A Photo Every Hour - 2018

So the last photo an hour post I wrote on here was for February 2018. As I mentioned the other day, for the sake of completeness, I'm going to cram the whole year into one post. 

Here's a whizz through March to December 2018 where in the space of a few seconds of scrolling, you can watch Lily go from just-turned-2 years old to almost-3. Also watch in amazement at all the things we used to be able to do pre-COVID!

24th March 2018 - We had a day trip to the West Somerset Railway for their Spring Steam Gala and managed to find the tallest tree in England!

28th April 2018 - I had a child-free day trip to London to see Kneehigh Theatre's fantastic stage production of 'Brief Encounter' at the Empire Cinema Haymarket. I did a bit of sightseeing too, collecting some geocaches at Paddington Station, Kings Cross Station and the British Library. 

19th May 2018 - Happened to be both the Royal Wedding of Harry & Meghan and also Andrew's 40th birthday. We went along to a local church to watch the ceremony (they were providing free sandwiches and cream teas), Lily did some flag waving (or should it be "fleg" nowdays...?) and in the evening, had a birthday meal at Toby Carvery. 

16th June 2018 - I volunteered at a local NCT sale, helping with the running of the stalls. We were also selling out stuff too and managed to shift quite a bit (as well as bringing home a few purchases of course). 

28th July 2018 - Was the first day of our annual roadtrip around the UK to Edinburgh and back. Our first stop was Leicester for a couple of nights so we drove along the Fosse Way doing some geocaching on the way. We finished our journey with a holiday treat of a meal from Five Guys. 

18th August 2018 - There was another Gromit Unleashed trail that year and we'd spent a large amount of time finding them all. We took a trip out with my dad to tick off a few more Gromits and ended up at a playground in the nice weather. 

22nd September 2018 - Carnival season had rolled around again and it was Frome Carnival that evening. I spent the day doing some tidying and cleaning then we headed out to watch the procession, picking up a McDonald's for dinner on the way. 

27th October 2018 - We started the day at Lily's nature class then did some cleaning before heading out to Warminster carnival. Dinner that evening was a meal from Morrisons Cafe, sheltering from the rain!

17th November 2018 - By this time, we're into proper "big" carnival season and it was my first time back dancing on a carnival float after having had a few years off. We started the day with a big breakfast before getting my costume and clothes ready then heading out to Glastonbury Carnival. It was the last procession of the season so we always try and do a big cast photo and after the show, the float is packed up and driven back to its shed to be taken apart ready for next year. 

15th December 2018 - Me and Lily went out to watch a Christmas music concert then we spent the afternoon making sandwiches and mince pies ready for helping run a Christmas quiz night in the evening. 

Excellent, that's 2018 done. Now to do 2019, 2020 and the first 3 months of 2021 :-) 

Gromit at The Mall, Bristol

This post is so long overdue, it's completely out of season and completely out of date but it's my blog and everyone loves Gromit, don't they?

 

As well as the 80 Gromits around Bristol and the South West last summer, there was also a Gromit Unleashed shop and activity centre in The Mall at Cribbs Causeway.

 

We managed to visit the shop last October and had the activity area completely to ourselves. There was also two smaller extra Gromits inside the shop all dressed up for Christmas - I think they were going to be auctioned off.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Gromits!

 

 

 

 

There were several information boards explaining the history of Wallace and Gromit - I find it very hard to believe they've been around since 1989!

There were also lots of play activities for children, which we didn't take part in (although it was so empty, I reckon we could've easily got away with doing some colouring in or dot-to-dots...).

Near the shop entrance, there was an amazing model of Wallace and Gromit and all the other characters from TV and the films. I think I took about 50 pictures trying to get a close up shot of Wallace and Gromit - these were the two best ones...

 

 

 

And of course, there were some obligatory photo posing areas...

 

There are rumours of another similar Gromit trail in 2015 - wonder what it'll be?
(I hope it's lots and lots of Shaun the Sheep!) :-)

 

That Was The Year Duck...

Most people posted a summary like this on New Year's Eve but I thought I'd do my own thing and post it a couple of days into January!


So 2013 was the year Duck...

