General Chat

There is quite a bit of rivalry between Gloucester and Cheltenham and unfortunately Gloucester suffered from horrendous planning and building mistakes in the 60s. They are now trying to regenerate the town. This is difficult because the Council don't 'own' a lot of the areas where mistakes occurred and the leaseholders are very slow to move. The shopping area is, like many others, suffering from the recession in that we have some empty shops and a lot of charity shops and pound shops. Having said that I have never been into town when there have not been a lot of people around. Gloucester is very much a multi racial town with very little racial problems.

There are still some really old and attractive buildings in Gloucester with little alleyways and tiny shops. Our main shopping streets are in the form of a cross, pedestrianised with an old Tower - St Michaels Tower at the centre of the cross. The four streets are known as the gate streets (Eastgate, Westgate, Northgate and Southgate) Gloucester too has some beautiful flower arrangements and baskets, especially all along by the Gloucester Sharpness canal before the Docks. There are several churches including St Mary de Crypt church The church was first recorded c1140 when it was known as the Church of the Blessed Mary within the Southgate. The present structure is the result of a major rebuilding that took place in the late 14th century. It incorporated some of the earlier 12th and 13th century work. Further alterations took place in the 15th and 16th centuries. Below the western end of the nave lies the crypt alluded to in the name of the church. Gloucester's famous 18th century preacher, George Whitefield delivered his first sermon after ordination in 1734 from the 17th century pulpit in the nave.

We do also have the beautiful Cathedral and surrounds where parts of Harry Potter were filmed, and beyond the cathedral there are parts ogf the old wall. We have Blackfriars Priory , with its magnificent timbered roof, this is the most complete survival of a mediaeval Dominican priory in Britain. The original medieval cloister, completed in 1239, includes the Scriptorium where the monks once worked over 750 years ago. This is believed to be England's oldest surviving library building.

Then we also have Greyfriars. This was the house of the order of Friars which was founded c1231 by Thomas, Lord Berkeley. The present remains are the 16th century rebuilding of the nave and north aisle. Unfortunately parts of this have to be boarded up to protect against the inevitable graffiti.

Gloucester is very lucky to have the docks, unfortunately through some misguided ideas we lost the lovely Robert Opie Museum of packaging but the Waterways museum hangs on by the skin of its teeth. We also in the docks have the Soldiers museum where records can be found of the Glorious Gloucesters.

When we first lived here we used to often visit the docks as there was a small shopping complex plus restaurants there. Then the planners got hold of it and there have been a few arrid years while they have started to regenerate. I think the idea was to make it more like canary wharf but it has taken a while to get things sorted. They have turned many of the lovely old warehouses into blocks of apartments with balconies overlooking the docks basin, they have improved moorings for narrow boats etc and once a year we have the glorious tall ships festival when we are host to several of the old sailing ships. There is still one in at the moment undergoing repairs in the shipyard. We now re-visit the docks area as they have opened a brand new designer outlet centre. It is in the very early stages as yet but it is looking good and the atmosphere around the docks was vibrant the last time (last week) we visited. The second stage of the designer centre will be the restaurants some overlooking the water. Already in the docks there is an old paddle boat which will shortly be a floating restaurant.

So there you have the two towns. Cheltenham is always referred to as being more 'upmarket' than Gloucester and houses there are dearer, but to me Gloucester has the history and is more interesting and down to earth.

OOps Ann

Thanks for your description I was able to visualise the journey, and it sounds rather relaxing and pleasing to the eye.
If you are going out today have a good time

Bridget

Good morning Bridget. It was me who went to Cheltenham. We live between Cheltenham and Gloucester, two very different towns. If you take away the shopping areas which are both all crowds of people and hustle and bustle the buildings of the two towns are so different.

Cheltenham is much more graceful, as we travel in by bus we look at all the old regency buildings along the main road. Sadly, in a way, they are mainly now offices and flats instead of the beautiful large houses they were built as, but at least the buildings are preserved. As we approach the town we see the beautiful flower arrangements put up for the Cheltenham in Bloom. The main ones are begonias in orange, yellow and white this year, then the parks also have many flowers. There are hanging baskets full of flowers well into the town. It certainly makes for a relaxing bus ride into town and lifts the spirits to see the lovely flowers.

OH waiting to go out so more later.

Ann

Good morning everyone and I hope you all have a relaxing day.

It is very quiet here in Peniscola. Sunday is always quiet, and around 10.00hrs the church bells will start ringing to invite people to church. There are two Catholic churches on the Castle walk and one was completely renovated internally a couple of years ago and the services are very well attended. The older church at the very top of the mound is stunningly beautiful on the outside, very simple but totall original, and the inside takes ones breath away with its simplicity. This is used by many people from across the world, who come to get married.

I stood today and had my quiet 10 minutes on a different terrace and looked across the sea towards the north. The sea was so calm it looked like glass and the sky was varing colours of blue, everything was so still. Not awe inspiring but simply calm and relaxing.


We do not have any plans today other than a roast English style dinner tonight...we do not usuall bother doing this for just the two of us but our friends have requested a real English Sunday roast so we bow to their request, and we will enjoy it...we also will have rhubarb crumble, something I can't resist.

