A Blast From The Past And Wholesale Tree Destruction

Well, if I thought I could have a nice peaceful birthday, I can think again. PMB Pallet Express were here all day clearing up the crap they left behind when the building was demolished around it - so ... brrrrm, brrrrm, clatter, clatter.

Funnily enough, I was only saying to the grumpy old man yesterday morning that I really miss them waking me up in the night [such a fib!], but it would take a long time to erase the memory of what they sounded like.

Moments later [literally] Mr Heanor Haulage arrived, closely followed by two PMB lorries. Mr HH says that next week we'll have the pleasure of listening to mountains of muck being shifted over to the railway lines to join the other mountains and are to be flattened, crushing yet more trees [not his exact words, but I'm sure it's what he meant].

According to the 'Ecological Appraisal' done at the time of Asda's and Heanor Haulage's proposals, 'the only area of any ecological value was along the railway track outside the development site, this area is walled off from the site and is not affected by the proposal'.

Should Asda really be chucking their building/demolition waste over the fence when they're trying to aid Langley Mill to become more environmentally friendly?

Anyway since the plans were passed the boundaries have become somewhat blurred - with the purchases of certain bits of railway land - so I think we can safely say goodbye to these areas of ecological value ...

Sold!! To The Highest Bidder

Well, I've been sat here waiting for some juicy offers to plop through the letterbox from Asda - seeing as they open in less than two days. Nothing! Whereas my new favourite Store ... Tesco - actually, I hate Tesco but I have very low morals when it comes to bribery - have sent us each yet another batch of coupons to spend.

The grumpy old man flashed both our Tesco letters at me, then proceeded to open his and my mail - including one of my birthday cards ... and read it out to me - git [his excuse was that I was having a shower at the time].

But wait!! My GOM has since been out and just returned from Eastwood brandishing an Asda leaflet ... are there coupons within? Are there buggery. All Asda could manage - so far ... there's a little time yet ... Tesco can still be outbid ... I'm very bribe-able - was a store guide.

So, four more trips to Tesco to spend £60 to save £20 ... with a trolley each, plus pen and paper so as not to underspend [my calculator skills are crap, I kept adding things twice last time we went, until the GOM took over].

Am I shallow? You bet I am. I will of course waft through the doors of Asda on Monday night for a browse around - and to see how many times I can drop my Tesco coupon and announce loudly as I pick it up that we're just on our way to TESCO - I may get chucked out ...

The Eyesore

I'm referring to the lamppost opposite - the top light on the post works OK but is no longer necessary as it was to light up the bridge steps, whereas the bottom one [in the photo] hasn't worked since E.on fiddled with it a year ago. Of course with Asda's ultra-bright security lights, everywhere is lit up. In fact we no longer need electricity in our bedroom but I really must invest in something to block out the light, I keep waking thinking it's time to get up!

Now that we're all smartened up with a wooden fence and plants - yes, maybe the houses do spoil Asda's view of Bridge Street, but tough, we're staying - this street light is an incongruous mess. It's mottled green, having been painted years ago by the Groundwork crew to match the mural on the side of the bridge steps.

The lamppost is actually on the road, not the pavement, so not the best place for it - no the road hasn't been widened before you ask, it was always on the road but now the bridge extension has gone, it's in the way. It's covered in electrical tie-wraps to keep essentials fastened on, rusted at the bottom, albeit not rusty enough to fall over when I witnessed someone leaning heavily against it [note to friend - push harder].

We contemplated bribing a nice man with his digger to knock it over by accident whilst he was removing the temporary ramp next to it, but tut, he was way beyond careful.

The planting is now complete right up to the fence, so there's no immediate need for me to go out armed with spade and my own trees - shame, I was looking forward to that.

I'm not even going to mention the mess that is 'security fenced' off at the top of the street - oh, what? I did mention it, well it was only a teeny weeny little gripe. We can see the security man's kennel little shed from here, ahh, bless, and lots of old PMB Pallet Express mess.

