10 days to Xmas

Yesterday, we thought of joining the annual pilgrimage to the retail mecca and pounding the pavements in town. But by the time we reached the multi-storey parking, cars were already queuing at the entrance. Opps, we made a quick u-turn and decided to check the retail park nearer to our casa.

The Gallagher was buzzing but at least we managed to get a space for Benzy. You wouldn't believe it. I came out of TK Maxx empty-handed. Huh??? But not for long. At Matalan, I got myself a teal wooly jumper. That'll keep me nice and warm.

Babe checked out Maplins and Comet. He, too, came out empty-handed. When we drove over the bridge to our casa, we saw the queue into the Arena was nearly a kilometre long. I bet there's going to be plenty of frazzled drivers and harassed shoppers over there.

At home, we'd satay and couscous for dinner. I'd marinated the beef before our morning expedition. We could hear the rain pouring outside. I spent the evening doing the Xmas decorations and putting up the tree, watching X-Factor finals, alternating with snooker. And it rained the whole night.

This morning, we headed in the opposite direction, for the sublime peace and stillness of this corner of Coventry. A very short drive from the maddening crowds and another planet together, to our favourite playground. We are going bittern-spotting.

Bitterns have been spotted at the reserve. A member had posted a photograph on the website. I'm soo envious.

So here we are camouflaged and wrapped up like a Michelin man. And guess what? The footpath was flooded. We stumbled along the other footpath, savouring the semi-thawed landscape, and serenaded by robins who are too nervous to feed off my hand.

 

Then we spotted this beautiful song thrush (turdus philomelos). He was so busy eating the yew berries that we managed to get so close.

 

On Thursday, I took the afternoon off. We wanted to check out the closing sales at Woolsworth. A British high street institution for 99 years, is to shut its doors for good. People blame the “credit crunch” for Woolies going under, but the business has been badly run for years and slowly lost its share of the market.

We went to the store, did a quick glance and  walked out. We could not stand the crowd. The queue to the till was snaking all over the place. But you have to wonder if Woolies administrator, Deloitte has hyped up the closing down sale to try and boost sales. It was only 10-20%. We bought a book at W.H.Smith with a 75% discount was only 10% off here. Just shows that you need to look around before you part with your £££.

We'd another do for Alec at Browns in the city centre. We all went there by bus after work cos it stops on its door steps. How convenient was that. From the exterior, it looked uninspiring. But, inside. Wow!!! A fantastic 60's interior.

There was a huge blackboard with hand-written menu. We couldn't decide what to have. It was good, simple unfussy food. I'd the Cajun salmon with mushy peas, new potatoes, carrots and cauliflower cheese. It came in big portions and was reasonably priced. We'd a good time. To Alec, Hasta siempre.

Happy 12th birthday to our lovely niece, Holly. She said the talking parrot kept her awake. :-)