Splitting Image

While I was away, Ed managed to split a lot of the wood we had, ready for the fireplace. However, there was still a lot to do. Then, he had a brainwave - use the digger! He put the breaker on, and spent some time splitting the logs mechanically.

It did work, and he finished them all, but he also admitted that it wasn't as satisfactory as wielding an axe, and doing it by hand. We won't have to buy any wood this year, and thankfully it has been quite mild so far. Already, the nights are getting longer, and, theoretically at least, spring is on it's way!

Bous en Corda

This year, the weather was very mild for the Ontinyent Bulls on a rope. We only went on the Sunday, as I was in England until late on the Saturday night!

Of the 3 bulls, there was only 1 which was very enthusiastic. The first bull worked his way to the town centre fairly quickly, but then only roamed a little, barely returning to the main square before going back. Something of a disappointment. The second bull was even worse. He didn't want to go anywhere, and spent much of his time stnading still, while the crew tried to pull him around. They didn't stand much of a chance. He would have been quite safe in a china shop - I'm certain nothing would have been broken!

After a boring couple of hours, the third bull made up for it. This one was very active and happy to run up and down the streets for a long time. We got much more involved this time, following him to different parts of the arena and encountering him several times.

There was one man, who spent all of his time with the bull (he must have been fit) with a camera, filming the crowd as much as the bull. At one point, as I was with a crowd hiding in a large doorway, he coaxed the bull up the steps where we were. Everyone screamed and ran out of the way, leaving me as the next person in line for the bull. Within seconds, I realised that the bull didn't want to go up the stairs, and laughed with relief - but then I noticed that the cameraman had filmed everyone's panic (including mine) and was laughing his head off. I'm probably on Youtube somewhere, looking terrified.

When the bull was in the main square, Ed and I stay near a large street fixture, giving us the opportunity to evade the bul, whichever way it goes. However, I got caught out... The bull came down the road, and then turned into a small street next to us. I had avoided the bull, but the rope attached to it was now on the wrong side of me. I realised straight away, but some other fool panicked, and grabbed my leg, shouting 'the rope the rope'. Having moved me the wrong way, I now found myself having to get my leg back off/over the rope which was now several feet in the air. Thank goodness I have long legs. When Ed got to me again, he was quite relieved - he had seen me with one leg right up in the air and wondered what on earth I was doing!

A little later, I sat down on a doorstep for a break. As I put my hand down, it was instantly very cold... then I realised that it was not the marble floor, it was wet, not cold. Yuck. Someone had dropped a drink and I had just sat in it. I had to spend the following 1/2 hour with a cold wet behind! Thank goodness it was dark, so nobody noticed!

Bale Out

Driving towards Stafford, we spotted a police car rushing to some sort of emergency. A few minutes later, and we discovered what it was.

In the centre of Weston, a lorry had lost it's load of hay bales. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and at that time, the traffic wasn't too bad, so it was funny, rather than serious. There was enough room for traffic to pass in turn, under the direction of the policeman.

Jess managed to get the best picture though - just as she was about to take it, an ambulance with flashing lights came over the hill, making it look like a very dramatic incident. As the ambulance passed us, we saw the crew laughing at the poor lorry driver's misfortune. Goodness knows how they managed to get the bales back on, but most of the mess had gone by the time we went back home.

Indulge

Hmmmm. There's nothing so yummy as a hot chocolate, with cream and marshmallows...

Jess and I went to a rather nice cafe in Uttoxeter, where they have the latest style of hot chocolate. Did you even know there was a new style?

We ordered the drinks and then sat upstairs, where the girl bought our indulgences. Oh my! A steaming mug of milk, a bowl of whipped cream, a bowl of baby marshmallows, and a special stick of stirring chocolate. This is just like a giant lollipop of chocolate, and you simply pop the square of chocolate into the hot milk, and stir until the chocolate has melted. Then, you can add your own cream and mallows as you wish.

Yummy (but don't count the calories)

Geocaching with Jess

Jess and I had a fun day out around the local countryside searching for some more caches. There are now about 70 in the Uttoxeter area alone.

Thankfully, mum has a pair of wellies at her house that fit me, as I had to take them on and off several times. The ground was rather mucky in some places after the rain, although it could have been worse. Technology is wonderful. With the latest phones, Jess is simply able to access the internet on the move, so we were able to check out random caches as we went from place to place.

We actually logged 8 during the day. Some of them were re-visits for each of us (but new to the other one of us) but it was great fun. We even went to the Geocache shop near Ashbourne, which was a delight. Some of the things they have made for hiding logs in, is quite astonishing. They even had a tiny acorn, where the top screwed off! I bought some microcaches and a Help4Heros geo-coin, which I plan to launch quite soon.

Happy Birthday

In November, it was my Mum's birthday, so I went back for a visit to help celebrate.

The usual family gathering was expanded with a visit from an aunt and uncle from Germany, which was lovely although a cause of concern for my foreign speaking abilities. Mixing up german, french and spanish does not work, when trying to chat to people! Still, a couple of hours, and the mixups became fewer, even though they were never eliminated.

We decided to do a Christmas dinner, which was great fun. John and I spent much of the time in the kitchen, shouting 'yes chef' to each other, when checking how we were each getting on.

As usual, there was far too much food. John took his Red Cross food parcel back home with him, but we didn't need to cook anything for the rest of the week!

Horny

My Uncle Heinz wished to visit a proper 'pub' while he was in the UK, so I took him to Abbots Bromley for a bit of historic culture, as well as a drink.

Trying to explain the intricacies of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance to an English person is hard enough, but trying to explain it in a foreign language, to a foreigner is almost impossible. We parked in the village, and walked to the church, where the horns are on constant display. By a stroke of luck, one of the church wardens came in as were were there, and found a leaflet about the church, written in German. As we stood in front of the horns, I managed to translate the history of the Horn Dance, explaining something about their age, and the family connections over the years.

Thankfully, many countries have their own quirky passtimes and they understood the concept, likening it to their 'schutzenfest' celebrations.

We then called in the famous Goats Head (Dick Turpin was 'ere) [www.thegoatshead.co.uk] but our timing was terrible. A huge group of walkers arrived just before us. The bar was packed, but we managed to find a table for a drink. The funniest part, was that the walkers had the decency to take off their dirty boots before going into the bar. My aunty and uncle had never seen anybody do that before and were most impressed.

It was rather noisy, and the menu a bit ott, so we had just one drink, before moving on to a (short) guided tour of Uttoxeter.