Friday evenings are usually my favourite part of the week....

.... but not tonight! Just after half time and it's Blades 3 - 1 Owls in the Sheffield Derby game. Looks like we'll have to suffer the gloating of the red and whites on Monday!

Anyway, the purpose of this message is to update you on the 2 days off work which I warned you of in my last post.

Thursday - set off at about 10 a.m., headed for Accrington to find the craft shop the Duchess wanted to see. It's certainly well-stocked and we spent a good 30 minutes looking around (Well - Sheila was looking - I was around!) On the way, and about 3 miles outside Accrington, we decided we needed a bite and a cuppa and ended up in a Little Chef. Nice food but expensive!! The Duchess had the Early Starter breakfast and I had a Bacon Burger. With two teas the bill was £17.50!! Still, we were on a "day out" so who cares!

Our next stop was the RSPB reserve at Marshside near Southport. It's an "open site" with no charge and, basically, roadside parking. The hides we visited weren't bad but we saw nothing unusual. Enjoyed it all the same! Took some pictures of course - here's a couple -
View from Nel's hide:

Serenity personified:

We then drove into Southport - somewhere else we've never been and to be honest - we were a little surprised at the size of the place. I checked later and found the population is around 100,000 so as I said - bigger than I thought.

We parked the car up on the Promenade and then, after paying 20 pence for a pee (!!!), we wandered into the town centre for a look around.

There is a fabulous "shopping street" called Lord St: and after a stroll down there, we headed back toward the prom On the way we passed by the smallest pub in Britain: I'd been in touch with a good mate of mine who lives in Southport and we'd arranged to meet up with him after he'd finished work. Dave (or Penfold as he is known amongst Belper Town faithful) had tipped me off about parking and the best fish & chip shops - y'know - all the important stuff!

The three of us enjoyed a fish & chip supper and then Dave headed back to the gym (where he'd been going before we waylaid him! Mind you - he didn't take much persuading that a fish supper was a more attractive option than the gym!) and we set off back to Sheffield, arriving home about 9 pm - tired but having enjoyed a smashing day.

Today - taking it relatively easy. Took Sheila's car to the garage to arrange MOT and servicing (week after next) then hopped a bus into Sheffield city centre to get meat and veg for the weekend from Sheffield Castle Market. Back home - lounged around, Sheila cooked steak and chips for tea and now you're up to date (Oh BTW - Blades won 3-2 in what I understand was a cracking game. I recorded it and will watch it later.)

Tomorrow - Belper v Sheffield FC. Should be a good game and the Sheffield side should include former Belper Town captain Jon Hobson who I guess will be "up for it" to say the least!

I'll tell you all about it on Sunday! (Right now I'm going "incommunicado" before my Sheffield United mates start texting/e-mailing/facebooking me!) See Yer!