Last week of January

I’m glad that January has come to a close. It was a very long month. With the freezing cold weather, dark days and darker nights and for us, the waiting…And we’re still waiting and praying.

On Sunday, we went for an early morning drive to Draycote  Water. The reservoir was busy with the sailing club in action. We watched them racing among themselves and wonder at their skills in manoeuvring that tiny boat in the middle of the reservoir. It was a joy to watch them trying to keep their boats upright too.

As we walked on the pavement towards the bird hide, it began snowing. :-) But I was distracted by the number of Little Grebes and Great Crested Grebes swimming and feeding closely to the shore. This place was Grebe paradise. We planned to come again during the breeding season and observe them doing their love tango.

We were the only people at the hide. Bliss and spotted the usual culprits feeding at the bird-feeder. A few ducks waited patiently below, waiting for scraps that might fall down. From a distance, we spotted these lovely creatures. What a strange sight in the middle of England. Alpacas feeding on the hillside. We drove past the Toft alpaca farm on the way here. It was a very nice surprise. Aren’t they gorgeous?

I spent the afternoon watching the recorded Australian Open finals between Murray and Federer. A pity he lost but it was a brilliant start for Murray for the new year. Then it was the African Cup finals between Egypt and Ghana. A very boring game. Congratulations to Egypt for winning the cup for the third time and keeping it in Egypt.

Another early morning walk on Saturday in Brandon Marsh. It was such a beautiful spring-like day that we met all the usual twitchers. The lakes was still frozen and not many waders about. Suddenly, this bird just flew across from nowhere. It was my first sighting of the elusive BITTERN!!!.  I managed to photograph the tail end but Babe got this lovely shot on Friday. I’m a very happy lady now :-).

We joined Andy and Kay for hot chocolate at the restaurant. I had mine topped with marshmallows. Yummy…Several times, Andy and Kay had been asking us over for dinner. Thanks but not at the moment. We’ll have a rain cheque, guys.

After stowing away our stuff in the casa, we walked to Arena Tesco. I need to get a new pair of glasses. There was another football match at the Ricoh. Blackpool was in town to meet the Sky Blues. Babe noticed a few people with orange and black scarves wandering about. Must be Blackpool supporters. And here I was wearing my new ski jacket and yeah, in orange and black, walking past a pub full of blue and white stripe supporters!!! What a klutz…The match ended 1:1 by the way.

It was also One World Week in the university. During lunch break, I popped into the Student Union and check out what was going on. Compared to last year, this year seemed to be a flop. Or perhaps, I just happened to arrive at the wrong time.

But they saved the best for last. On Friday, CC and I had a wonderful time watching a lion dance performance. They were very good and the beating of the drum and cymbals made so much noise that it was still ringing in our ears when we left. We did check out the Chinese Street markets but nothing spectacular.

I need a favour. Please spread the word around. The Breast Cancer site is not getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day for an underprivileged woman.

This doesn’t cost anything. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. Here’s the website:

http: //www.thebreastcancersite.com

Click on ‘donating a mammogram’ for free (pink window in the middle).

Thank you.