Another sign of Spring

A colourful and welcome sight ..

We are still having sunny and dry weather here in England and it looks like it will remain like this for some days - no more posts now for a few weeks as foreign climes await - assuming no more problems with Icelandic volcanoes.

.

England's Day

April 23rd is England's national day and we all remember when St. George killed the dragon and I assume saved a damsel in distress.

Manchester Council has kindly agreed to allow the flag of St. George to be flown on the Town Hall - hurrah !!!

There will be a parade on Sunday - not through the city centre but in Miles Plating - where may you ask ??

Our very own great playwright William Shakespeare was born the day 1564 and died on the very same day 1616.

.

Bowlee - The Pond

The last picture of Bowlee country park for some time.

The pond not only attracts ducks and swans but wheelie bins - great shame !!

Someone has taken a lot of effort to actually get the waste bin down to the pond ..

.

Another sign of Spring

Grape hyacinth in bloom are a welcome sight and another sign that Spring is finally here .

.

Well ....

Well I should have been in Spain today but for a little bother in Iceland I would have.

The general impression is that flights will resume again tomorrow Tuesday - we'll just have to wait and see.

I'm now waiting for Monarch to contact me with new flight dates.

One very annoying aspect of this current situation is the rip off phone costs that Monarch charge - 10p per minute - I do not expect free calls but normal rates would have been acceptable.

Well that's life ..

.

Latest garden project ..

Attempts to grow vegetables in our garden failed last year so this is the latest project - wild flower seeds have been sown in this area and hopefully by summer this area will be awash in colour and attract bees and butterflies. We'll just have to see.

.

Tulips

Nice bright flowers to brighten up the garden now that Spring has eventually arrived .

.

Ferdinand Eisenstein

It's birthday time ...

Ferdinand Eisenstein the German mathematician was born this day - April 16th 1823

Happy birthday Ferdy

......

State of play ..

Well we've had a week of dry sunny weather - very unusual and very welcome.

Not to last long though - we are promised colder weather and perhaps snow to come ..

Today an Icelandic volcano has covered the skies of the UK with fine volcanic dust and because it could cause a major problem to aircraft the majority of the airports have had to cancel flights - so chaos rains ..

Never mind the election - whoever is elected we the general public have got to tighten our belts - so no change there then ..

.

Bowlee - Reed beds

Not looking their best even in early Spring - no doubt soon they will awake and we'll get new growth.

.

Bowlee - Flooded path

This area recently always seems to be flooded - a small stream flows under the bridge and I doubt it would only take a little bit of cleaning work in the channel to cure the problem.

.

Bowlee - Old bridge

This old bridge has seen some wear and tear - graffiti and attempts to burn it down by the local lads ..

.

Bowlee - New art !!

I'm not too sure if this is an attempt to bring art to the masses or not .. the park has quite a few of these statutes ( or lumps of rock depending how you view them ) each engraved ( not carved ) with a symbol - a horse or fish - a key - something like that.

In a vain attempt to gentrify the place perhaps ??

.

Grand National

The Grand National at Aintree was won yesterday by a horse of the name Don't Push It.

Ridden by Tony McCoy and owned by J P McManus / trained by Jonjo O'Neill.

Not bad odds for a joint favourite - 10-1

I had forgotten that the race was being run and I'm not even sure if it was shown on the TV - my mind is too busy at this time of the year planning what to do on our allotment ( a busy time planting out the coming season's vegetables )

I guess some of the punters will be happy at a 10-1 win but not the bookies of course.

.

Spring

Is Spring here at last ??

The weather has certainly improved over the last few days - no rain and a few hours of sun plus warmth !!

The forecast is for a good week - sunny and dry.

So let's hope the corner has been turned and we are heading for a glorious summer.

.

Bowlee- New Bridge

This new bridge is one of the few improvements that have been carried out recently within the country park.

.

General Election

That's it then - settled - General Election in the UK 6th May ..

Yawn Yawn Yawn ...... !!!!!

I should be out of the country thank goodness.

.

Bowlee - Golf Range

Adjacent to the country park at Bowlee is the golf range which I think is quite popular. Not a sport that has ever attracted me.

.

Bowlee - Scrub

I think the word scrub would best describe the scenery in Bowlee country park. A mixture of grass and woodland plus a small pond and an area of extensive reeds.

.

Bowlee - Burnt out area

The trees in the nature reserve have recently been subject to a fire - whether accidental or arson who's to know ??

I think I can guess ....

.

Bowlee

Bowlee lies between Heywood and Middleton and during World War II this area was used as an airstrip. Throughout the locality there were a great many RAF warehouses which I assume were supplied by this airstrip.

Bowlee remained derelict for many years until recently Rochdale Council turned the area into a country park.

To my mind the Council have tried to satisfy the needs of too many different categories of people for there is a nature reserve, football fields, golf range and an area for car boot sales plus Nov 5th bonfire and visiting fair.

The nature reserve often looks a little sad and perhaps the pictures that I hope to publish in the coming week will reflect that.

It is however a good place for dog walking ( if you can dodge the mini motor bikes )

.

First attempt

This is my first attempt at adding colour to a B&W photo - amended the picture on my iPod Touch using an application called Dash of Color.

Hope shortly to have something more suitable added to my main iMac - awaiting help in that direction.

Oh happy days ......

.

April Fools Day

Thursday 1st April is April Fools Day in the UK.

A time when practical jokes are played. The newspapers and other media will usually try to pull our legs with some nonsense.

I wonder if the government will admit that their plans for a " death tax " (as the Tory party call it) are actually a joke ??

I doubt it very much .....

.