Eavesdropping On The Bus

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

It is nearly a year since I went off on my own ........ just catching a bus from our bus station and going off to our local sea side using my bus pass.

Last Saturday, I felt the need to do this and whilst feeling a bit guilty about leaving Harry behind and wondering if he would be alright, I made the decision and left home at 9.30 am.

The bus journey takes about one hour on the fast bus but much longer on the meandering one that I caught, as it visits lonely estates and villages and winds along country roads on the way. I sat upstairs on the top deck of the bus, known as a double decker, for those of you who don't have this type of vehicle.

The surrounding countryside can be seen much better than from a car. I like to see over the hedgerows and I do enjoy looking into peoples' gardens and farms. I can see so much more from a bus.

The bus journey itself is always quite interesting as I love to *people watch* and as if on cue, a large family got on the bus and sat in front of me on the opposite side. It soon became apparent that they were speaking two languages. The first being German or Austrian....... I can't tell which is which and the second English. The two boys and two girls spoke mostly in the Germanic language but the parents answered sometimes in English and sometimes in their native tongue but the children seemed to respond to either. Although both parents spoke excellent English, I did feel that the woman was English. This seems to be the natural way to ensure that the family are bilingual. It takes input from both parents all the time.

Eventually they got off the bus long before I did and they all headed off to a wooded area, obviously going for a long walk in the country.

Harry and I haven't been to many places since we had to have so much treatment for our illnesses and last time I visited, Weston Super Mare was still in turmoil with workmen everywhere while they finished putting in the superior sea defences and new walkways. The whole of the town seemed to be upside down for several years, so I was quite pleasantly surprised that it was all finished and not a workman, tractor or bulldozer anywhere in sight and it all looked very new and agreeable as well as safer for the people who live there.

Harry is responding to the new cancer drug and feels much better but the brain disorder, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, is affecting his memory, moods and often walking, making things hard for him and everyone else. He has recently had to give up driving and we managed to sell the car over the weekend to some friends.

Anyway, Harry is not well enough to travel so far as my journey but can go to the city centre on the bus by himself and go out for walks now he is feeling a bit better. He just needs to be reminded to take his keys and things like that and I do worry in case he forgets important things to do with the safety of him and the house. So I can never really relax and spend the time thinking of possible things that could happen to him.

Anyway, I managed to go for a very long walk along the seafront as far as the eye could see and beyond. I sat down and watched the people go by while I ate my sandwiches. I was most surprised to see a young couple walking by with a shopping bag and I noticed a little nose peeping out from it, sniffing the air. Very curious, I was trying to decide what animal could be in there, when it popped its head out completely and I was able to recognise it as a ferret! It had a stainless steel lead attached to the bag and harness. I was thinking about my little rabbits at home in their safe surroundings.

The day was warmish though I needed hat, scarf and gloves. At times there were bursts of sunshine that I basked in and the air seemed much fresher than the city.

After several hours, I walked back to get my bus home. That bus was much quicker and busier than the first bus that I caught out and I just found myself listening in to a conversation between two women whose age I thought was quite young, but I wasn't rude enough to turn round and look. However, when I got off the bus, they overtook me and I found they were very elderly ladies.

Aren't I just the nosiest person around?

However there is always some blog material to be found by watching and listening and I did enjoy my trip and it gave me an enormous amount of pleasure and Harry was fine. I will do this more often now, I think.

Changing Moods and Skies.

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

Sometimes it is good to get away from everybody and go off somewhere on my own.

I haven't a lot of choice about where to go, but last week I hopped onto a bus (using my free pass), and took the hour long journey to my local sea side. It is the easiest place to get to by bus as they run frequently during the day time.

A visit there, always makes me feel better, somehow and is the place where I am able to recharge my batteries ready to face the world again.

You can tell that the sea and sky have moods just like we all do. This outing started off as a pleasant day. A typical, warm Autumnal day and the sea was in, which is quite unusual, as chances are that it could be miles out of view on any given visit. Unless you study the tide times, which I don't.

The new pier, which isn't yet open, looked good against a calm, lonely sea. Not many people were here at this time of the year, as schools are back and it was a weekday.

