Good night out at squash match

Went on a bus trip to Duffield last night to watch the Premier League squash.
Our team are in white on the left and first up was tiny Emily, aged 18, against the world number two player.
She tried really hard but had to chase all over the court and lost in three games.
Next up for us was handsome Declan against Joel Hinds. Fantastic match and excellent spirit, although they are both lanky boys and they kept leaping and crashing in to each other. Great win by Dec in five.
We missed trendy Ollie, see close up photo, play on the next court but he also got an unexpected win.
Finally we watched our new player, Alan lose to a brilliant Egyptian, Karim Ali Fathi so we lost 3-2 overall.
Got the bus back with the rowdy supporters and Dec and Ollie on the front seats.

Done lots of things, taken no photos

Haven't blogged for a while, but struggling to get pictures and write text that make them sound interesting - not stopped me before you might say.
Anyway, we are racing towards the 24th Dec which is our last day in Nottingham and then we will be homeless and on our travels, so it should all pick up then.
This week I have spent many hours learning French, we have packed up loads more stuff and we have been out to some interesting evening events.
On Wednesday Peter had an American country singer staying the night on his settee (courtesy of sofasurfers.com) and he did a gig for all the friends and neighbours.
Thursday we went to see 'The loneliness of a long distance runner' at The Playhouse. It was written in the 1960's in the backstreets of Nottingham but was brought completely up to date, although unfortunately based now in London. Fantastic super fit main actor who delivered most of his lines while sprinting along on a running machine.
Finally, went to watch James Bond yesterday - half an hour at least too long - but pretty lively.

Eight legged students

Bit of a racket going on outside tonight. There are loads of groups of students in fancy dress with their legs tied together in a row. If there were two of them it would be three legs, but as there are seven, then they have eight legs between them, or is it nine?
Some are quite good at walking, while others are getting nowhere.
These ballet dancers were my favourites, but there were some good scrabble words and superheroes.

Now you see it, now you don't

There are only ten weeks until we leave the country and we have to empty our flat completely during that time.
We have spent today clearing space in the lock-up and removing the bookshelves and all of it's contents.
We have devided it into things to save, things to chuck and things to go to the charity shop.
Daz then chopped the bookcase into small chunks and I have put them in to bin bags then taken them down to the dustbins so, voila, empty space.
Lots of things still to go though.

Happy birthday Tina

Out tonight with Tina and Matt for Tina's birthday. They bought round a bottle of wine that they have been saving for four years and which they brought home all the way from Australia.
We all loved it, and it lasted at least twenty minutes.
Matt also has some new cowboy type shoes. Apparently they are really painful for the first few weeks and then fit like a second skin for the next 10 years.

Excellent Chinese news

Out on the town tonight and just enjoyed a lovely Chinese meal at Opium. The best was saved til last though as my fortune cookie said 'A big fortune will descend upon you this year' and Darren's said 'Soon life will become more interesting'.
At the Broadway now, in the Paul Smith room. We are looking forward to 'The imposter' on the bigish screen
The rest of the seats seem to be filled with students, although it only takes about 40 people in total.

Cultural triple header

We have never done a double header before, but for some reason today we really went for it.
This morning we read that the Concert Hall were doing free backstage guided tours so we joined the queue. It was excellent, we went up on the stage, then into the stars dressing rooms, and finally up in to the roof space to check out the lighting gantry.
We were inspired so while I queued, Daz bought us tickets for the matinee performance of Madame Butterfly at the Royal Centre. It was a beautiful ballet with a very sad ending.
Finally, yesterday I booked for us to see Bent in the evening at the Lacemarket Theatre. It was a story about gay men in Nazi Germany, and had another terrible ending. Saw two of the leads in the bar afterwards so got a quick pic.
Am off to bed now to recover.

Footballing night out

We went out to the Playhouse tonight instead of the pictures and had a really good night watching a play all about how unglamorous it was being a footballer for Notts County in the 1970's.
At that time the players earned about as much as a foreman at Players or Raleigh and some of them even worked as milkmen in the close season.
Great music, Barry White, Susi Quattro and Paperlace and loads of references to all the old Nottingham pubs, clubs and shops. (The Flying Horse, Birdcage, Paul Smith, etc)
There were loads of supporters in the audience who got all the player jokes, so they weren't really nobodies tonight.

The Park Tunnel

Gardening day today, or is it a Plant Potting day?
Walked through the superb Park Tunnel to get to Susan's house.
It all seems very strange, as each garden needs only one or two more visits and then I won't be going there again.
C'est la vie as they say in my adopted language.

Ps, the tunnel is burrowed out of sandstone and goes about 50 metres through to Derby Road. In Victorian times it was going to be the main entrance in to The Park, but it was decided that the slope was too steep for horses and carts so it was never used.
Visit if you can find it, it is great.

Parlez vous Francais?

I have a new project.  It is to learn French before we spend the summer there next year.
Have got off to a flying start as I have an internet course called 'Babbel' and after only a week I have finished part one and downloaded a certificate to prove it!
I have also found a French tutor and I have just spent an hour and a half parlezing with him.
He asked me what I do for a living and I said 'Je suis une jardiniere' as I thought it sounded quite good and might well mean, gardener. He laughed and said that I had said 'I am a plant pot!' Voila! Ma tete, c'est fatigue.

Cop out

Whoops, didn't go out today. Despite all the advance notice yesterday, we never got round to it.
Darren spent hours doing the bikes and the weather was spot on, but the force was not with us.
I have just made roast dinner, including roast sausage and Yorkshire pud, so it's too late now.
However, we both use our bikes nearly every day as we don't have a car, and Sunday's are for taking it easy.......

Prep for tomorrow

Daz has been shopping today and bought mud guards for both of our bikes.
However, the forecast is looking sunny so we could be on for a good bike ride tomorrow.
He has temporarily taken over the living room as his workshop and has all morning tomorrow to finish fitting them while I play squash.
Just out for some pasta tonight with Mark and Pauline to set us up nicely.
Ps will be a bit embarrassing now if we don't go.

Goose fair

I haven't been to the Fair for years, but little has changed.
The rides look scarier and there are much more adventurous food choices - no longer just mushy peas, candy floss and toffee apples.
We went on the big wheel and I always hate the bit when it has just set off and you really can't believe you are going to get over the top without falling out.
However, we survived and the views were fantastic.
The Fair has been held for more than 700 years and it's looking better than ever.