Keith, maybe the rain will only lsat a short time and then the rest of the day could be fine. Enjoy not having to much to do.

Everyone else, just know that I peek on here several times a day and always look forward to your comments.

Frances, I haven't been to Cheltenham for soooo mnay years, I am glad you enjoyed your tapas. How about writing about what you see where you live and what it is that you like about Cheltenham?

Matbe everyone could try to describe where they live, what inspires them and what they woule like to change...do not say you can't do this because you simply never know until you try!!!


Take care everyone

bye for now


Bridget

Good morning everyone,
Having a lazy day today i hope
having said that i bet the boss fines something for me to do
it looks like reain anytime now
why cant it just rain of a night and be sunny in the day time
now that would be great lol
hope you all have a good day wherever you may be

What a shame you couldn't get to your camera Bridget, that sky sounds spectacular. And I am drooling over your meal. However, couldn't eat it at the moment as we have just had Tapas in Cheltenham, sitting indoors so not quite the same as relaxing in the sunshine of Tenerife, but the food is as good.

Ann
Glos

Good morning Bridget,
Slept through the dawn this morning so missed the colours, better luck to morrow hopefully.
Yes it is going to be hot again today so will keep to the cool part of the house.
Enjoy your day.
Frances

Good morning everyone, I hope all is well in your part of the world.

Had a chage of routine today and walked aound the garden dead heading, checking the fruit trees, and simply enjoy quiet time. Noticed that a neighbour, who live higher up the mountain than us was out at 06.00hrs taking photos across the sea and Castle, so looked to see what he was trying to capture and it simply had to be the amazing coulours in the sky which were being reflected onto the castle....Couldn't get to camera as it was downstairs and I did not want to disturb our visitors.

I will try to describe what I saw. The sky had bands of pale and dark blue and in between them were various coulours of pink and light violet, the sea was dark out on the horizen and in swathes became paler towards the beach. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the atmosphere was peaceful and awe inspiring, even the birds were quiet and still. Slowly all these colours started to fade and the sun came through and is reflected onto the sea, and the temperature started to climb. Once again we are expecting very high temps and with no wind chill factor it will feel 2 or 3 degrees higher than the actual temp.

We went out last night and enjoyed our meal, we could not park in town so we drove further along the coast and found a parking space almost outside an outdoor retsaurant. As it was only about 21.00hrs it was easy to have a table and we had excellent food at 3/4 of the price the first chice retaurant would have been. I had Dublin Bay Prawns, followed by sole which was superb and the Creme Catalana. We had a couple of glasses of wine and by then we decided to go home so that OH could also have a few drinks. the drink Driving laws have finally reached our area and they are very strict....so we do not want to upset them.


well everyone I will be back later today and hope that you are all well and enjoying life, if not I will add you to my Quiet moments of positive thoughts. I really look forward to hearing from you


Take Care


Bridget

Anne

We are just about ready to go out...I am supposed to be checking that all the doors are locked!

I will give it a try tomorrow and hope I do not lose it.

Have a good evening, we are doing out to a fish restaurant, my favourite food

bye

bridget

Thanks Bridget, even more informative, let's hope that you get enough rain this winter to re-fill the reservoir so that you get the wildlife back on track.

To copy and paste from threads. I first open a blank word document and minimise it. Highlight the area you want to copy by clicking with the left side of your mouse and holding it down while dragging the mouse over the area, it should change colour, mine goes blue. When you have highlighted the area, right click and you will see copy, click on that.
Open up the blank document, place the cursor on it, right click and click paste.

If right clicking doesn't work for copy and paste, go to edit where you will find both there.

Ann

Hello again

1. How do I copy and paste from this forum?

2. Water and Spain. and please be aware that I will not be able to reply exactly as written previously.!


Last year in Spain, at least in the area from the Pyrenees down to Valancia we had severe shortages of water. The rain fall had been considerably lower than usual during the previous two winters and the reseviours were very low across the regioin.

Water was transported into Barcelona, my son had his water cut off in the house for an average of 6 hours per day for almost two months, in the middle of Barcelona.

This made us all think very carefully about how we used water and the wastage. I started our new approach by making sure that ANY water we used was not simply poured down the sink but was used for watering the garden plants and low and behold the Roses which in previous years had been very poor, bloomed way beyond previous years. The other plants did not show any sign of distress and we lowered the time for our automatic sprinkler system to twice a day for only 10 minutes each time.

The flushing system in the bath and shower rooms had bricks put into the system and we only put into the kettle the amount of water we actually need.

Now for the most shocking part but also the most informative.

About 40 minutes from where we live is our local reseviour set near the top of a mountain where the area is of outstanding national beauty.
The variety of birds and in particular the Eagles is amazing. There are wild flowers and herbs, and the aromas fill the air, the stillness is breath taking...

There is a famous restaurant there as well, and artists set up their easels to try and capture the images and then there are the photographers and of course the twitchers. We used to visit several times a year as each group of our visitors wanted to go there.

