Autumn Again...

Goodness where has September gone?

No, I haven't been wasting my time since my last post. I've been working on an entry for one of the annual competitions at the writers' club and putting into practise some of the skills I learnt over the summer.

As home life has been a bit disruptive with various family members at home during the day, I've been trying out writing in the evening. Until daytime's settle down again I'm going to concentrate on rewriting in the evenings, while I can use the time during the day for research, admin, and catching up on interesting programmes and Twitter.

It's not ideal but I will be able to get quiet and work intensively.

Yesterday (Saturday) I was at a half-day workshop on dialogue, so I have been writing a bit.

On my travels around the city centre this month I've been taking photos of the various Hoodwinked robins that have been placed across the city. They've been part of an art trail along with a number of book benches.

The robins have been sponsored by local businesses, and each Robin has been decorated by a local or national artist.

Best of all the robins will be auctioned off in October to raise money for the Nottinghamshire Hospice.

They've been popular with children and adults during the school summer holidays and at weekends. After today (30th September) they will be gathered up and taken to Fernleigh House and Garden to join two more special edition robins.

The robins will be getting a tidy up first as I'm sure they've had a few sticky finger prints on them, as well as whatever the weather could inflict on them.

I didn't get to photograph them all, but I did get eight of them. In fact one of them is on the back cover of the autumn issue of Scribe- the club magazine of Nottingham Writers' Club.

Goose Fair, Goose Fowl...

This one was just off the Market Square. It's very appropriate as this week is the annual Goose Fair and in the past it was held in the Market Square.

Nowadays it's a funfair held out at the Forest Recreation Ground and the car park- of the tram stop next door!

Like any tradition it has its roots in history; at this time of year Geese would have been driven into the city to be sold for the Michaelmas dinner. The Geese came from Lincolnshire and would have been walked all that way.

You can find out more about the origins of the Goose Fair over on the Nottingham Hidden History Team site. They're a fantastic resource for Nottinghamshire history.

Do look at the picture of the huge Goose sitting on the roundabout. Every year this heavy duty statue comes out of storage and appears at the roundabout just by the Forest, on a bus route so it can't be missed; and if you forget it's Goose Fair time its appearance soon reminds you...

A Seaside Visit...

I'm home and catching up from a short break away at the seaside - Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

Unfortunately our four hour journey turned into six hours as not only was Friday lunchtime around the York area busy, but there'd been an accident earlier in the morning and the exit we should have taken off the motorway was closed, so lots of traffic having to travel further along and get back onto the correct route.

It was a relief to finally arrive...

We were staying at a hotel in the North Bay. The views are spectacular whether it's day, night or sunrise- the latter my OH was up very early to photograph while I continued to sleep.

Late afternoon at North Bay
with Scarborough Castle
in the distance...

We did a lot of walking but took advantage of the bus that ran along from the North Bay to the Spa at the far end of the South Bay.
You can walk up from the Foreshore Road to the main pedestrianised shopping area, but it's quicker to use the Central Tramway; it's history in action and only takes a very short time from the bottom to the top or vice versa.

Up or down...

The service is still run by the original company, The Central Tramway Company (Scarborough) Ltd, which was set up in 1881.

Of course it has had a lot of updates since then.

You can read more and see some photos of the trams in action on their website.




There's also a statue in the gardens across from the tramway building...                           

Queen Victoria...

This visit to Scarborough did not have any research motives, but of course history is always around.

The Castle is a scheduled ancient monument; from an Iron Age settlement to a Roman signal station, then on to the 12th century enclosure castle and through to the gun batteries of the 18th century and 19th century garrison during the Napoleonic Wars.

The town was bombarded by a German Destroyer in 1914. In WW2 it was a listening post.

It has strong literary connections too, not only Alan Ayckbourn's long association with the Stephen Joseph Theatre, but also poet Edith Sitwell who was born in Scarborough.

Anne Bronte died there in the late 1840's and is buried in the graveyard near to St Mary's Church.

There are regular boat trips for pleasure, or you can watch the working boats in the harbour. Crab seems to be a popular catch for the boats- and children on the pier with their buckets dangling by a long cord over the side into the harbour water.

The Harbour...

The weather was good and the sea air was refreshing; a much needed break after a busy summer.

Now it's back to work...