A Good Season For Spiders

At the moment my garden doesn’t belong to me anymore. It is now the realm of the arachnids. A lorra, lorra realms of gossamer threads have crisscrossed all over the garden. They have moved in stringing intricate lacework stretching from branch to fence to everywhere. You can’t walk far without having these threads brushing against you and getting tangled on your clothes and hair.

I’ve watched unsuspecting insects getting tangled in these silky tripwires. Out of nowhere, the hunter comes scuttling and the poor thing will be woven and spun around, to be eaten later. Not a nice way to go but that’s Nature for you.

A lot of spiders in the garden also meant plentiful food for our resident wren. I have seen this tiny bird hopping into the bushes and coming out with a spider in its beak. So I’m not complaining if these master weavers are taking over the garden now.

Yesterday, my colleagues and I took the train to Birmingham. We wanted to see the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. What a pity we couldn’t make it cos the queue was snaking right down the City Council steps. It was based on a ticketing system and it would take us at least 4 hours before we could see it. Hmm…I think I’ll take a day off to see this magnificent treasure.

As usual, we’d lunch in Chinatown. Another colleague told me there were a few Malaysian restaurants nearby. We checked them out but honestly, I wouldn’t want to eat there. It was so rundown, dingy and dark, more like a shack than a restaurant. Why???

We tried a new Cantonese restaurant, Sum Yee. They say that if you want to know if the food is good, check out where the locals eat. The restaurant was full but we managed to get a seat. I’d spicy Thai seafood noodle soup which came in this huge bowl. There were generous heaps of tiger prawns, scallops and calamari. I was sweating profusely by the time I finished. It really blew all the cobwebs in my body :-)

Then off to a Chinese supermarket. Since it was Moon Cake Festival, I was on the hunt for a Red Bean mooncake. Expensive but worth it. Every year, on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, the Chinese celebrate the mid-autumn festival or better known as the Moon Cake Festival. I’ve bought a pomelo ages ago not realising that the festival was coming.

We waddled slowly to the train station. I didn’t do any shopping but I did checked out and tried a few shoe shops. Fell in love with all the shoes in Schuh. I must get myself a pair for X’mas. (Babe, are you reading this :-))

Took the afternoon off on Thursday. We went to Asda to do some shopping and later in the evening checked out Brandon Marsh. There was a flurry of activities at Carlton Hide. The kingfisher was busy fishing, a water rail was playing hide and seek among the reeds, a jay flew and sat on the kingfisher’s pole, a kestrel was being chased by a flock of crows and Babe photographed this magnificent fox. Wow!!! It kept us busy.

As we walked back home, we saw this beautiful sunset. The nature reserve suddenly grew quiet and the natives are settling down for the night. Bonn nuit and sleep tight.

On Friday was the anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. A great, great man the world has ever produced. I remember watching the film and tears streaming down my face during the funeral scene. I too will light a candle in remembrance for a man who changed the world.