The detailed plans haven't gone in yet for the new housing on Heanor Haulage's land - I don't mean the outline plans that were passed at the same time as the Asda store - but as soon as they do I'll be having a nosy [and no doubt a little moan].

There's still quite a lot of HH's crap to be moved before anything much can be done. Every so often they come and rearrange the odd scrappy bit of metal with their crane and then re-park it behind our house, possibly to annoy me [so my neighbour thinks], but as I've not been at home most of the summer I'm pleased to say that this would have been a wasted exercise ...

Trees? ... Please

Well, I waited and waited ... and waited with breath quite bated - ooh, I say, rhyming tripe - for the other trees to arrive across the road from us. There was a bare space at the back, room for lots of trees! Everywhere else had plants right up to the fence.

The gardeners were working further down the street - near our entrance to Asda - we noticed that the planting around there seemed a lot more dense [yes, this could have been an illusion caused by the angle I was observing from, but this is my diary and I'll moan if I want to], with nicer plants ... and more trees.

Wednesday morning:

7.15 - CRASH, CLATTER, RATTLE, RATTLE, flashing orange lights. 'What the chuffin heck are they doing now!?' ... Oh, my mistake, it wasn't RG Group on a mission to wake me up. It was the recycling lorry, which has been coming early since it could no longer get up the street at it's more normal we're-all-awake-and-I'll-just-dash-out-with-a-bit-more-recycling-if-you-don't-mind time. Bugger, I'm awake now, I may as well open the curtains and watch the trains and site workers arrive ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

8.00 - I'm awake! I'm awake! Y-a-w-n, s-t-r-e-t-c-h, I really will open the curtains now. YIKES! Where's me nets when I need 'em? - actually I did try them back up but didn't like them. They're proper, heavy Nottingham lace and block out everything, which was fine when all we'd got for a view was a brick wall and a rusting mural on the side of the bridge steps - there were men, straight across from us taking down the temporary fence, I had to hide what was left of my dignity behind a curtain [yes, it is wide enough], somewhat sharpish.

8.20 - Knock at the door ... 'Can you move the cars please?' He meant, of course, the ones in our private car park the turning circle. I phoned one neighbour to tell her ... 'What, now? I'm not dressed, mutter, mutter...' The grumpy old man told our other neighbour - well, he told her son as she too was indisposed. They're an idle lot up here when the kids are off school ... I'm going to suffer for that comment aren't I neighbour?

Whilst the GOM was down the street after moving the car, he decided to ask the gardeners about our trees - or lack of ... 'Have you forgotten the trees at the top of the street?'
'There are no more trees'
'Are you sure? There's only a little one and we think there should be more, especially as they chopped a big one down from near there. That should really be replaced' [I have the evidence of this tree murder].

Upon grumpy's return I text my neighbour and relayed this latest annoyance, she was still outside having just moved her car so she asked the foreman - who was standing in the wrong place at just the wrong time - 'But there's space left for more trees ... leave it with me'. was his reply.

A little later, the bark arrived, don't they normally put that down after the planting? ... I wasn't to worry, I need to be more patient [I don't do patient, I'm getting old you know!!]. We were assured that the trees were coming but the bark had arrived and needed shifting straight away. OK, I'll wait ... and wait ... and wait.

Oh bugger this, I'm going across to plant my slightly dead Christmas tree and very much alive cherry tree if they don't bring us more trees soon. I'm also willing to go on a mission to dig up a couple of silver birches from nearby - seeing as they've already crushed countless trees with their big heaps next to the railway lines.

Thursday morning:

9.15 I SEE TREES!! Well, two more anyway. There is still a huge empty space at the back - hmm, I suppose it's somewhere for all the cats to have a wee. But, ho, hum, if it's not planted soon it may end up accommodating some unexpected flora ...

Tesco Generosity And A Conundrum

Thanks Tesco for your very generous £10 off coupons, most people I know only got £6 off. Even better, you sent both the grumpy old man and myself the same letter, so two lots, unfortunately as I was in exile at Skegness with my cat for the last two months we missed the first week.

