Withdrawn Books - 31 July 2013

I have a lot of books, and some I never read (and some I think, why have I got that in the first place?), so periodically I am going to withdraw a number of books and pass them to Oxfam - there may be someone who really wants these books ....
The first 10 books are shown below.

Nancy Astor - never read
Welsh Labour manifesto - why have I got this?
Disney Princesses - ditto
Disney Villains - ditto
All About Camp Rock - ditto
Pirates of the Caribbean - never read
Prince Caspian film book - never read
A Horse in the Country - never read
The Shadow of the Pomegranate - never read
Abba and Mamma Mia - read it, and time to pass onto someone else.

Timeline Tuesday 30 July 2013

I normally would have gone to an organ recital today, but they are suspended until September. 

Going to the recital is one of my stress-coping mechanisms and without it I feel more tired.

Monday Muse 29 July 2013

Timeline Sunday 28 July - Peel Park Picnic

Today I went to the Peel Park picnic.  Mostly because one of my dance groups - the Gay Gordons - were performing.  The weather was a touch inclement, but it was good to spend time with some of my friends.  The dances I took part in were "Highland Fair", "Domino Five", "Snowball" and "Mairi's Wedding".  The audience certainly seemed appreciative. 

I got back home just a few moments before the heavens opened, and stayed in for the rest of the night.

 

 

New books acquired today - Saturday 27 July 2013

Just one book acquired today - guidebook to Mr Straw's House published by the National Trust (ISBN: 9781843591122)

Timeline Saturday 27 July - Visit to Worksop

Today I visited Workshop in Nottinghamshire.  Specifically to visit Mr Straw's House, a National Trust property, with my friend James.  We were told to be at Mr Straw's House for a 2pm tour, it transpired that our start time was actually 2.30pm, when we had to view an introductory DVD, and the house tour would start at 2.45pm.  At 2.30pm we assembled at reception, and found that the two people who were going on the tour with us "were not quite ready".  Suffice to say we did not start to watch the DVD until 2.40pm.  Running 10 minutes late by this time, we had to wait further - "because the previous tour is running late".  The tour started (started might be a loose description) at 3pm.  We got in to the house to find the guide still talking to the previous group who were in no hurry to relieve her of her services. 

After a further delay the guide started to tell us about the house, where upon a young man took over as guide, going over the same ground as the previous guide.  He was just the downstairs guide, the woman who had briefly started to talk to us was the 1st floor guide.  The young man stressed the point several times that he himself was from Worksop and had relatives in the town.  Why this was deemed relevant I do not know.  The added complication was that one of our party was not British, and had difficulty comprehending English.  

At each part of the house the previous group were only inches ahead of us as we were arriving, and as a result I felt we got a less-than-adequate level of attention from the various guides we encountered.
The whole experience would have been enhanced by a more efficient management of the flow of visitors; there was a lot of time we were left to our own resources because the guide was helping another party. 

I am not a great fan of "guided tours" but this was one of the worst in my experience thus far. 

 

Timeline Friday 26 July - Visit to Sheffield

After work I got the train to Sheffield.  I inadvertently caught the "stopping train", calling at Ashburys, Reddish North and ALL stations to Sheffield.  As far as New Mills Central the train was packed, mostly with commuters.  I got what seemed to be the last seat, and still they poured on to the train. 

Anyway we arrived in Sheffield and I thought, in my naivety, that I would catch the tram down to where James lives.  BIG MISTAKE!  I went to the tram stop for the station to be directed to catch a tram to Castle Square (in the other direction) where helpful staff would be there to direct me to the rail replacement service to Spring Lane, whereupon the trams would carry me to Gleadless Townhead and then another rail replacement to Herdings.  Firstly the ticket conductor let me pay £2.20 (which is a reasonable fare) and gave me my change, but no ticket.  On alighting at Castle Square I eventually got my ticket, but there were no "helpful staff", and the replacement buses were the other side of a busy city street.  I got the replacement bus and we journeyed to Spring Lane.  On the way the buses passed the front of the city railway station - so why were we directed to Castle Square to get the replacement bus, and not directed to the front of the station for the replacement bus??

When we got there, there was a further trek up hill to the Spring Lane tram stop.  No Supertram staff were there to assist or help and I had to reply on fellow travellers.  We got to the tram stop and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.  Then the replacement buses actually went physically past the tram stop (which prompts the question why we couldn't have let off AT the stop, rather than having to trek up hill to it).

Eventually the tram deigned to appear and a few stops later we were the Gleadless Townhead.  No replacement buses to Herdings were in evidence, no Supertram staff to guide travellers to them - nothing - dumping people at the tram stop without any information.  Very helpful!  I did pop to the shop to get some milk and stuff, and then walked to James's house, which took about 30 minutes (thankfully downhill). 

The journey from Sheffield station took me over an hour and a half; its no way to run a tram service.