Monday, August 06, 2007

Shopping - Y's boots - Erewash Water Meadows

As a keen student of Art I feel I ought to be able to decide if this structure is a sculpture or a piece of equipment. But I can't !

This is just the sort of ammunition the 'Is it Art'? brigade cherish isn't it?

Whatever it is, it stands in a road island on the outskirts of Hucknall. If it is machinery I must admit that I have seen worse pieces in The Yorkshire Sculpture Park - to name just a few. The trees give some idea of scale and, while the piece is not large, it stands impressively.

This morning we did quite a large 'shop' involving Lidl and Morrisons and in Lidl, Y spotted these walking shoes/boots. I'm not sure whether they should be 'shoots' or 'boos' because they seem neither one thing nor the other.

After lunch it made sense to try them out under field conditions so we headed for the Erewash Water Meadows where they had a good testing because in places the footpath was very squelchy. A most pleasant afternoon because we can drive nearly right up to where we need to be and there's lots of places where I can rest. Lots of wildlife to study, and the mini-dragonflies with the black patches at the end of their wings, were there again. And, since our last trip I have acquired the Collins Complete British Wildlife Book which Pete (ManxIslander) speaks so highly of. And there they were 'Banded Demoiselle' and doing what they oughta! fluttering in small groups near waterside vegetation. My photograph is not nearly as good as the Wikipedia one so I haven't published it.

p.s. The rambling boots were pronounced first rate and most comfortable. And all for £7.99. I bet they will all have gone by tomorrow, and be destined for e-bay.

For evening meal I cooked grilled sausages, griddled courgettes, large mushrooms (stewed), garden-fresh carrots, just picked runner beans from our chap up the road, and mashed King Edwards with swede therein (plus three chives! ) and plenty butter. Then we had fresh English Strawberries with nothing on them. Delicious ! This we ate while watching Heston Blumenthal doing Black Forest Gateaux. The secret lies in the Kirsch ! Fascinating chef, fascinating man. I liked him from some years ago when he said how much he had been influenced by a 'book which debunks kitchen-myths' - the author's name escapes me, but I think it begins with M and I also was very impressed when I read it. Help anyone?

Tomorrow is a Karen day (cleaning) and we aim to leave her in peace, while we go to Ikea for breakfast and a mooch. You may remember our trip to the Accountant a few days ago. Our fears were not misplaced and he has recovered quite a few pounds from the Inland Revenue. Also, for a very modest fee, he will in future complete our tax-returns, keep all the stuff and communicate with them on our behalf. What a relief ! They used to drive my Dad mad and I think I have the gene. He is proper Chartered Accountant and looks after Steven's affairs too. We went to him on Sreven's recommendation and he is yet another of the extremely competent, successful young people who I think us old codgers are lucky to have.

I have a sinking feeling that I have forgotten something I should have mentioned; someone's comment or something. If so I apologise ! My quote today is one that appeared on my iGoogle page.

"His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy"

Hard to believe but it has just started raining. Sleep tight - Catch you tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Flying Bedstead Sculpture item 15 Drive Trail of Hucknall Heritage leaflet Available a Durban House also- A walk though the heritage of Hucknall ---- very upset neither Dad's Shop or ME get a mention Reg

Anonymous said...

I assume 'Reganonymous' is not Aonymous 1, but is he Anonymous (untitled)? If the latter i'v read a lot of his earlier stuff, including Eskimo Nell.

Re Jill’s comment on Sun blog:
It often seems as though I don’t understand MOST of current vocabulary. The meanings of very many words has changed, not, as in times past, over decades or even centuries, but within years or months. Some words, and many combinations of words, now mean nothing (or considerably less) to me.
I think there was a lot to be said for Esperanto. My grandfather was an aficianado and wrote to people all over the world. He gave me one lesson and it seemed very simple. The rules of grammar were absolute and many words easily translatable, with a lot of Latin roots. The only phrase I still remember offhand is ‘snako in herbo’. I’ll bet you cannot work out what that means!
And why do Forms so often seem to ask ‘impossible-to-answer’ questions? eg: to a disabled but perfectly healthy person, “How long have you been ill?”
I just hope to god that there is no afterlife…
(notice that trick? Does it have a name? I don’t think it is an oxymoron)
… because that will probably mean …
I wrote that this morning and never finished the sentence; now I have forgotten what I was going to say, although I know it was something very profound.
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