These coupons, ostensibly, are to celebrate the revamp of our local Tesco in Heanor ... nothing at all then to do with the fact that Asda in Langley Mill - with our own little path from Bridge Street - is nearly open ... No? OK. Well whatever the reason, thanks for these lovely coupons - ARE YOU TAKING NOTE ASDA??? I can be bought! - we'll be up to whizz around Tesco with a trolly and calculator each [well I don't want to accidentally spend £29.95 and himself £30.05].

Now Asda, you seem to have sparked a mini-debate amongst my friends on seasons. You advertise your Langley Mill store opening as the 'Winter Opening' on November 8th. I've asked one or two intelligent people who surprised me by agreeing with you, that November is indeed a winter month.

As far as I was aware - obviously making me less intelligent than I thought I was, but I can live with this ... just - November in England has always been firmly lodged in Autumn, at least it has in my lifetime. This is something I knew from an early age because I wanted my birthday to be in winter - I can't help it, I love snow and sparkly frost; even now - and I was told by someone nasty [my mother] that it wasn't.

As I grew up [a couple of years ago] I understood there to be two recognized dates for the start of winter here. There’s the astronomical start on the 21st/22nd December [the date I adhere to] and the meteorological start on the 1st December and now we have the Asda [or even Celtic] start to winter on 1st November.

Anyone who wants to join in this debate please feel free to leave a comment, I won't be at all offended by anyone disagreeing with me as my childhood wish of being a winter baby will be fulfilled.

Umm, Am I being boring? Yes, I thought so.

OK, back to the real world - there are now men high up on a 'cherry picker' sticking green 'ASDA' letters and a red blob with 24 hours cut out around the back of the building, I think there may probably be more of these cheapo signs to come. Presumably this is in case we're all unaware that Asda is there or maybe they're trying to attract passing custom as the trains go by, hmm, well it's a thought.

Soil is being turned over across the road as I type and there are lots of plants with a few diddy trees, apparently the larger specimens are due this week. I await their arrival with bated breath, you know I absolutely adore trees.

What the chuff is that!!?? It's 7.35pm and some pillocks are grinding/cutting something noisily with sparks flying everywhere, straight across from us on Heanor Haulages bit! Bog off back into Asda to do it. And why do the workmen do everything in reverse? Can't they drive their diggers/lorries etc forwards? It's bleep-bloody-bleep all the time - moan, whinge. And my front windows are FILTHY, it looks like they've had wet sand sprayed on them, I'll have to put my nets back up to hide the muck at this rate, which is not conducive to my nosiness  - tut, I've only been back a day ...

And So It Continues

RG Group say they're putting Bridge Street back to it's full width this week which will seem very odd after seven months, and they'll be removing the 'turning circle/private car park'.

They've been working constantly on the white box that is Langley Mill's Asda and its surroundings for what now seems like forever, including doing the smelly tarmacking today - Sunday! I can only assume this is RG Group's version of working on Bridge Street during 'off-peak' hours as they said they'd be doing in one of their letters. They also regard delivering concrete at 8.00am on a week day as 'off-peak' - how strange.

Really, the noise and disruption plus a total disregard for safety at times to Bridge Street residents has been horrendous just lately, I only hope it'll be worth it in the end because some of us are starting to get very fraught and close to the edge.

RG Group, in my opinion started quite well in the beginning when I gave them 'gold star' status because they really tried to be as considerate as possible - then they slipped progressively down my scale of excellence, passing through:

1. Noisy gits.
2. Pains in the arse.
3. Ignorant sods.

They now seem to be giving the impression that they'll soon be going so who cares. And where are our greenery and trees? They haven't arrived yet!!

Now ahem, we've heard a rumour that if you complain about the noise and muck etc. you'll be given vouchers to get your car cleaned. But it hardly seems fair that we should have to complain to receive anything from Asda or RG Group after all this constant disruption to our lives. Cleaning our windows a few times so we can see better what they're doing really isn't really much of a compensation even if I am nosy, now is it?