The reseviour is or was a large and deep lake with water running into a wide river. A bridge has been built over the reseviour and allows access to the banks of the river. It had become a well known swimming area offering depths for all swimmers, or if like ,me simply a paddler,...It was not unusual to see whole families there for the day. The braver or more foolhardy would dive from the bridge into the middle of the lake, this includes my OH, brother in law and one of my sons, and there had never been a serious injury or a fatalitty.

What a shock when last year we went , the river and reseviour were so low that it was possible to see the bed of the lake.!!
No one was allowed down to the edge of the forest around the water, which was the only access, and the restaurant had only two tables in use.
Wild life was and is being affected. The bird population were confused and it is expected that the population of the Eagles and other beautiful birds will be seiously depleted in the next couple of years. the wild flowers and herbs are noticably declining.....

I will never take water for granted again and compared to many parts of the world we are still very fortunate. Last winter though was in general terms very dry and this summer we have had high temps and no rain for many weeks...BUT can you believe that some people are complaining that they can only empty their swimming Pools once or twice a year...do they realise how much water it takes to fill a pool and yes I do have a beautiful large pool which gives us all great fun and enjoyment .

I am not asking anyone to change their lifestyle , that is for each person to decide for themselves..but minor changes have made a diffence to my life style.


I hope that this goes someway to repeating my sadly depleted message this morning. Yes it WAS me who deleted it in error , OH says maybe it is time to put me in for part exchange!

have a good day everyone.

Bridget

Please excuse any grammar or spelling errors it is now 42c and the air is still!

Oh Bridget it was such a long message too. Maybe it would be a good idea for you to copy and paste your messages into word or similar to avoid this problem. At least write the bit about the reservoir which explains your water problems

Hi Bridget and everyone,
Lovely day again though the temperature is beginning to rise, we had 36 yesterday and today promises higher, but then it is set to cool off a little.
Have done the ironing so that is out of the way, OH has taken himself off snorkelling for the morning so have time to myself...bliss. Bought some books from our local shop yesterday, all second hand and when you take them back you get half the marked price refunded. The most expensive are 4euros and there are lots of up to date ones...system works really well for me as at this time of year I can easily get through 5 or 6 in a week, if I'm not on the computer I can usually be found with a book in my hand.
Hope everybody has a great day and BRIDGET yes you should reinput your thoughts, everybody enjoys them.
Take care
Frances

OH NO, I have deleted my own message!!!!

Shall I write it again and will it really be the same.

SOB SOB

Bridget

Morning, Husband has a day off today so we are going to Bournemouth, they have a air display over the sea so thought we'd go and have a look.
Here in Portsmouth the sun is out but a bit cooler today not that l mind , been a bit to close here over the last week.
Right better go and have a shower otherwise someone will be moaning at me, lol, hope you all have a good day, byeeee.

Bridget, I do like to read your start to the day.
The reservoir sounds idyllic when full of water. Ironic really that you need rain to keep that picture of the reservoir as it should be but nobody really wants rain. Let's hope you get a good balance and at least have enough rain to provide your water. Having suffered the floods of 2007 (although not personally affected by flood water) and having our drinking water off for 3 weeks, I do appreciate how much we come to rely on water being available in the taps.

Here today at 0840 we have blue sky, light clouds, some sunshine and a strong breeze. Hopefully it will be a pleasant day.


Keith, where in the Lakes are you going for your day?

Ann
Glos

Good morning everyone
It is a quiet this morning here and a bit cold maybe we will get some rain
i had a busy night helping peeps look for info for their family trees again which is good fun
its something i enjoy doing
its even better if i find something for them
Today i may look at some graveyards as i past them in work so i may pop in them on my dinner time
lets hope i dont forget to take some photos this time lol
then tonight its get stuff ready for my day at the lakes tomorrow
anyway best start getting ready for work
bfn

Hi all,
Another wonderful day. Been for coffee with friends as we do every Thursday. They have their family out at the moment, including two grandsons 8& 5 so they are finding life pretty active.
Just waiting for our son to let us know his travel plans...am getting quite excited even though we only saw him in June!! OH has just gone for his siesta before we tackle the supermarket shopping.
Bridget you are so lucky to have roses, we never seem to be successful with them, used to have loads in the UK, maybe it is too hot and dry here.
Take care.
Frances

Hello Bridget,

To-day the sun is shining, the sea and the sky are blue and there is
a cool breeze blowing.

Well done to you all on winning the quiz.

The sunbirds which are small birds like the nectar from plants like honeysuckle, bottlebrush, and aloes. The females are a dull grey while the males are brightly coloured.

We too had a bumper crop of oranges this year but no too many lemons, our lemon tree has died for some reason and we have now replaced it. so it will be a while before we have lemons again. Our grapefruit tree is full of fruit, I love grapefruit and it is so nice to be able to just pick fresh fruit.


Frances, have a wonderful time when your son is with you.

Take care.





Val in SA.

Good morning everyone
Its been a busy few days
I have benn helping other members with their tree Which is good fun
its always nice to find something for them So they can then move on to the next bit of their tree
Anyway its off to work
Bye for now and all have a nice day
Keith