Day 6 - Bank Holiday Fun

Day 6 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

Bank Holiday Fun

(It's a long weekend! What are your favourite ways to enjoy the extra long weekend off work?)


The early May Bank Holiday for us is usually spent at our first steam rally of the year - Abbey Hill Steam Rally at Yeovil, Somerset.

This year however, with bits of engine all over the place, it was fairly clear several weeks ago that Andrew's lorry wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

So our main bank holiday excursion was yesterday when we headed on down to Abbey Hill Steam Rally for the day and evening.

Sadly he's not ours - he's a lovely little dog called Spot belonging to a friend who owns a steam engine

The Wye Valley Axemen in full swing

It's for sale - I told Andrew he couldn't have another one!

Alpacas happily munching

One of several showman's steam engines on display - called "Princess Victoria"

The inside workings of one of the showman's lorries - how fairground rides were powered years ago!

 

Just some of the myriad of curiosities for sale at the rally


What did you get up to for the bank holiday weekend?

 

Day 5 - Fit and Healthy

Day 5 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

Fit and Healthy 

 (What do you do to stay fit or be a healthy individual? Share any useful tips and advice. Or tell us about your plans to get healthier.)

 

"Everything in moderation, including moderation"

I am a huge believer in this quote, sometimes called Petronius' Paradox and often attributed to Oscar Wilde.

Having spent most of my teenage years struggling with my weight, at the age of 18 I managed to lose 3 stones to get down to a fairly healthy sized 12-14.

Since then my weight has been up and down slightly (that's what settling down does for you) but I've always tried to adopt a healthy attitude to food, following the basic principle that you can eat anything you want, just not all the time!

 

When it comes to exercise, Andrew seems to be allergic to it claiming that he does enough strenous things at work. To be fair to him, he is fairly fit - but then he has had 20ish years of doing a physical job so perhaps he is right.

My exercise of choice is swimming. I've been a water baby all my life and I'm lucky that my workplace has an 50m olympic sized pool available to use with a staff discount. I try and swim there at least once a week and luckily it fits neatly into my lunch hour.

 

I'm also a huge fan of outdoor swimming as well, although I never have as much time as I'd like to picnic at the lido, share a river with some dragonflies or swim dreamily out to sea.

 

When it's miserable outside, I always turn to these two books about wild swimming with their atmospheric writing and mesmerising pictures.

Wild Swim by Kate Rew (Guardian Books, 2009) and Wild Swimming by Daniel Start (Punk Publishing, 2008)

 

 

 

 

My favourite places to swim outdoors...

1. Greenbank Swimming Pool, Street, Somerset - first opened in 1937 as a gift to the womenfolk of the town by Alice Clark, part of the Clarks Shoes dynasty; it's a lovely place to spend a sunny day with a picnic and friends.

Source: www.greenbankpool.co.uk

 

2. Jubilee Pool, Penzance, Cornwall - a beautiful art deco pool on the Cornish coast, opened in 1935 to celebrate King George V's Silver Jubilee; it's a bracing swim in salty seawater.

Sourcd: www.jubileepool.co.uk

 

3. Weymouth Bay, Dorset - a naturally shallow bay for miles, go there in early evening as the crowds are leaving and you can swim at your own pace with your own thoughts and a view of the Jurassic coastline. When you turn round to look at the beach, you won't realise how far out you've swum!

 

 

Here's hoping we get some decent sunny weather this year! 

 

Day 4 - Five Fave Blogs

Day 4 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

Five Fave Blogs

(Share the blog love! Tell us about five blogs you love and why?)

 

Having read lots of other people's day 4 #BEDM posts, I feel exactly the same about today's blog topic - it's incredibly hard to choose just five!

One of the first blogs I started reading a few years ago was Elizabeth's lovely rosalilium blog and I've followed it ever since, picking up many more fabulous reads along the way. So it goes without saying that rosalilium is definately a blog I love and therefore I'm not going to include it in my five.

Now I'm only a trainee blogger; duck in a dress is only a few weeks old and still very much a work in progress. I'd been toying with the idea of blogging for a while and Elizabeth's blog and the five blogs I've chosen were (and still are) all inspirational in giving me the confidence to start up my own little piece of the interweb. As a lot of bloggers said, "just give it a go and see what happens!"

 

So, in no particular order...

 

Beautiful Clutter - by Jem.

I love Jem's photography, how she manages to make even the smallest little thing look stunning. If only my pictures were half as good as hers! She also has a keen eye for vintage finds and often turns up treasures that I remember from my childhood or from visiting my grandparents.

 

Essbeevee - by Sarah

Sarah has such pretty dresses and it may sound weird, but I also love her current hair colour! Lots of photographs filled with happiness and writing filled with warmth and humour.

 

Mathilde heart Manech - by Lisa

My weekly (aspirational) to-do list comes in the form of Lisa's "5 Positive Things to Do This Week" Monday morning blog post. Lots of lovely tips as well - films to watch, bags to buy and things to do.