And seeing as I'm the shy retiring type who doesn't like to moan about anything [cough, splutter], I can't really see us complaining, can you? Even though they put the grumpy old man and myself through absolute hell when it was so earth shatteringly noisy and shaky they scared our cat into hiding where she was trapped for five days. Then we weren't allowed to look for her even though she was only a stone's throw away, resulting in me being forever branded a trespasser [oh yes, I'm a proper rebel I am].

Hmm, now where is that pile of letters with their phone number ...

New Housing On Cromford Road

As per usual, I've been nosily looking at [AVBC] plans for our area just in case there's summat worth moaning about. I noticed one plan for up to 76 lodges plus two carp lakes behind Stoneyford Lodge, then I came across another that I thought had already been passed.

I soon realised it was yet another amendment [Variation of unilateral undertaking] to something no-one wanted in the first place. Oh yes, I can definitely feel a whinge coming on [of course in the meantime I've since read another interesting and far superior blog on the same subject but I won't let that put me off].

Over the last few years estates have sprouted up on all our green bits - the new housing on North Street is ok as it was mostly replacing Aristoc. But the estate at Langley really peeved me at the time as I then lived nearby - a bit of it was land previously owned by Heanor Haulage [yes, the same Heanor Haulage that sold the land for our new Asda in front of us], but the rest of it was fields. To be extra annoying they cut our road [Laceyfields Road] into four bits so the new estate had priority, oh yes, and they completely arsed up the bit of road near the school.

I can't really see how we can keep having more and more houses being built, but no new schools, doctors or amenities etc. to keep up with them. There are now no spaces between our towns and villages in the surrounding area - you can tell this while travelling as the speed limit is always 30mph meaning it's a built up area - making us one vast sprawl rather than the proper communities we used to be.

The Post Office already got rid of place names like Marlpool and Langley years ago, telling us that we lived in Heanor. It was like being told I'm British and not English so I was always one of those people that insisted on keeping Langley in my address whether the post office liked it or not. Gosh, I thought my grumpydom was more recent than that.

Anyway, where was I? Tut, this was only going to be two chuffing paragraphs when I started, I've got sidetracked again. Ah, yes, on to my newest moan:

Talk about cheap, nasty and GREEDY! Miller Homes who have already had their highly controversial plan passed for 109 houses - to be built on one of our few remaining green bits in Langley Mill - against our community's wishes, now want to renege on the deal with the council. Specifically, the amount of affordable boxes homes. They now want to build 6 instead of 30. They also want to reduce the bribe S106 monies agreed to. Presumably this poor company is now bleating about their profits not being big enough. Ahh, shame.

Well here's an interesting suggestion Miller Homes - bog off and build your houses elsewhere ...

Banking In Langley Mill?

I have read that Santander would like to open a branch in one of Asda's units. I hope this gets approval because I happen to know some crumblies who have to go to Derby every time they want to do a bit of banking.

I also happen to know a much closer and grumpier crumbly who is sophisticated enough to do telephone banking with a couple of his accounts. This was a real treat when listening to the 'password' bit of the conversation:

'The third character, hmm ... is it *? Oh good.'
'The eighth one!! ... Er, I've only got five, are you sure I've got eight?'
'Can't you ask me the next question instead?'
'Can't you give me a clue?'
'Oh does *** come at the end?'
'Well it'll be *.'
'YES!!'

Shortly after witnessing this one sided conversation I upgraded him to online banking where I'm in control - with my moderately younger memory - of all the letters and numbers.

Oh bugger it! I've just tried to log onto his ******* account in a smug-show-offy-I-do-online-banking-you're-a-div-if-you-don't kind of way, and now I've remembered that last time I logged on, WE had to create another memorable bit after the password - yeah, I've forgotten it ...

