Saturday 29 October 2016

Starling murmurations

Sorry the photos didn't send first time.

Well I had never heard of this before moving to Brighton, but it is a pretty amazing sight.
The starlings all gather together as the weather starts to get colder and as the sun is settling.
They whizz about in huge gangs and one of the big places that they do that is at the Palace Pier.
We timed it just right and saw them a couple of days ago. For about half an hour they charged around in huge groups as I desperately tried to take photos of them.
Just as I was starting to get the hang of it hundreds of them shot under the pier right next to where we were standing and disappeared.
There must have been a secret signal between them to say that it was time for bed.
That was the show over for the night and they spend the night roosting under the pier.
Looking forward to watching them again tomorrow.

Starling murmurations

Well I had never heard of this before moving to Brighton, but it is a pretty amazing sight.
The starlings all gather together as the weather starts to get colder and as the sun is settling.
They whizz about in huge gangs and one of the big places that they do that is at the Palace Pier.
We timed it just right and saw them a couple of days ago. For about half an hour they charged around in huge groups as I desperately tried to take photos of them.
Just as I was starting to get the hang of it hundreds of them shot under the pier right next to where we were standing and disappeared.
There must have been a secret signal between them to say that it was time for bed.
That was the show over for the night and they spend the night roosting under the pier.
Looking forward to watching them again tomorrow.

Monday 10 October 2016

Re: Last day in Turkey

is the 11th night of our Turkish holiday and we are on our way home tomorrow. 
For the first week we didn't even leave the hotel, but we have got much more skilful whizzing down the slides.
We have also been very lucky with the weather as it has been wall to wall sunshine every day.
In the last couple of days we have been a bit more adventurous and we went on a day trip to the major city of Antalya.
However the best place was within walking distance of our hotel.
Side (pronounced sea day) is a 4k walk along the beach and it is crammed full of Roman ruins. We explored most of them yesterday and then stopped for freshly squeezed pomegranate juice from a roadside stall.
We also took an evening trip to the Temple of Apollo to watch the sunset.
I had seen a photo of a guy catching the sun in his hand while doing a complicated joga pose and I tried to replicate it. I felt quite zen while striking the pose, but unfortunately I look a bit like a deformed frog. Not sure where I went wrong.

Last day in Turkey

Today is the 11th night of our Turkish holiday and we are on our way home tomorrow.
For the first week we didn't even leave the hotel, but we have got much more skilful whizzing down the slides.
We have also been very lucky with the weather as it has been wall to wall sunshine every day.
In the last couple of days we have been a bit more adventurous and we went on a day trip to the major city of Antalya.
However the best place was within walking distance of our hotel.
Side (pronounced sea day) is a 4k walk along the beach and it is crammed full of Roman ruins. We explored most of them yesterday and then stopped for freshly squeezed pomegranate juice from a roadside stall.
We also took an evening trip to the Temple of Apollo to watch the sunset.
I had seen a photo of a guy catching the sun in his hand while doing a complicated joga pose and I tried to replicate it. I felt quite zen while striking the pose, but unfortunately I look a bit like a deformed frog. Not sure where I went wrong.

Monday 3 October 2016

Re: 11 nights in Turkey


We have come away to Turkey to relax for a few days, and what a fantastic decision that was.
We are staying near Antalya at an all inclusive hotel that is as beautiful as the photos in the brochure.
The hotel is definitely very quiet, although there are quite a few grandma's, grandad's and toddlers around.
It has a huge water park that is almost deserted as there are no school age children here due to it being term time.
We have been trying out the water slides and I am getting a bit more confident on them.
It is my first time on the slides on my own today as for the two days we slid down on rubber rings made for two.
I was very pleased to find that on my own I slide down much more slowly and it is really enjoyable.
It must be down to the extra weight, - no offence Darren - but when we slid down together we went so fast that I screamed all of the way down.
Yesterday we went down the biggest slide, which is not on this photo and it was so terrifying that I am never going to try again. It was such a relief to get off it and check that we were still alive. I will get some photos of Darren on it in a few days time so you will see that I am not exaggerating.
There is also a massive swimming pool that is long that we only managed to swim two lengths of it yesterday.
I had lots of plans to visit nearby towns and waterfalls, but it is so lovely here that we might not even leave the hotel.
Ps, that might also have something to do with the Turkish chocolate donuts for breakfast, baklava for lunch and as many gin and tonics as we can drink!

11 nights in Turkey

We have come away to Turkey to relax for a few days, and what a fantastic decision that was.
We are staying near Antalya at an all inclusive hotel that is as beautiful as the photos in the brochure.
The hotel is definitely very quiet, although there are quite a few grandma's, grandad's and toddlers around.
It has a huge water park that is almost deserted as there are no school age children here due to it being term time.
We have been trying out the water slides and I am getting a bit more confident on them.
It is my first time on the slides on my own today as for the two days we slid down on rubber rings made for two.
I was very pleased to find that on my own I slide down much more slowly and it is really enjoyable.
It must be down to the extra weight, - no offence Darren - but when we slid down together we went so fast that I screamed all of the way down.
Yesterday we went down the biggest slide, which is not on this photo and it was so terrifying that I am never going to try again. It was such a relief to get off it and check that we were still alive. I will get some photos of Darren on it in a few days time so you will see that I am not exaggerating.
There is also a massive swimming pool that is long that we only managed to swim two lengths of it yesterday.
I had lots of plans to visit nearby towns and waterfalls, but it is so lovely here that we might not even leave the hotel.
Ps, that might also have something to do with the Turkish chocolate donuts for breakfast, baklava for lunch and as many gin and tonics as we can drink!