Saturday 1 August 2015

Five On Friday (on Saturday)

Hello, thank you for calling in.  Today I am joining in with Amy at Love Made My Home so please feel free to hop over there with a click and see who else is joining in this week.  The weather here seems to have forgotten that it's summer - it's mostly overcast, we had rain for nine days out of ten and it's been bloomin' cold.  We have even thought about lighting the fire in the evenings.  I am officially having a moan.
 
I have cabin fever: although the Best Beloved is "on holiday", I am not (this can often be a source of tension for teachers' spouses and I am no exception).  I have been very busy and when I have had some free time, the weather has not been good enough for us to get out and make the most of it.  It's driving me nuts.  We met my parents for lunch in Church Stretton on Monday but it was so cold and wet that we didn't wander around the town, camera in hand, we just dived into the pub as quickly as possible, which was a shame because the town is very picturesque.  It's the blog post that got away.  (I should add that lunch was very good, thanks Dad, as was the company.) 
 
On Thursday, I knew that I would be free just after 1pm so before I went out, I asked the Best Beloved to organise an afternoon outing.  This is always a risky move as he is not good at organising anything, but he is good at recognising when I need to be "out".  So when I arrived home, off we went.  As we were leaving the house I noticed that he was carrying his fleece and walking boots so I asked him if I would need mine?  Oh, yes.  If I hadn't noticed, we would have gone without them, me wearing short sleeves and dolly shoes.  I did say that he is not good at organising things.
 
We got into the car and he decided to program his new satnav.  "I know the way so I don't need to use it, I just want to try it out," he said.  Fifteen minutes later he was still pressing buttons and I was Quite Tetchy.  I may not have been able to hide my tetchiness and he may have snapped at me.  It didn't augur well.  He eventually started up the car and we drove to Ellesmere in Shropshire's "Lake District" (don't get too excited, gentle reader, it's not like Cumbria).  Lovely, I thought.  We haven't been here for a couple of years, we can go for a walk by the mere and then go and look at the canal boats in the basin.  So, the Best Beloved parked the car, walked over to the pay-and-display machine...and discovered that he hadn't brought enough change to pay the £1.70 fee.  As I said, he's not good..."It's expensive here," another driver said to him, "It's free at Colemere."  So he got back in the car and drove us to Colemere.
 
Colemere is lovely too, but we went there in April, which you can read about here if you'd like to, and I can't deny that I was a little disappointed.  By this time it was 2.30pm and I was starving.  The Best Beloved had made a scrummy picnic (credit where credit's due), but it was too cold to sit out so we ate it in the car, in the car park.  The view through the windscreen was...ok.  Then we put on our boots, our fleeces and, in my case,  a scarf (in July!) and off we went for a tramp about. 

Goodness me, the wind was cold!  It was sheltered in the woods but when we came out beside the canal, the wind was whipping up the waters.  We didn't linger there for very long, certainly not long enough for Mr Impatient to take a cracking photograph of a canal boat under the canal bridge.  However, by the time we got back to the car the wind had dropped and the sun had come out.  It was quite pleasant - I took off my scarf and even unzipped my fleece.  It was also time to go home.

So, here are my Five photographs of Colemere on a cold day in July, rather than Five photographs of a warm, sunny day in Church Stretton in July.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thank you, Amy, for hosting these Friday parties for us, they are fun. 
 
I do hope to see you soon, but if the weather doesn't improve I fear I shall continue to have nothing particularly interesting to share with you. 
 
Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x

 


31 comments:

  1. Your photos look beautiful although you said it was so cold there. We are having warm temps here in southern California and we'd love some much needed rain. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. My best wishes to you :)

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    1. Thank you. I had forgotten about your drought - it has been in the news here. I suppose it just proves the truth of the saying that one man's meat is another man's poison. x

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  2. Such an interesting trip. Loved your photos! Have a great weekend.

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  3. I know how you feel about being trapped in by the weather. I've felt the same all this week and it has been cold and windy hasn't it? I've been to Ellesmere a couple of times but not Colemere so it was lovely to see your photos. Here's hoping that summer will return for a few more week or even days:)

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  4. We love the antiques mill in Church Stretton - well worth a visit for mooch round for a bargain xx

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    1. Ooh yes Trudie, I love that place. We did spend a little time in there but not nearly long enough for my liking. x

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  5. I 've only just joined Five On Friday and it's been so interesting looking at all the different blogs Weather has been the same here in Essex this last week, but it's getting warmer day by day.. Shame you didn't get to see the town, but a pub meal is nice! Super photos.

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    1. Thank you Chris - and welcome to the Friday party. x

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  6. Your husband sounds a bit like mine - especially the sat nav fiddling. He's also the teacher's spouse and is v grumpy when he has to get for work and I'm sleeping in. Glad you managed a bit of an outing. This summer is getting me down too. It's the cold really as much as the rain. Supposed to be better later today. I get very jealous of my sister who lives near Brighton as her weather is always much better than ours in NW.

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    1. Brighton is certainly sunnier, Doris, but I wouldn't want to live in the south of England any more - I don't think I could cope with the traffic! It's warmed up a bit this week here but I am still in long sleeves. x

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  7. I think you get much better photos when it's cold and dull, too much sun can be overrated! Glad you've been out for some fresh air, hope the weather perks up a bit or you'll be in making a hat and gloves to go with your scarf. x

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    1. I hadn't considered that - thank you! It just goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose. x

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  8. I think you get much better photos when it's cold and dull, too much sun can be overrated! Glad you've been out for some fresh air, hope the weather perks up a bit or you'll be in making a hat and gloves to go with your scarf. x

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  9. Great photos, shame about the weather. It really is not good here either, we had a mini heat wave at the beginning of July and its gone downhill from there. I am hoping for a better August, fingers crossed.

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  10. The photos are gorgeous - even if the day was not wonderful.

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  11. Lovely of hubby to organise this for you! Shame about the weather, but your photos are still beautiful! Thank you so much as always for joining in, sorry that I am so late visiting, the weekend rather got away from me. I hope that you had a great weekend and are having a great week too! xx

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    1. Thank you Amy, I do look forward to reading everyone's Fives. You are a star organising it for us. xx

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  12. It sounds like you had a great day despite the weather. Is that a tourist boat on the canal? Beckie

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    1. Thank you for hopping over, Beckie. Some of the boats are privately owned and some are hired, for a day, a weekend or a week. I'm not sure about this one. x

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  13. Thank you so much for coming by and thereby making me come by and repay the compliment. Lovely pics of what seems to have been a fab day.

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  14. Lovely photos. The weather at the moment is awful. It is quite cold and windy here in Cumbria. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I learned myself to crochet last year. I still find it difficult. I struggle to follow a pattern. I like Youtube as I can follow when watching someone crochet. It takes time but you will grasp it eventually. Joan at www.aviewtothefells.com

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    1. Thank you, Joan, and thanks for the crochet tip, I'll give it a whirl. x

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  15. great photos! Tiggywinkle was always my fav!!!!

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  16. The weather has been disappointing for summertime hasn't it? Many an evening I'm sitting on the sofa under a pile of blankets toying with the idea of turning on the heating! Lovely photos of the lake - Shropshire's not a part of the world that I know well so always nice to see some pictures. Judy.

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    1. Thank you, Judy. It's been quite ridiculous - several people I know have put their heating on. In July! x

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