More Heaps And Bleeps

Ooooooh, it's getting exciting now! The hoarding has been coming down on Bridge Street the last couple of days, new fencing has gone up and there have been numerous deliveries of soil all day - very noisy with lorries bleep bleep bleeping! I suppose it couldn't be helped though and the drivers always gave way to residents wanting to get past.

I can't wait for my huge tree to arrive to block my view of everything [that was a dream I had - I can't help my dreams]. The landscaping should be properly under way soon, with lots of green stuff for us to look at instead of the truly awful view we had.

Well, it's beginning to look like the end of the disruption to Bridge Street residents is in sight and we'll be left in peace at last, I won't have anything left to moan about.

What's that you say? Asda will be open soon with people shopping and deliveries being made all hours of the day [tut]. Then of course [lucky us] we'll have the noise of all sixty new peasant boxes affordable houses being built behind us - hmm, we'll see ...

Stargazing And A Caravan Fire

Just lately - now I've got a new super-zoom toy - another of my other gentle pastimes has  has been rekindled, namely stargazing. Not the serious stuff, I'm not bright enough for that, but the easy to notice things like the phases of the moon and the planets that can be seen just by looking up.

To help with this I started following Jodrell Bank on Twitter, they tweet and re-tweet and I was lucky enough to have checked just at the right time on the MW zinc ii for us to dash out onto the veranda [no, we're not posh, we're just at the caravan], to spot the International Space Station passing over. I've since used the website heavens-above to follow the ISS and visible passing satellites.

I also downloaded a program called 'Stellarium', this shows all the stars and planets and where they are at any given time. You can fast forward and zoom in amongst other things, which was a great help for spotting the four largest moons of Jupiter through my telescope - 13 years old, in pristine condition, recently hoiked out of the cupboard it had been banished to shortly after purchase [a surprise Christmas present from the grumpy old man] and taken to the caravan where the lighting conditions are far better than at our winter abode.

Anyway, in-between taking photos of the squirrel, birds and some very obliging fungi [they tend not to dash off while I'm composing my shots] during the day and the badgers at night - although I've still not managed to get the elusive fox or owl to stand still long enough to have their pictures taken - I've taken some [not brilliant but wonderful for me] pictures of the moon and a few blobs of Jupiter and her largest moons.

I was tiptoeing the other night among the slugs to get a close up of the badger noshing on peanuts when he suddenly shot off [they can move fast] as he had been disturbed by a WHOOSH! He made a hasty retreat along the fence and into the dyke. The cat was in a state of panic too. We couldn't work out what would have made such a strange noise so late at night - most normal people [wimmin] were in bed snuggled up with their electric blankets while the others were watching football on the telly.

Then I spotted the flashing blue and red lights and smoke, oh heck, right where the gas tank is [or so I thought]. Yes one of the fire engines plus the ambulance were there but the fire was a caravan further down the site.

Of course, being nosy I went to investigate, well I was already dressed in my bright-cream-fleecy-stop-up-late-when-it's-cold-to-take-photos pyjamas over my normal flimsy bed attire. Some people gave me a bit of an odd look as they turned up to see what was happening, because there I was, armed with my camera. I explained that I'd been taking photos of the badger but I'm not sure if anyone believed me - our caravan neighbours are used to seeing me with my camera at night but I don't go far with it [not needing to] - they probably thought I was some sort of opportunistic ghoul who likes taking disaster photos.

We all stood around in the drizzle, comparing caravan insurance that we'd had to pay at the beginning of the month. And agreeing that we hoped it was a caravan that belonged to 'she who must be obeyed' - not out of spite, but if it was an owned caravan, then there's always personal stuff left inside, whereas if it's a site caravan, it's only fixtures and fittings.

We've since found out that someone was staying in the caravan but were out at the time and the fire was caused by an electrical fault - it was actually a bimbo's hairdryer with an intermittent fault, left plugged in - as you do [not]. What was left of the caravan has now been taken away to caravan heaven.

