Saturday - and no footy to watch!

What to do instead?

Well - we're thinking about nipping out to the Bluebell Wood for a look. Our neighbours recommended it as worth a visit. They were there yesterday and reckon the bluebells are at their best right now. Anyway - we'll see because the grass wants cutting again, the hedges need a trim and there's lotsa dandelions to dispose of on the Nortoner Towers Estate!

Belper Town's season finished on Easter Monday with a 3-5 home defeat to Leek Town. Pity Andy Carney couldn't go out on a win but it was an exciting game. What the Sun would call "an 8-goal thriller". Albums are here:

As ever - Tim Harrison's first....

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/LkTwnH1011/index.html

And mine - (actually complimented by Mr Harrison as one of my best of the season!!)

http://nortoner09.jalbum.net/2011%2004%2025%20BTFC%203-5%20Leek/

Pity it took me all season to get it right!!

Not done much else apart from work this week. We were given the option of taking yesterday off to watch the Royal Wedding or going into work and taking a day later in the year. Since we finish early on Fridays anyway - it made sense to me to work in the morning and have a full day later on.

Still editing the pictures of our day out at Cromford - I promise I'll get some on  here soon - but I've taken a heck of a lot of pictures in the last week or two and I'm still sorting through them.

Here's a couple to be going on with....

Threatening sky at Glapwell - last Saturday - the rain never came although we found out when we got back to Sheffield that there had been heavy thunderstorms with rain and hail! 

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Glapwell again - pre-match warm up - Jon Froggatt decided Matt Plant needed to cool down rather than warm up!

Apple blossom on our tree at Nortoner Towers.

Nowt else to tell you - but I'll do more later. Eggs and Bacon now - then Bluebell Wood,  then cutting grass - so I'm not sure when I'll do more and it will definitely be later!

Cheers!

Will somebody please slow down the clock!

A week since my last post! Sorry - that's not "more frequently" as I promised.

Anyway - still busy editing pictures and I'll post a couple of albums maybe this evening. (hopefully!)

It's been a busy week. We decided on Tuesday that I'd book Wednesday afternoon off work and maybe go to watch Belper Town at Market Drayton but after thinking about it and after a text exchange with my mate Tim Harrison, we decided not to go. It's a 2 hour trip from Nortoner Towers and it would have been close to midnight when we got home. With work on Thursday morning that might have been a bit too much at my age!.

Tim went of course - and recorded a fantastic 4-2 win for the mighty Nailers!! See his album here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/MrktDrytnTwnA1011/index.html

Still took Wednesday afternoon off and went to the Cromford Canal (more good advice from Mr Harrison!) and had a grand couple of hours wandering around, enjoying the sunshine. It's a lovely spot - as you'll see from the pictures when I've finished editing them! For reasons unknown, almost all of the pics I took are badly overexposed and a lot of adjustment is needed in Photoshop before they are good enough to put on here.

Saturday meant a trip to watch Belper Town at Glapwell. A ground where we've never won apparently! Anyway - that was put right as Belper emerged 3-0 winners. Tim's album is here:

http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/GlpwllA1011/index.html

Needless to say - I'm still editing  mine! (Because it's been a very busy weekend)

Sunday - up early and a long drive to Folkestone to meet up with our son and daughter-in-law. They drove down from Rotterdam, through the Channel Tunnel and we met up for a few hours (including Fish and Chips of course) There were one or two items which our son wanted to get back to Holland and so we decided a day out would be perfect. We've done it before and it makes for a long day but it's great to see them! Easter eggs were handed over (they are back on the diet Tuesday I believe!)  and they brought us a bag of small gifts from their recent holiday in Israel.

It was a beautiful day and we got back about 8:00 pm last night. As you can see - the tide was out!

Today - off to Belper this afternoon to see the final game of the season and the final game of Andy Carney's tenure as team manager. The new Chairman was at Glapwell and also the new "Executive Director of Sport" - or so the whisper around the ground said. Dunno who this guy is - there has been no official announcement from the Club so we'll wait and see.

The new manager is yet to be appointed. Applications have to be in by 30th April apparently.

Who knows - the changes might be a bit too much for us. The Duchess and I have to decide where we'll be watching our footie next season. It will  be a great pity if one of the main attractions of Belper Town for us - the "friendly" atmosphere - is lost but we'll see.

Now it's time for bacon and eggs and then off to Belper to say "Goodbye" to a top bloke, Andy Carney. 

I Took A Blogging Break....

.... but I'm back with a re-design - see how it goes - not sure if it's improved the blog at all. Anyway - to tell you what's been happening....

The real highlight is a win on the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice Lottery! A couple of weeks ago, totally unexpectedly, a nice cheque for £1,000 dropped on my doormat. That's our annual fishing holiday paid for then! (I could have bought a new lens, tripod, etc., etc., but felt it made more sense to pay the balance of our holiday!) The Lottery is about £4.50 per month... why not join and help the Hospice in it's incredible work? Maybe you could win a grand!

The site link is here:
http://www.bluebellwood.org/

As for football. Well, Belper Town's season continues to fizzle out. A 5-1 win over Market Drayton at home proved to be a bit of a false dawn. Pictures are here (Snapper's)
http://www.timharrisonphotography.com/NailersAction/MDTH1011/index.html

and here: (Mine)
http://nortoner09.jalbum.net/2011%2004%2002%20BTFC%205-1%20Market%20Drayton/ 

The team then lost in the Presidents Cup Final - rather too easily as it happened - our only strike on goal was the penalty  kick that made it 3-1 to Lancaster City. A draw with Lincoln United and two defeats "on the road" leaves three games to play.

You can see all Snappers pictures from the Cup Final, etc on the Belper Town Fans Forum:
http://joeywinson.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general

Scroll around in there click on the "Photos" threads and catch up!

The new Belper Town Chairman was installed this week and we'll see what the effect is. He certainly sounds enthusiastic and talks a good fight,  judging by the press release but we'll see if he can turn the words into action.

We'll be at Glapwell next Saturday for the penultimate game of Belper Town's season and at Belper on Easter Monday to see the last match that Andy Carney will take charge of. Sad day that will be. And we still haven't decided if we'll follow Belper next season. Lets see what happens this summer.

Nowt else really to report - life goes on and I've been busy with the camera. Got some lovely shots of a sunset a couple of weeks ago and submitted one to weather photos at Yorkshire Television . I'm delighted to say they used it as a background during the local weather forecast!

Some other shots from various expeditions - for your delectation.......

The company I work for resides on Effingham Road, hence the local sandwich shop is called the "Effing" Sandwich Shop!

A daffy in our garden

A resident of the Rare Breeds Farm in our local park

Graves Park - just around the corner from Nortoner Towers

Apple blossom in  a neighbours garden 

Ladybower/Derwent Dams - late afternoon

And there's lots of football pics but I can't be bothered - besides, as I've already said - if you wanna see good footy pics - visit the Belper Town Fans Forum (link above) and click on Snapper Harrison's "Photos" threads - there's loads of good uns there.

As for work - still busy but things have slowed down. Now preparing a trip to Canada and USA for mid-May (had to wait until footy was finished before I shoot off!)

So - I will try to revert to more regular posting but in the meantime - I'd welcome any comment (good or bad but I'll ignore the bad!) about how the new blog layout appears on YOUR screen please!

TTFN