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Last Sunday, I finished work at 4pm and the sun was beautiful! Mark & I decided to head out to Thornton Reservoir and make the most of it. Thornton Reservoir is a 20 minute drive from where we live, and it's about 2.5 miles walk all the way around it. Being part of the National Forest, it's very pretty and there's a track through the woodland and all the way around the reservoir itself. We saw plenty of fishermen fishing, and a few other groups of people feeding the ducks, taking a stroll or enjoying an ice-cream.
Before setting off Mark chose a real (his words) ice-cream complete with sprinkles, strawberry sauce & flake and I chose a delicious cola lolly from the little ice-cream van parked outside. There are plenty of benches dotted around, including picnic benches - it's a lovely destination for a family picnic, and we'll definitely be returning sandwiches in hand!
There were lovely birds everywhere, including ducks, swans and many more. We saw a big fish leap out of the reservoir and horses in the adjoining fields. We decided to walk along the bike track for a little way, closer to the water and all the pretty wild flowers. I picked up as many pine cones as would fit in Mark's pockets (much to his dismay!) and enjoyed stopping at regular (perhaps too regular) intervals to point things out and take photos. Mark read out the information sign to me, just like our first date in the museum in Liverpool over four years ago, ahh!
When we were over halfway around the reservoir, and into the more wooded part of the walk, a lovely gentleman on a bicycle saw my camera and asked what I was taking photos of. Of course my reply was everything! He told us that there had been a swan nesting for a while now, and that she had not long had her little baby swans. He pointed out the route to us, which we ended up following him on anyway! When we reached the point where the swans were, we all stood and admired the swan and her 8 babies. The gentleman was very sweet and helpful, and we hope to spot him again on our next walk around as he's a regular!
We spent so much time cooing over the baby swans that we had to rush a bit around the last stretch as the car park closed at 7.30pm and we hadn't realised the time! We had a lot of fun, and saw baby cows on the way back too! We can't wait to explore more of the local villages and National Forest when the sun is shining.
Do you enjoy walking? Where is your favourite local walking spot?
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A couple of weeks ago Mark & I, mumma bear, Willow, Zenobia, Kayleigh and Indigo all went to the seaside (Ingoldmells) for the day. The twins (Phoebe & Phoenix) were on holiday at the seaside with our lovely friend Bronwen, so we all met up and spent a wonderful day together. It involved sunshine, rollercoasters, dodgems, slushies, hot cafe food, buying rock, the market, arcade machines, sand in our shoes, walking along the sea, building sandcastles and seeing the amazingly beautiful moon on the journey home. Oh, and of course a delightfully tacky seaside portrait where we didn't realise the photo was being taken!
All photos were taken with my 36mm film lomography camera & some are double exposed.
Where is your local seaside? I always miss the sea when I get home!
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When? Thursday 17th Oct
Where? O2 Academy, Leicester
Support? TKAK, Bipolar Sunshine
Wearing? frizzy hair courtesy of the fog, Topshop leopard shift dress, TK Maxx chelsea boots
Mark, myself, and my sisters Zenobia & Willow arrived at the venue after some speed walking from our car parked outside student halls - free parking, very handy! We left a little late, and arrived at the venue at about 8pm. This was after a walk around the block almost ending up at the car again, before I pointed out that Zenobia hadn't pressed go on her map directions! Doors were at 7.30, so we were surprised when we arrived to find quite a long queue. We missed TKAK entirely (sorry guys!), but arrived just in time for Bipolar Sunshine. I don't know how to describe Bipolar Sunshine really, a bit indie pop with a feel of reggae thrown in. We really enjoyed the set, and would love to see them again. The catchy lyrics had us singing along even though it was the first time we'd heard them, and the beats made you want to move around. Check out Bipolar Sunshine on Youtube.
14 minutes (the medic told us) before Bastille were due on stage, Zenobia had a funny turn and she couldn't see. Luckily we were stood by the barrier anyway, and a lovely security guy helped her into the medic room. She was fine after a little lie down, water & some fresh air, but we stayed at the edge after that just in case. This meant we were to the right of the stage and kind of by the amps, but had a fab view of the stage and could see perfectly well. This gig was one of those 'oh we like the songs on the radio let's go see Bastille' kind of gigs. They're a relatively new band (at least to us) and we took a chance. I think the most excited of us all was Willow (sporting her new Bastille t-shirt below!). We had an awesome time, and Bastille were pretty damn good. The way vocalist Dan kept his voice steady whilst banging around on the drums or playing keyboard was amazing, his singing completely effortless. We enjoyed both songs we knew and those we didn't, and the band put on a great performance. It was energetic & a really good night.
My personal highlight of the night was the two cover songs Bastille performed, the one I filmed above, and their cover of City High's What Would You Do. This song was huge when I was younger, and most of the crowd loved singing along (which is why I didn't film it! Too busy singing haha). The sound quality goes a bit dodgy when all the background music kicks in, but I think it's a combination of being close to the speakers and sound overload for my tiny Nikon.
All in all, it was lovely to go out with two of my sisters and Mark, and we all enjoyed seeing Bastille & Bipolar Sunshine! Have you heard these bands? Are you a fan?
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