We've also all had to pay for an electrical check that we didn't need. But someone - in the right place at the right time has made vast amounts of dosh, charging £25 for approximately 8 minutes work, umpteen times over a few days [with a Leicester telephone number, so not local but cheaper than advertised onsite] - unfortunately, having retired the GOM is no longer certified to do any electrical work, even though he has the technology ... which I heard about, oooh, every time he saw another victim friend to harass tell his tale of woe to ... bless him.

Did I take any photos of the caravan on fire? Well of course I did, I couldn't miss an opportunity like that now could I? I'm as ghoulish as the next person ...

Name Confusion

I was asked to print a copy of 'A Game Of Bowls' post for our next-door-but-one caravan neighbours, as they'd read Betty's copy and wanted their own - sad people. Anyway, I'm quite obliging and to save myself having to get the printer out again in the near future I decided to print a few of my posts - the ones that didn't involve Asda because no-one in their right mind wants to read my rants about them.

I saved them in 'Word' before printing as it was easier to get more tripe squeezed into one page. I noticed along the way that I hadn't gone back to remove all the offending ampersands [&] as I'd promised. I did a bit of that while I was copying and pasting so couldn't help reading a few of my own posts. Even I had a titter occasionally because I'd completely forgotten about at least half of them [just as well sometimes].

One in particular made me laugh when the grumpy old man had started calling me Judy. I reminded him of this last night and asked him if he could remember why he'd taken to calling me by a different name.

'Well,' he said. 'When you get a bit older, you start to forget names ... Anyway, you're nearly as bad as me - just look how often you call me Twat' ...

Roundabout Open At last!

I've been told that The Roundabout is open!! - although according to my neighbour [who has been that way], the road markings are strange. Two arrows straight to Heanor and no hint of a right arrow to Cromford Road. I don't suppose they really want anyone going around it until Asda opens ... because that's what it's there for - SHOPPING! - not to make life easier for us ...

Asda's Langley Mill Roundabout To Open ... One Day!

After interrogating a poor unsuspecting chap - who isn't so unsuspecting, and is by now used to us questioning him - while he was putting up a notice to say that the footpath to the bridge was now open [two days late as most of RG Groups notices]. We think we managed to get the information we wanted about Langley Mill's roadworks:

1. The tarmac is to be laid tomorrow.
2. The white lining will be done Friday.
3. The road will open, ooooh sometime after that - presumably when the paint is dry. So - um, later on Friday then? ... Or, Saturday? Er Sunday? Next week? ... When Asda opens? [8th November]

Apparently, and I can't quite remember where I heard this [yes I can, what a huge fib!]. It's the council that's been holding things up with the roundabout. I presume they must have had a very good reason seeing as they know [or should know] that the children are now back at school. Cromford Road wasn't open for 3.30 this afternoon [as it has been lately], so people had to turn around at the bottom of Bridge Street to go back to join the queue to get onto the A610 - not a lot of fun and an enormous waste of time ...

A Game Of Bowls

Ahem, we went bowling yesterday ... and that's the very last time I refer to all those old dears in off white 'uniforms' as a 'bunch of decrepit geriatrics' - oh, I ache! I have muscles in my legs I wasn't aware of. There were old codgers beetling up and down after their balls - 'bowls', I was oft corrected, to which I was to reply 'but they're just deformed balls!'

My team won, totally without my help. We were being taught to play by our caravan neighbours who play most days throughout the season at Skegness. I was partnered by John and the grumpy old man by Betty, this meant that I could chat to her at one end and grumpy could bore him at the other.

I often got to place the mat as my partner was good and we kept winning, this also meant I got to chuck my ball first at the distant white speck aka 'the jack' - see I'm learning. I was also to learn things like 'bias' and 'jack high' [yeah, I thought that was cards too].

Like any poor loser/worker I blamed my tools, or in this case - bowls [woods, oh yes!]. They were too light being size 0's, I really wanted to try 2's but they were already out, grumpy had 3's, and bugger me - he was good at it, I mean really good - was I jealous? Not a bit, he's got to be better than me at something. So ... no, I'm not in the least bit bothered, not jealous at all, I don't know why I mentioned it really - it was just that I needed to fill up this paragraph that I'd already started [t**t!].

