speaking to everyone, well one i know spoke to me at least, then the people returned and he got shifted aside.

  
It was after one before I could be relieved for a tea stop.  My ten o'clock tea had been sipped twice in the morning and was somewhat tepid by one, and even then I got caught up in one of the two complaints we received.  However I soon fixed that - I put the kettle on and waited till she had gone home.
Only then could I visit the owls sitting quietly in the big hall.  Five of them just sitting staring at folks and waiting till the camera was focused on them before turning their heads around!  Brutes!  These owls are lovely things.  Five different sizes, all apparently happy, none fussy about the visitors, kept at a  discreet distance, and one keen to sit on the ladies hand rather than the stool provided.  These creatures are worth a look up close if you ever get the chance.

   
Not much chance to take other pictures today.  Far too busy at first with the till and the folks arriving and as always we have to be careful taking pictures with children about.  On top of that I was too tired by then to care!  The place was flooded with people, the temperature rising and I just wanted to go home for the Swedish massage (which has not appeared) and sleep for 24 hours.  
The magician, the card trick man the potion tray (very popular as they all took small bottles filled with potions home with them) and all the other things appeared to be popular.  Only two complaints were heard but out of 500 or so visitors that's not bad. 
Now I just wish to sleep...



Monday 28 October 2013

A Good Dying Day!



For days they have been on TV and Radio informing us of the impending storm. The papers of course were hoping for another 'Hurricane' such as blew through in 1987, it did not arrive.  What did arrive was a storm indeed, houses were damaged, tall vehicles turned on their sides, trees fallen over, trains halted because of, "leaves in the line, attached to the tree," shop fronts damaged and lots of rain hammering into the already sodden earth.  Sadly at least four people were killed, two of them quite young.  
The media reports were desperate to build this up into a howling gale equal to 87, the fact that it failed did not stop the large pictures and hyped up reports. Certainly the wind reached 79 miles an hour around here this morning, it did make a mess of my hair, however little real damage occurred overall.  In the afternoon however I noted the remarkable clear sky.  The sun shining at an angle gave a very clear light.  The gale had stopped the Sainsbury's heavy lorries running around, the road traffic was lessened and aircraft were not landing at nearby Stansted. All this contributed to a clear sky along with the wind clearing the air and leaving an interesting sparkling light.  I attempted to capture this with my wee camera but it was not easy as no decent subject showed itself.  However the owl on top of the aged drinking fountain in the town did reflect the light brightly and the sky behind was a lovely blue.  It was the best I could do in the circumstances.  The drenched bench did not quite work.
It strikes me as unusual that this is almost November and the temperature is still mild.  Does this indicate the winter will be harsh from next month on I wonder?  Lasting until April probably? It may be the jet stream moving south may give us a mild winter, I hope so, just to annoy the energy people!


The title?  In Edinburgh such 'storms' are referred to as "A good drying day," by the housewifes.

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