In the space of half and hour or so, the sky looked threatening and overcast.

A bit like my mood can turn sometimes.

I had a lot on my mind.

Waiting for my recent CT scan results. Knowing that as my hair re grows, so might my cancer be re growing too because I have been warned that at some point it will probably come back. It is a question of how long away in the future. No one can tell.

Every ache or pain that I have, might be something sinister. It is not an easy place to be. However I do realise that I am living on borrowed time and I am grateful to be alive now and to be given this second chance.

The illness that my husband has and the uncertainty of when he will be starting chemo is very much on my mind too. Then there are so many other things that I want to blog about but can't for obvious reasons.

So I do have real cause to be down some days and it wouldn't be human not to feel this way.

The situation with the darkening sky seemed to get worse and I moved for cover before the first droplets of rain came down. It didn't last long though and the sun came out again eventually, just as my mood changed too.

I ate an ice-cream, looked round the shops.

There is an immense sense of freedom as I do these things and choose where I will go and what I will do.

I always feel better after an outing on my own and my mood always lifts.

After all, everything is in the hands of God. I cannot do anything about these things, so it is silly to dwell on them.

I am pleased to say, that my CT scan showed no sign of disease, so that has made me really happy and I can forget about it for another three months at least.

Grove Park

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

Often when Harry and I have travelled to Weston Super Mare on the bus, we have walked to Grove Park.

We always enjoy the floral displays that are kept in really beautiful condition and there is also a lovely lily pond and plenty of benches to sit and relax on in the sun.

Some times we go to Jill Dando's Memorial Gardens that I have already posted about before. Here. The garden was incorporated into one side of the park and we watched it being created on TV by BBCs *Ground Force*.

It is a tranquil place to go and sit and to remember the lovely TV presenter who was gunned down on her own doorstep some years ago.

We first noticed something beneath this tree by the path, when we first started visiting the park. Sometimes there are flowers under it.

There is a memorial under the tree dedicated to Nick Dutton, a young man who obviously died there, though we have never been able to find out how or why. It is rather sad and we often wonder if he came to a violent end in the park under that same tree. He is obviously somebody's son and my heart goes out to his relatives.

On the last occasion that we visited, a band was playing in a corner of the park and we stopped to listen for a while. It was *Life boat* weekend and there was quite a lot going on for the benefit of this wonderful charity that saves so many lives around these treacherous coasts in the Bristol Channel.

Every time we visit, there are always some new things to see as well as the old and the familiar.

Hope you enjoyed the feel of Grove Park on this occasion, as we walked through it together.

Just A Lily Pool?

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

At first glance, this just looked like a fairly ordinary ornamental lily pool, fairly pleasing to the eye, but on close inspection there was something there that caught my attention.

I zoomed in and saw these tiny little ducklings enjoying the sunshine in The Winter Gardens at Weston Super Mare.

Their mum was grubbing about in the border, looking for worms.

Then I noticed the ramp that someone had placed in the pool for the ducklings to climb out of the water.

I hope this little brood manages to survive the aggressive seagulls that circle all around them.

I will go back as soon as I can and see how they are getting on.

View From The Big Wheel

Photo copyright: Maggie May

When I went on the big wheel at Weston Super Mare last summer, there was a really good view of the pier where the pavilion had burnt down the previous year.

The sides have been extended to take a bigger building that has already started to be built, but this is how it looked last August.

I could see right across the Bristol Channel to Wales.

Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy.

Footnote: For those of you who are anxious to hear news of my biopsy..... I'm still waiting.

Reach For The Sky!

All photos are copyright of Maggie May

Normally I like to keep my feet firmly on the ground as I am prone to vertigo. However, I recently shocked Harry by asking if he would like to have a ride with me on the Weston Wheel. After he got over that shock, he naturally jumped at the idea as he had intended to go on his own anyway .

The wheel is not as big as the London Eye, but is about 100 feet above the ground. Strawberry Ann Jam used this wheel in her recent post Sky Watch Friday and I was quite amused as I had most of this post in draft form on Blogger. I was waiting though, to go up in the wheel and kept putting it off, so when I read Ann's post, I decided it was now or never.