Of course [yes, I'm still in excuse mode], I would probably have played better with a screen around a good portion of me to blot out the view of my derrière when I played my bowls. Now why I should think anyone is interested in the size of my gluteus maximus is a mystery, because Skeggy is the big bum capital of the east coast in summer and mine seriously isn't that big [no it isn't].

It didn't help that the opposition standing next to me and giving me excellent advice - 'aim for the darker green patch' or ' the vibrant green bit' [depending on which end we were playing from] - is very slim and petite. She approached the mat with graceful, fluid movements and sent all her bowls in a perfect arc toward the jack. Whereas I lumbered up like a Russian shot putter, madly dusting my bowl as I went - giving me time to have a sneaky look around to make sure there were few, if any witnesses to the eclipse that was shortly to occur.

Unfortunately, being more aware of my bum instead of concentrating on the job in hand meant that instead of taking my time, I just lobbed the bowl to get rid of it as fast as I could, often sending it straight down toward the jack instead of curving it. This resulted in them frequently dribbling out of play and occasionally to nestle comfortably amongst the bowls of the neighbouring players - yeah, yeah, OK. I've done with the feeble excuses now.

I was to finish our game with a stagger and handshakes all round [and a hug from the grumpy old man]. Oh heck! It was m-i-l-e-s back to the car. When we'd finally got there [a few minutes later] and I'd draped myself somewhat melodramatically over the passenger seat, I realised my left leg was still hanging about outside [yes, it is attached before you ask]. I begged it to lift itself up and in - it completely ignored me so I gripped the hem of my shorts and dragged it in. The GOM - usually big on sympathy - said I'd be fine after I'd had a couple of paracetamols - PARACETAMOLS!!  - I wanted walking sticks or preferably a Zimmer frame.

Betty and John arrived back at their caravan shortly after us. They asked today if we'd gone straight out as they didn't see us again. Well, no they wouldn't, I'd rushed into the caravan - after having more severe words with my legs about how long they were taking to mount the steps - had a hot shower [no bath to soak in here] and then tottered down the caravan going 'oooooh, owwww' to plonk down in front of the telly to do a bit of crocheting - making the cat a bright orange and fluffy pink blanket as punishment for turning me into a zombie while she was missing.

And this pathetic wreck of womanhood was achieved with just over an hours play. What made it worse was the knowledge that our fit neighbours have regularly played for several hours, come back at teatime to immediately start a bit of intensive - on your knees - weeding and lawn edge trimming, whilst I was to be found watching them lazily over the top of my book from a sun lounger ... yawn.

'Will we be playing bowls again?' I hear you ask, you bet we will - just as soon as I've recovered - in about a month's time. Oh yes, and when I've got me a big portable screen to hide my a**e ...

Langley Mill's New Roundabout

Oops, sorry neighbour. I wrote this and forgot to publish ... bad blogger.

I've just been told by a very reliable source [my good friend and neighbour] that:

1. The footpath on Bridge Street is to open on Monday.
2. Asda's roundabout should be fully open Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather for laying tarmac.
3. The turning circle/private car park will remain until RG Group leave in 7 weeks.
4. There's a big fence going up along the new footpath.

Photos will be taken [and inserted] when we return home on Wednesday - hopefully using the new roundabout ...

.......................................................................

8th September Update:

1. Yes the footpath to the bridge is open. Nets will be reinstalled on my windows [oops] -  I'll put my nets back up
2. No, Asda's new roundabout isn't fully open ... I can only assume that if they were depending on the weather for tarmac laying [as some of us were told], then they must be using the 'don't like fresh air' variety of tarmac.
3. BT is still very much in evidence at the end of Cromford Road, shall we blame them and their chamber?
4. The fence is huge, almost as high as my bedroom window, I don't like it Asda - move it!