Town Mouse/Country Mouse

I suppose after years and years of working in the field of physical regeneration and development, it will eventually start to become interesting!  I'm finding myself taking note of civic regeneration projects and admiring the good ones.  Not something I used to have much interest in as a confirmed country mouse.

I took the train into Sheffield a while back and was impressed by the station redevelopment of a few years ago.  It has really bedded into the townscape now and is well used and obviously well-loved too. 

I think Sheffield is much the better for having a station which is no longer dark, murky and unattractive.  This tells a much nicer story of the city to its visitors.  You are greeted by a sweeping wall of stainless steel with running water pouring down one side (the message being, it doesn't rain ALL the time??) .

Opposite the wall is a series of stone steps and more running water, great for sitting out on.

And a lovely fountain.  Actually the whole walking route from the city centre to the station is pretty good but I didn't start taking photos until I got to the station so can't show you that bit - another time.

But you know me - my true love is the countryside.  Later that evening I took the dogs out for a sunny evening walk in the big field at the end of our road.  Happy sunny cows littered our path, scratching themselves on stones and ignoring Minty's frenzied barks.

And here a random pic I found on my phone....what do you suppose the horse was buying in the shop??  Or maybe just sheltering from the rain?

 

 

No major progress on the dieting front but a couple more bouts of exercise.  I had a quiet weekend by recent standards.  Golf on Friday afternoon which we lost (narrowly).  It was a great match played in brilliant spirit and I was only a tiny bit annoyed  that my former pairs partner raised her game from not very good when she played WITH me last to excellent when she was playing AGAINST me!!  That said, we only lost on the 18th so no disgrace.

 

After the golf it was a dash into Sheffield for a 60th birthday party.  It should have been an excellent party but he'd put the band in the beer garden then not many people came outside cos it was chilly and the party became a bit divided.  I think one big room is always a better option to be fair.  So, I didn't drink more than a couple of glasses of wine and we came home early.  I'm sure the birthday boy had a good time though judging on the number of people there and that's the main thing.

 

Saturday - boring chores and feeling grumpy that Wednesday lost their 19 game unbeaten run.....booo!!  To avoid the feeling of doing nothing all day I took the dogs up Bradwell Edge for a couple of hours in the evening and we had a good walk.  Photos will follow.

 

Sunday - I forewent (is that a word?) golf to mow the lawn and cut the hedge at my old house.  Double boo!!  Luckily I had anticipated my likely grumpiness and asked Rich to come home early from his golf.  Which he did and we ended up having a lovely afternoon in the sunshine.  We went to the Chatsworth Country Fair but at 3pm they still wanted to charge us £20 each to get in which seemed a bit steep for the privilege of a couple of hours spending MORE money!  So instead we took the dogs for a long walk round Chatsworth park, along the river, up a massive hill, across the biggest park/field I've walked over and back through the estate village Edensor (pronounced Enser) to the House where we'd parked.

 

After a leisurely cream tea in Edensor we headed back to the car, then realised we were only 40 minutes away from the Red Arrows so decided to hang around for them. We sat out on a grassy bank opposite the house in the glorious sunshine mucking around with the dogs and chatting.  After a while the Red Arrows arrived and conducted an awesome display of aerobatics right over our heads.  it was amazing and lovely too.  Minty and Shelagh barked their little heads off but didn't seem overly concerned and it became, belatedly, a gorgeous weekend.  I haven't uploaded all my photos yet but this one is my favourite....awwww....