Says it all.

This came through the post today. I am a very happy allotmenteer.

Freedom day.

Nine years ago today I retired from the steel works, but not from life, so far it's been great!
The only fault with retirement; there's no holidays you just go away and come back, life is one big holiday. Come to think of it my life's been one big holiday even when I was at work. No grumbles.

Hedgehog.24-7-09.

Hedgehogs live in Europe there are none in America, so I thought you might like to see one.
They are a gardeners friend, they eat slugs, snails and earthworms.They really love cat Food.
When threatened they roll up into a ball and wait for the danger to pass.
They are covered with sharp spines like a porcupine for defence. Sadly they have no road sense and lots never get to the other side!
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Sheffield big wheel opening day. 23-7-09

Sheffield Wheel & Town Hall.
Inside the Town Hall.
Next to the town hall is Sheffield peace garden.
The flag pole base out side the City Hall.
Sheffield botanical garden. Yesterday 23rd the weather forecast was sunshine and showers so we decided to go out for the day to Sheffield. If you rely on the weather forecast you'd never go out. Rule of thumb look at the sky, if it's blue with white fluffy clouds OK, blue with high thin clouds brill, Blue with black and white clouds a bit iffy, Black and grey and generally dull it's going to be more wet then dry. Yesterday the sky was blue with white fluffies we had a great day.

New Life

The day we arrived at Butlins.
Pigeon chicks must be the ugliest babies in the world only a mother could love them.
When we arrived I noticed a wood pigeon on the nest in the tree outside our chalet. It was obvious she was sitting eggs. Then the day before we came home there were chicks two of them.

July at Butlins.

Butlins circus acrobats, but no animals



This week the weather was really hot, unlike April when it was fine but cold. The sea was like a mill pond but too calm and too cold to swim in. We took the gear but didn't have the heart to go in. You have never been cold until you have been in the North Sea!!!

Rotherham.

Rotherham Minster and All Saints Square.

Monday was a wet day.

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This was just a trickle yesterday but it rained all last night, now its a raging torrent. The one thing you can count on with English weather is, you will get weather. All seasons in one day, then again it's not called the lake district for nothing.

Another toy I've just found.

It was so windy on the top I couldn't keep still. We were on the top of Langdale Pike. This was taken on our May holiday in the Lake District Cumbria.

Allotment judging day.

Tuesday 7th July was the allotment competition, to find the best three allotments on the plot.
The best on the plot then gets entered into the area competition.
Last year the judging was very controversial, the judges used a different tack and scored no first place on our plot. We didn't know this at the time. It was only when the second placed man congratulated me thinking I had first place that we wondered who had won. It turned out no one was first. This raised the question how do twenty people start a race finish a race and no one come first? The answer given was our allotment style is not what they are looking for in this modern world!

Brodsworth Hall near Doncaster.

This is my cup of tea, going round big houses and gardens.






Well worth a visit.

Our back yard.

A typical English summers day, cloudy with a threat of rain. The only thing out of order is the NE wind it usually blows from the SW.
Every day is washing day save Sunday.
I love gardening and being outdoors. If I have to stay in for any reason I'm like a bear with a sore head.
My best window box so far. I love working in the garden but very rarely sit and admire my work. I prefer going in the parks and gardens of the big houses round and about and admiring there work.

Some of Junes photos, things that took my eye.

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Narrow boats sell for around one thousand £ per foot fitted out.
Una looking over the narrow boats on Huddersfield Canal.
Inside Huddersfield Parish Church.
A bargain shop Wakefield. The colour took my eye.
This girls tottoo fascinated me, so I asked if I could take a photo. It is not finished yet, it as it be coloured in. She told me it is so painful she could only stand it 1 hour at a time.
She had a very polite manner and clean appearance. A nice Rotherham girl.

Mondays joy.

Straight to the point I have NOT got prostate cancer yet!!! There's a long story to this, I'll tell the short one. I have had none of the known symptoms of the complaint it's just that I had reason to go to hospital two years ago come September, after straining myself walking in Scotlands mountains. I had an ultra sound, x-ray and a mri scan, kidneys bladder everything OK. This is where the prostate thing starts, it turns out someone noticed I had a large prostate and the hospital contacted me about it. An appointment was made to see a specialist but prior to this I had to have a blood test to check my psa level. On meeting the specialist, who was very reassuring told me the facts. A, the psa test is not a good test. B, if I had cancer and they did nothing about it I could be looking at 12 years or more. C, if it's an aggressive little sod there's nothing we can do for you, good night Vienna. The only way to find out is to have a biopsy, in Rotherham we like to take 10 at a time it gives a better chance of spotting things. I had my first biopsies last October, 12 of them, when I went for the result everything was clear. I was put on some tablets which I was told would shrink things.
This brings me to my latest biopsy and the result. I went a fortnight ago for the experience and a week ago for a blood test. Once again the specialist was reassuring in that the tests were clear but this means you have not got cancer or we are missing it. NICE, do all medical staff talk three ways? So he said what I am thinking is, I forget the words he said, but basically he's on about cutting me open and having a deeper look. This as given me a dilemma, when this all started he said the aggressive little sods are the deep ones. To be honest if it's not broken don't mend it and I don't think I want to know anyway. If I wake up one morning dead all well and good, but I don't want to go to bed thinking about it. That's all I have to say on the matter. I have to see him again in October and see were we go from there. By the way having a biopsy does not hurt in the slightest, just in case anyone reading this is having to have one.