 

Queenie & The Dew - by Sally

Sally's lifestyle blog is always an interesting read with pretty photos and also quite a few tips for blogging. Great fashion sense and lovely clothes wishlists as well.

 

Miss Beatrix - by Anna

Home of the fabulous #Post Circle with creative crafting, delicious recipes, vintage things and lots of tea. A perfect read to inspire your creative side!

 

There is of course, lots and lots more blogs I could list and I took me quite a while just to narrow it down to these five. If you fancy it, please check out my Blog Roll for many more beautiful blogs.

 

Day 3 - Day In The Life

Day 3 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

Day in the Life

(Tell us about your typical day. Or maybe do a photo diary of what you were doing on the hour every hour for 12 hours. Or you could sum up what you did today.)


My typical day, like most of the population involves some (loose) form of paid work. And although my 'about me' page says I'm an aspiring librarian, I don't actually work in a library at the moment.
Instead I work at a University dealing with postgraduate students and paperwork.

I considered doing a photo diary but it would have looked a bit like this...breakfast, paperwork, paperwork, photocopier, ducks, paperwork, spreadsheet, cup of tea, paperwork, etc, etc, you get the picture.

I used to work in my local library - if I still did, my photo diary would have looked a lot more interesting, I'm sure.


So this is a (very short) summarised photo diary of my working day...

The working part of the day

The magic student reception bell - My computer - Paperwork!

 

The lunchtime eating part of the day

Where I work - One of my lunch friends

 

The evening work do part of the day

Admittedly this particular work function actually only happens once a year...

 

 

Can I also just apologise for the fairly short and sweet #BEDM posts? Getting back home from the hospital at 10pm after visiting my dad doesn't leave much time for tinkering with blog posts.

 

I hope, flippers crossed, normal service will be resumed next week.

 

Day 2 - Spring is Here!

Day 2 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

Spring is Here!

(What is your favourite thing about Spring? What plans do you have to enjoy it?)



Okay, so...after a good start to #BEDM, today's post has had considerably less time spent on it.


Yesterday (or possibly the evening before) my father had a stroke.


A haemorrhagic stroke to give it it's proper medical term. Thankfully not a major one, nowhere near as serious as it could have been but still, serious enough to require blues and twos and a stay in hospital for the next few days.



So today's spring-themed post comes in the form of a collage - all the things that make me happy in Spring.

Welsh Lambs - Tulips - Ducks at Work
Trearrdur Bay Beach - West Somerset Railway Spring Steam Gala - Anglesey Easter Holiday
Abbey Hill Steam Rally - Carters Steam Fair at Pinkneys Green - Daffodils


 

Day 1 - 5 Lines

So...I’ve only been blogging for just over a month yet somehow I thought it was a good idea to sign up for a task that involves publishing a post every day?!  What was I thinking? And should I mention that I have a 3000 word business plan due at the beginning of June?

Oh well, in for penny, in for a pound – let it never be said that I shy away from challenges...

 

Day 1 of rosalilium’s 'blog every day in May' challenge

5 Lines

(Introduce yourself or sum yourself up in just 5 lines. Include a photograph that you are proud of)

 

 

As you might be able to tell, I’m only just starting out into the world of blogging and did an ‘about me post’ only a few weeks ago. So, if it’s allowed, I’m going to interpret today’s topic by sharing 5 unusual things about me:

 

1. I went abroad on my own for the first time to New York. At the age of 19. Exactly one year after 9/11.

2. I've performed (danced and sung) to over 100,000 people in one night. And do so every few years.

3. I don't own a passport.

4. I've driven lorries. One from 1952 and one from 2009.

5. I've been to Glastonbury Festival each year since 2004 for free. And will be going again this year.

 

And a photograph that I am proud of?

I'm not sure whether to interpret that as a photograph I've taken that I'm proud of, or a photograph of something that I'm proud of having done. I'm gonna go with the latter and make myself look really sentimental.

 

On that day I wasn't just any old duck - I was a swan!

 

 

The Midweek Hop - Summer's Coming

A weekly musical feature inpsired by Desmond Carrington's 'The Music Goes Round'

  

 'Balami S100' 1959 Jukebox

 

This week's theme is...Summer's Coming

 

Inspired by May Day (and hopefully the start of summer)



1. Here Comes The Sun by George Harrison

Fingers crossed that this year, this song will ring true!
'Here Comes The Sun', written by George Harrison was included on The Beatles' 1969 album, 'Abbey Road' but was never released as a single.


2. Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran

What it's like to be a teenager in the sunshine...
'Summertime Blues' entered the chart on 7th Nov 1958 reaching Number 18


3. Rain, Rain, Rain by Frankie Laine and The Four Lads

Summarising the last few years of British summers - perhaps it's time to start thinking about building a boat?
'Rain, Rain, Rain' entered the chart on 22nd Oct 1954 reaching Number 8


Happy listening!