What happened to Snapshot Sunday?

Hello again,

Firstly, let me start by saying I'm sorry for not posting in the week and for posting my snapshot Sunday late! I did warn you that last week was going to be a busy one -  and I wasn't wrong! By the time I got home I was absolutely shattered and I really cant get away with a half arsed attempt at posting such a fun week - nor do I want to! I fully intended to upload on Monday but I had my visitor here still and I've used the last couple of days as a catch up...mainly on sleep.

So here's my Snapshot Sunday post From my week last week. 10th - 16th April 2017

On Monday, I was feeling really rough. I got out of bed early on and decided that i'd be more use tucked up back in bed and set my alarm to wake me up to take the car in for it's MOT then come straight back. I picked up a bit after the fresh air and cool waiting room at the test centre but it wasn't a productive day. I took a snap shot of the weather forecast for the rest of the week for Derby (Our planned destination for the weekend).

Tuesday was very different from Monday. It was probably the most packed out day I've had in a long time! It was house prep day for our guest arriving as I was going to be staying away for the rest of the week so had to have the house nice for when I went away. I left the hoovering for Dan but pretty much managed a lot by myself this time. Charlotte, one of my closest friends came for a visit in the afternoon - she was back from uni for the Easter break and it was such a welcome visit. We sat and critiqued the new Disney Beauty and the Beast, chatted about uni life and home life and had a general catch up. I love her uni stories. The pics and videos she showed me had me howling with laughter - (they are not suitable to be shared on the internet!)

So, the little visit on Tuesday got the excited gears going ready for Wednesday... trip day! Charlotte picked me up and dropped me at the station and I was off and on my way to Cambridge in no time! The train from Nottingham to Peterborough wasn't the most pleasant purely because the 'Clampits' who had previously sat where I had got my reservation had decided to leave all of their rubbish for me to tidy away, including spilt milk - I didn't cry over it! (Y'know, the old saying: don't cry over spilt milk).  Anyway, the reason for my trip was that one of my besties was performing in the Full Monty at the ADC theatre and it was her first character part rather than being in the chorus. I knew nothing about the role she was playing as she wanted it to be a surprise for us - and that it was! Going to her house on Wednesday meant I got to have a bit of 'down time' before seeing the show on Thursday and spend some time with my friends and my god daughter... who can now say my name and is more super cute than ever! As Laura was performing on Wednesday I had a play date at the park and then got to put the little one in her cot at bedtime! Precious moments!

On Thursday we had a relaxed day in Cambridge. Serena arrived in the evening not long after Laura had left for the theatre and after a bit of tea we headed out to take our seats in the (rather chilly) auditorium. Row C - Nice and close so Laura (who was playing Estelle - the 'bit on the side' of the main character) could hear us cheering her at the end (we always aim to cheer the loudest for our friend). It was the best I have ever seen Laura perform! The show had me and Serena laughing out loud and cry laughing at each other at parts too.

Friday was the day Serena and I travelled back to Mansfield. We had a song fest in the car with everything from the Lion King to PJ and Duncan! Yes, we know how to have the best carpool karaoke! We were tired and a little delirious *we always are when we are together* but we were so ready for our weekend adventure to the British Touring Car Championship Round two at my home circuit - Donington Park!

Saturday: We woke up and had to get busy getting ready straight away - my worst kind of morning but it was softened by the sound of "hello, wheres Aseena?" That's my nephews way of saying Serena. He was desperate to come and see her! Little did he know that he was joining us on the adventure to the day at the track. When he found out it was full on excitement. On the whole it was a pretty uneventful day... Until the last Ginetta race where there was a rather large crash in front of where we were sitting resulting in a very poorly looking car! Driver okay though! It's amazing how safe these cars are made for the drivers!

Sunday - RACE DAY! It was an even earlier start today. The racing was fast, slippy and rain added to the mix made it more dangerous! We took a beach tent with us for shelter from the elements but for some reason we didn't use it until the end of the day! It was definitely an adrenaline filled day and at times quite difficult to watch! I wont go into too much detail here but we saw one of the worst crashes that I've ever seen... it brought it home that these are real cars, and real people driving them! Occasionally things go wrong and bad things happen. Unfortunately this was one of those days!

My next post will be on Friday *21st April*

Again, sorry this is late!

An evening in Bakewell

Hello again!

I've had lots of positive vibes about my return to blogging with a little bit of help from Hannie and some of her lovely blogger friends.

Today's a little jumble of loveliness from a quiet little fish and chip tea by the river in Bakewell, Derbyshire. Bakewell is pretty much central of the Peak District I think and it's not too far for us to get to by car. There's lots of beautiful views of the hills en route and lots of twisty bendy roads when you go the way we went (I'm so glad I didn't drive)! The town is quite well known for its pudding which is nothing like the Bakewell tarts or cherry bakewell a that you can buy in most supermarkets in the UK. You can read more about them (or order one to try here).

Dan wasn't at work on Friday so we visited some of my relatives who have been staying in Derbyshire on a mini holiday for a few days. They went home yesterday so it was a lovely opportunity to get together with them while they were in the area last week. I genuinely felt so awfully ill before we left the house, probably not helped by the fact I had somehow forgotten to eat any lunch. I'm really trying hard to eat regularly as it's something I have found really difficult (partly due to medication and habits from when I was in hospital). Anyway, that aside, the fresh air did me the world of good. We sat on the benches along the river after having a lovely little wander and look in the oldie-worldy type shops. I found a gorgeous little shop that sells scarves in a whole variety of designs. My personal favourite is the one with the vw camper van print on.


A selection of the scarves outside the little shop in Bakewell.

Whilst we sat and ate our "chippie tea" we watched the different wildlife on the river. I have such an irrational fear of birds and although it was ok them being in the river and on the path near the river it was certainly not ok for them to be near me. I really quite like ducks but at one point there was a rather "confident" little so-and-so that came that bit too close and I literally froze. In my head I was having a full blown argument with myself with one side saying: "DO NOT MOVE A SINGLE MUSCLE - you do and that thing is gonna flap and squark and you'll end up having a 'flap attack'. You know you will!" The other voice was the voice of calm saying "get a grip you stupid woman, move your foot a bit and it will waddle off, what harm will a cute little duck do". What did I do? I froze! I was not taking the risk of entering the flap attack mode! NU-UH! The duck got bored and waddled off eventually - I won that one!



This cheeky duck would not leave me alone!

After I finished fish and chips I has a wander to the bridge where people take padlocks. Typically they're couples that mark a date and/or their names in someway or something meaningful to them then they lock their padlock onto wire on the bridge. There were some really lovely engraved ones! Just after I had taken my pictures on the bridge a wedding party arrived. They had a lot of photos taken on the bridge before the happy couple arrived. It was quite exciting to watch. The newlyweds had obviously got a padlock with them to lock on the bridge too. - what a great idea!



Do you have somewhere near to where you live that you like to visit? Have you written a blog post about it? Please feel free to write a comment telling me about somewhere you have been to recently or leave a link to your blog and I'll have a read :)

Love and hugs.
Hannah.xx