On what shall I spend my penny?

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How ever can I thank them enough?

Birth, life and death in the garden

Last July we watched enthralled as a dragon fly laid her eggs just above the waterline of our garden pond. At the time, I remarked that it seemed odd behaviour, as I thought they usually discharged their offspring directly into the water, from something like a convenient lily leaf.

Well, whether hers survived the winter, or others were laid when I wasn't looking, I know not, but since then we have watched the nymphs grow large.  Only last week we saw one competing with a newt for a small garden worm that had fallen into the water. Before that, they doubtless enjoyed a hearty meal or two of baby tadpoles... though thankfully plenty of them have survived too.

Last Friday, two nymphs emerged from the water and began to dry themselves in the warm morning sun. Then one of them spread its wings wide, had a few practice flaps and was away. Over the veg patch it flew, gradually gaining height.......... but not quickly enough.  Tuppence, our acrobatic and ever-watchful pussy cat, sprang into the air, caught it... and that was the end of that!

Which left dragonfly #2, still sunning itself on this ornamental metal robin.  Tuppence too took up position on the opposite side, but this time we foiled her plans as dragon fly and robin were hastily moved to the relative safety of a neighbour's back garden.  An hour later, the robin was there but the dragonfly had flown, free to live for another day or two, lay her eggs and begin the cycle of life once more.

I do enjoy watching our pond life.  Previous ponds of mine have been well stocked with fish, but this time I just filled the thing with water and waited to see what creatures would make it 'home', without goldfish to gobble them up.  Over the last few days I've spotted another dragon fly nymph, a couple of newts (including a cute little baby one) water boatmen and pond skaters. There are also at least two frogs in there somewhere, but they were staying out of sight. Very wise, as Tuppence is on patrol again.

Crumbs... another tunnel!

Less than a month after my post about tunnels, I'm at it again.  The excuse this time (if excuse were needed) was a day with Lucy Melford, who was sojourning at a campsite in Cirencester. 

The first thing to organize was where to have our evening meal — an easy choice... The Tunnel House Inn, of course! I enjoyed a pleasant lunch there in December 2013, vowing to return before too long. The inn takes its name from the nearby Sapperton Tunnel, on the former Thames & Severn Canal.

No day with Lucy would be complete without a short ramble in the countryside.  Thumbing through my old book of Family Walks in the Cotswolds (long out of print, but still available from Amazon for the extortionate price of 1p, plus postage), I discovered a pleasant footpath that followed the course of the canal and could easily be extended to include the other end of Sapperton Tunnel from the aforementioned inn.

We parked in the picture-postcard village of Sapperton and made our way down into Sapperton Valley, via a kissing gate (photos inadmissible). Soon we found ourselves at the castellated northern portal of Sapperton Tunnel.  

If you share my interest in the early years of the Industrial Revolution, you'll enjoy Googling Sapperton Tunnel and reading its history. This link is especially interesting: http://www.cotswoldcanals.net/sapperton-canal-tunnel.php. When completed in 1789, it was the longest tunnel in England, at 3817 yards (a little over 2 miles). The canal prospered for several decades, but eventually lost out to the railways and closed in 1927. 

A plaque on the tunnel mouth, reads THE DANEWAY PORTAL SAPPERTON TUNNEL RESTORED BY THE COTSWOLD CANALS TRUST. UNVEILED BY LORD APSLEY SEPTEMBER 21 1996.  The Trust has plans to reopen the entire canal and has already made considerable progress in Stroud area, though they'll have their work cut out here as the tunnel roof has collapsed in several places. 

Here, Lucy surveys the remains of one of 7 locks that led up to Sapperton Tunnel.  

One can, however, have too much historical research, so thankfully we spotted a swing, beneath a tree on the opposite side of the valley.  The three of us may have a combined age of 192, but I assure you that we're still kids at heart!

So to the evening, and my return to the Tunnel House Inn.  Here are a pair of 'then' and 'now' selfies — slightly younger Angie on the left; 2015 version on the right.

And here's one of Lucy and me, ready for our evening meal. The weed-choked canal looks pretty impassable, though (according to Wikipedia) the canal trust operates boat trips into the tunnel in winter months. For tunnel lovers like me, that sounds fun and almost as good as my venison pie at the Tunnel House Inn.

Angie's first gig

One of our local breweries celebrated their first birthday today with a Sausage & Ale festival. A stunning lineup of local stars was present to add support, drink their fine beer and eat their spicy sausages, including our own ukulele group from The Rising Sun.

Oh how wonderful it felt to arrive at the entrance, wave my ukulele and be admitted free-of-charge!

There are times when this feels like the most amazing dream.  Nine months ago I was wondering how to build a social life and I couldn't play a note on a ukulele. Today I would be standing in front of folk who had actually paid to be there.  I studied the list of ales on offer and elected to steady my nerves with half a pint of Legless Cow, a spicy sausage and some chips, then tried to concentrate on tuning my uke — G... C... A... E..  Crumbs, this thing was in tune when I left home. Perhaps it's as wobbly as its owner. 

Thankfully, my cous Jan was there to lend moral support.  "I'll be your roadie," she explained as she took control of the camera. Her photos tell the rest of the story.

Final preparations. Do I look happy?

... and away we go.

The full line-up, including percussion section