IMS_Blog

It all started so well, with beer on Friday night, having successfully negotiated trains (only about 13+ hours on trains in two days then). We’d decided that Saturday, being the only day predicted to be at all sunny, we’d have a little stroll along the Trent. I don’t know where everyone else was going but the queue for even the fast ticket machine at Nottingham station seemed insanely long that Saturday morning, so with muttered ponderings about whether you could still by tickets on trains in this day and age we leapt onto the Long Eaton bound train. Of course, this being Britain’s rail network, we never got the chance to find out because no one had bothered checking tickets by the time we got off fifteen minutes later. Free rail trip for the win. Now we just had to walk back…

Ed had a map, and a compass. What could go wrong. Well, as the plan was to simply follow the river, very little actually. It’s a pleasant walk, alongside the boats and barges that ply the river and connecting canals. We made good progress. Soon the map was being turned and refolded. When I asked where we were Ed happily pointed to a random bend in the river. He promised a weir would be appearing soon. He kept promising. My legs would disagree with the definition of soon. Eventually the weir did appear though, along with a pub at Beeston Marina. I made Ed go in the pub, then made him pay for the beers when I realised I hadn’t actually bothered with bringing cash along. Still, the rain held off, and things were still reasonable as we enjoyed the beer by the river. At least we knew where we were then and the second part of the journey was straighter (and I personally think with slightly better
scenery). Still, we wouldn’t have wanted to walk any further! More photos can be found in the albums (all taken with my camera phone because I’m too incompetent to have a camera with me).

The rest of the weekend was spent recovering from the walk ;-) We went to Sainsbury’s in the rain Sunday, because there was no bread. A copy of Burnout: Dominator was purchased (PS 2 version). Just how many bloody Burnouts are there? It’s actually remarkably fun, in a loud, crashy, not at all Gran Turismo sort of way :-D

There was also a TV, not that we actually watched broadcast programs (actually, that’s not quite true. This weeks Dr Who was really rather good). There were movies, Sin City (which I hadn’t seen—enjoyably good, with me laughing at bits that normal people probably shouldn’t laugh at) and Shawshank Redemption (which Ed hadn’t seen—still brilliant). Then there was the bit of Planet Earth on DVD I saw. Now there is some stunning photography. The sort of thing the BBC should be made to do for their money, rather than chasing ratings with stuff anyone else could do.

What else…slightly further with Gradius V, which we can’t do. More beer. A final pint or two in the pub on the way to the station (why can I never find the cash points at Nottingham station?), in a pub obviously owned by a cat. Trains home were surprisingly smooth, even the cold at Doncaster was refreshing. And enjoyable bank holiday then.