The first two pictures were taken through glass so are not the best of quality. We were in a pod on our own and there was a great view of Weston Super Mare below us. I sat and took the photos right in front of me but there were magnificent views to my left, as far as the coast of Wales across the other side of the bay.

You will notice that one of the pods in the picture above is black and stands out more than the others. This is a VIP pod and costs between £35 and £50, depending on whether you have champagne. It is for parties of important people and it was empty on the morning that we took our ride, so we were obviously all riff- raff.

I am so glad that we went on the wheel as it was a real thrill even though I don't normally like heights. I am surprised that most of the photos came out almost monochrome. They weren't altered in anyway though.

Footnote: We will be away for a few days while we go and visit our daughter on the east coast. I am having a little break from blogging until we get back.

The Tub Tree

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

All photos are copyright of Maggie May.

Well obviously it isn't a real tub tree but a giant stand with tubs of plants hanging from it.

I first noticed this strange sight when I was visiting Weston Super Mare and I had to stop and take a photo.

Two weeks later, I was there again and the flowers had really opened up during that extra time in the sun.

You will notice how much bulkier the tub flowers had become and how the tendrils had grown from the displays.

There were lots of people about and quite a few were snapping photos, so I really had to wait to get mine. It was a very crowded street.

The photo below was taken at the same time as the top one and when I took these two photos, I thought they looked really lovely, having no idea how much difference it would make to their appearance waiting a couple of weeks. I am really pleased that I did retake now.

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. Why not look them up?

Strange Shapes

Photos are copyright of Maggie May.

Often on my travels I come across strangely shaped objects that seem to have an art form of their own. If I have my camera with me then I snap up the photos and I have already published one or two of these. I decided to make a post out of some of my favourite ones.

The top photo is of Weston Super Mare's Silica Tower. At night time it is brightly lit with lots of rings of bulbs, though I don't often get to see that, travelling mainly during day time.

This tangled wreck of metal was once the pavillion on Weston's Grand Pier that was completely burnt down along with a section of the pier, about a year ago. The metal has now been dismantled and the foundation looks completely flat with nothing on the Pier. The work on the New Pavillion is about to be started and will hopefully be finished next summer.

This is part of a new drainage system at Weston Super Mare. I just happened to like the design and shape of the grille.

Photos are in Bristol now and this is what greets you when you walk into Millenium Square. It is a fairly new sculpture known as The Spine and is the entrance to a car park. I like the shape so it is in the post!

Finally, Bristol Planetarium is this lovely silver globe. I have never been inside it but I think that the outside is quite spectacular.

I wonder which shape you like the best?

Fancy a Shower Anyone?

I have passed this fountain at Weston Super Mare, Somerset, so many times without thinking. However, on the last visit I suddenly thought of Watery Wednesday! Just as well I had my camera handy! I got a bit splashed taking it as sometimes I get carried away and get too close.

Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy. Why not enter this week?

Construction On The Beach

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Weston Super Mare, such a grand name isn't it? However, if you went there right now you might be disappointed. Not only has the pier been burnt down, but the sea defenses are under new construction. Much of the town is low lying and during high tides, shops and homes are in danger of flooding.

For most of the summer there were cranes on the sea front and I took some great pictures of them. It was very interesting to watch these giants picking up large, heavy equipment.

There was a kind of beauty in all this heavy machinery and I was snapping away quite happily, much to the amusement of my long suffering husband. He ought not to be surprised by now that I always take my camera and a notebook and pen with me when ever I have a day out. There is usually some very good blog material on such a trip.

Don't you just love this crane and the rust tinged chain?

This photo reminds me of Little and Large! Remember the comedians?

When these alterations are completed by the end of the year, Weston will be a great place to visit. The pier will take a little while longer to rebuild but there are plans for a really good building to replace the old one.

It is amazing when we go back after a long time and see the way that the work is coming on and what seems like pointless digging and heaving about, suddenly becomes part of a new structure that looks really good. While visiting we have stood for ages just watching all the men at work. This seemed more interesting than anything else, at the time.

Can't wait for it all to be finished. I dare say I will be posting photos...........

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cicely and MamaGeek.