What I do – Page 4 – Well Blogger Me

Growing old gracefully

Feb 222013

It is now three weeks since my 60th birthday and during a quiet moment, I was thinking how much I had changed in the approach to this landmark in my life. Only a couple of years ago, I was really into cricket and having a few jars at the weekend, but now, all that has changed. I lost all interest in cricket when my lads finished playing. As press officer for Langley Mill United, I used to spend all my Summer weekends, and a few hours during the week, supporting my club. All that changed last season. I resigned my [Read more]

Time to get the hiking boots out?

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Feb 162013

I’ve been in Selston for well over four years now and today, I realised that I hardly know the place. I came to this conclusion after visiting the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust‘s website. On their website, the Trust have a list of nature reserves in the county, and I discovered that I have one less than a mile from my home. Just off Salmon Lane, on the way to Annesley Woodhouse, is Annesley Woodhouse Quarry Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). According to the Trust, the nature reserve ‘is one of the county’s finest remaining areas of unimproved Magnesian Limestone grassland, [Read more]

HS2 – what it means to the neighbourhood

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Jan 302013

HS2 - what it means to the neighbourhood

While residents of the small town of Toton will be welcoming the announcement of a new station with high-speed connections to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, communities north of the station will be wondering what effect the new High Speed 2 rail line will have on them. Immediately north of Toton, the M1 will be realigned for a distance of 1700 metres and a 950 metre viaduct constructed over the River Erewash flood plain, the Erewash Canal, Stanton Gate and the Erewash Valley railway line. Running mainly parallel to the M1 as the line snakes beyond Toton, the first villages [Read more]

Triggertrap snaps

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Jan 162013

Today, I took delivery of a Triggertrap device and a cable to connect my iPhone to my Sony a77 camera. Once connected, the iPhone can control the camera using the Triggertrap Mobile application, available on the iTunes store. The iPhone application has the following features: Cable release – press button, take picture Bang – clap, whistle or tap Timelapse – travel through time TimeWarp – timelapse with acceleration DistanceLapse – perfect for road trips Seismic – vibrations and earthquakes Peekaboo – facial recognition Star Trail -extreme exposure control LE HDR – long exposure HDR sets LE HDR Timelapse – long [Read more]

Thank you 2012 – you were great.

Holidays, What I do No Responses »

Dec 312012

As a year ends, it is customary to look back at the one just gone, and remember the good times that we had. For me, 2012 was a great year filled with memories of some amazing places and of meeting some lovely people. The beautiful country of Norway 2012 was the year in which I paid my first visit to the beautiful country of Norway, with trips to see the Midnight Sun and the Polar Night, with a sighting of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) thrown in for good measure. I visited the city of Tromsø in July to experience the [Read more]

National Lottery 12 Days Of Christmas

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Dec 262012

This year, the National Lottery produced their own version of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’. Winners, players and beneficiaries were asked to contribute a line to the song. I sent in a clip of my appearance on Norwegian Television and it was chosen for inclusion in the video. You can see my efforts at the following link … National Lottery 12 Days Of Christmas Below is the original clip that I submitted for inclusion in the video …

Christmas Open Day success

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Dec 102012

On Sunday (9th December) I visited Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre for their Christmas Open Day. This is one of their main fundraising events, along with their Summer Open Day. As always, the day was very popular, with over 400 people attending during the day and raising £2,364. As I did last year, I made a donation to what is a very worthy cause. Santa, his helper and Boris, the blind bull. Founders Beth and Jon work very hard in running the centre and they both also have regular day jobs. They are helped by a team of volunteers who help [Read more]

Lunch date with the winners

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Dec 072012

On Friday 7th December, I attended a lunch hosted by the local Camelot representatives, along with a few other local winners. The lunch was held at Perkins Family Restaurant in Plumtree, a place I hadn’t heard of before. The food at the restaurant, boasting to be one of the Midlands leading restaurants, was first class and the service was excellent. For me, the interesting feature about the restaurant is that it is situated in the old Plumtree station on the Network Rail Old Dalby test track. While we were there, diesel locomotive 47714 was running back and forth along the [Read more]

Alta town centre webcam

Holidays, Weather, What I do 6 Responses »

Nov 272012

A view of the centre of Alta taken from the Park Hotel webcam. Found on the Webcams in Norway website. Also read: Alta it is

3,000 Millionaires Weekend

Holidays, What I do No Responses »

Oct 262012

On Monday 22nd October 2012, Camelot announced that the National Lottery had now created 3,000 millionaires and to celebrate the fact, they organised a private party at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich for some of the lucky winners. My weekend started on the previous Thursday (18th) when I did some filming for Camelot at Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre. Last Christmas, I donated £500 to the centre, and will do so again this year. Camelot wanted to do some filming with me at the centre to show some of the good deeds Lottery winners do with their new found wealth. I [Read more]

Alta it is

Holidays, What I do 6 Responses »

Oct 122012

After several weeks of indecision, I have finally decided that I am going to visit Alta in the far north of Norway. Having witnessed the Midnight Sun in Tromsø, I now want to see what it’s like to live in a place where the Sun stays below the horizon all day. Alta is a small town in Northern Norway with a population of just over 19,000. Its airport has daily flights to the Norwegian capital Oslo, from where you can get a flight to London Heathrow. The Sun doesn’t rise in Alta from November 26th until January 15th, but I [Read more]

The Himalayan Balsam problem

In the garden, What I do No Responses »

Oct 112012

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive, non-native species that has become widespread across the country. Listed under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is an offence to plant or otherwise allow this species to grow in the wild. Bracken House has a relatively minor problem with the plant as small clumps of it grow in the stream, over the whole length of the land. As the stream ultimately flows into the River Erewash, control of the plant is necessary. Two years ago, Chris Jackson, Biodiversity Officer of the Nottinghamshire Biodiversity Action Group, visited Bracken House and confirmed the existence of [Read more]

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