 

 

March

...started a blog

 

April

...spent a week with family in North Wales
...went on a day trip to the Emerald Isle
...revisited the town where she gained a degree

...had a fun-filled holiday in Blackpool

...laughed her socks off at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

 

 

May

...started her own weekly musical feature

..completed Rosalilium's Blog Every Day in May challenge

...spent a day at Carters Steam Fair

...investigated a new heritage cycle path in Bath

...dressed as a steampunk girlie at Frome's Steampunk Extravaganza

 

 

  

June
...completed the Bonjour Blogger Comments Challenge
...complied a 32 Before 32 list
...enjoyed a fab gig by Eddie Izzard at the Eden Project
...met lots of other lovely bloggers at Rosalilium's Blognix event
...saw lots and lots of bands with her free ticket into Glastonbury Festival

 

 

 July

...made her friends fall in love with Kneehigh Theatre Company
...redesigned her blog header with the help of some friendly ducks
...had a sun-filled day out in Weymouth
...felt very grown-up attending Library Camp South West
...put together a little present for a newborn baby

 

 

August

 ...bought a sweet little necklace from Claireabellemakes
...stumbled upon a gorgeous pair of Poetic Licence shoes in a charity shop
...ate baked potatoes cooked in a steam engine
...watched far too many shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
...studied the artwork of the fairground

 

September

...took a bear on holiday to Great Dorset Steam Fair
 ...completed the Gromit Unleashed trail around Bristol and the South West
...won a Liebster Award
...went back to University for the second study school of her postgrad degree
...took part in her first Photo an Hour challenge

 

 

October

 ...educated everyone about the very Somerset reason why she loves Autumn
...went to her very first ever swishing event
...was referred to the chief consultant to start IVF treatment
...ate far too many samples at Wells Food Festival
...enjoyed a fabulous vintage day out at the Pretty Nostalgic Vintage Gathering

 

 

November

 ...completed Rosalilium's Blog Every Day in November challenge
...wondered when she'd got so old
...took a little bear to see some big fireworks and Carnival floats
...took part in her second Photo an Hour challenge
...saw the amazing production of The Little Mermaid at the Bristol Old Vic

 

December

 ...almost bought far too many things at Frome's Christmas Super Market

 ...raised over £200 for Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day
...sent and received some wonderful gifts for Hannah Bee's Secret Santa and Janet's Thrifty Christmas Gift Swap
...took part in the Share Advent challenge
...and turned 31!

Here's to an equally great 2014!

 

September Happiness

Five things which have made me smile this month...

 

1. Finally, after 3 hours and 20 minutes of hanging around, getting into The Greatest Dog Show on Earth exhibition to see all 81 Gromits.

 

 

2. Getting a free ride on a fun house at Bridgwater Fair and taking my brother very slowly round - he certainly had his money's worth!

 

3. Meeting up with my Uni friends again at Aberystwyth for the second study school of my degree - lots of drinking, a bit of studying and lots and lots of laughs.

 

4. An impromtu firework display (courtesy of the local country club) at the end of the golden wedding anniversary steam party.

 

5. A simple bag of chips and cup of tea shared with Andrew at a lovely viewpoint overlooking Bristol.

 

 

What little things have made you happy this month?
 

All Done Pooch

I assure you, this really is the very last Gromit Unleashed blog post!

 

Our nation's faithful pooch has featured rather a lot over the last few months but this is the last round up - the one where we finally managed to bag Gromit number 80, simply titled 'Gromit'.

 

 

 

 

The Greatest Dog Show on Earth exhibition also had a selection of 'New Breeds' on display - smaller Gromit statues which I don't think anyone had seen before, decorated with themes such as Blackpool, London, one which I think was to do with cycle paths and one which was a beach scene. I managed to get a mug shot of all of them (albeit some at funny angles) and my favourite 'New Breed' was the one decrated with colourful beach huts.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what any of the 'New Breed' names were but here they all anyway...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the sneaky 81st Gromit the organisers sneaked in...

 

 

 

He hasn't got a name yet and the Gromit Unleashed organisers are running a Twitter competition to name the woofie. He's decorated with tourist postcards and tourism organisation stickers so I think any holiday-themed ideas would be appropriate - 'Woof You Were Here' anyone?

 

 

 

Plus one last Gromit thing - Yankee Candle sponsored the 'Newfoundland' Gromit and to help raise even more money, they've created a new frangrance and range of candles specially for the Gromit Unleashed campaign. 100% of the revenue is going to the charity for Bristol Children's Hospital - Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal which sounds pretty damm good to me. The range is called 'A Child's Wish' and is inspired by the innocence of childhood summers.

It's available to buy from the the Yankee Candle website.

 

 

 

Hope you've enjoyed all my glorious Gromit adventures, the other round ups can be found at:

 

Going on the Gromit Trail (13th July)

Here A Gromit, There A Gromit... (26th July)

And the Gromiting Continues... (22nd August)

Woof Woof Hooray (13th September)

The Greatest Dog Show on Earth (22nd September)