Tuesday 10 April 2012

Easter weekend


Mum and Dad came up for Easter and in spite of the weather we had a fantastic time.

On Friday I took Mum and Dad to Leeds shopping and Mum hauled - blusher, lipstick and foundation!  We had a lovely lunch in The New Conservatory, I had never been before and it didn't look much from the outside, how wrong was I?  Lovely lunch in really nice surroundings, will definitely be going back.  On Friday evening we all went to The Street Pakistani buffet in Brighouse and that was fabulous too, one thing I wont have done this weekend is lost any weight!

On Saturday Steve, Tom, Mum, Dad and I went to Jodrell Bank.  It was fairly interesting but not perhaps as hands on as we had hoped, although it was Mum that rightly pointed out that short of visiting at night even had we had access to the huge telescope we wouldn't have been able to see anything!  Apparently the telescope is so powerful it could pick up a mobile phone signal on Mars!  Few pics of Jodrell Bank.
 2012-1
The four from the left are Dad, Tom, Mum and Steve
 2012-2

 2012-3
Fairly self-explanatory!
 2012-4
Lovely blossom.

Sunday was a quiet day, with lots of cooking and a walk for those that fancied it and then we all had a lovely dinner.

Last Easter we walked along the canal in the blazing sun envying the people who had hired canal boats.  This year we decided to hire one, although we hadn't expected blazing sun we had hoped it might not rain all day!
 2012-5


2012-6
Dad driving the barge - it was a small boat and getting far enough away to get a photo was tricky!
2012-7
Fantastic to have the unique perspective of taking pics from on the water, such a shame about the weather.
2012-8
2012-9
The view from the below decks kitchen area - loads of legs!
2012-10
I think there were 9 locks in total, meant it wasn't exactly a relaxing afternoon for the men - Mum, Rachel and I had carefully stayed out of the way whilst the lock tuition was taking place!
2012-11
Jez hard at work.
2012-12
2012-13
2012-14
Mum and Dad who thank goodness don't let a little thing like constant rain ruin a good day out!
2012-15
Jez and Steve watching Dad drive us through the lock gate.
2012-16
2012-17
2012-18


It wasn't particularly "dry" below decks either!
2012-19
Not least because the cover over this was a leaking tarpaulin type affair so it was all rather more chilly and damp than I had anticipated looking at the boat hire website.  Luckily the champagne Rachel bought helped warm things up.
2012-20
Then we moored up and had a hasty lunch.
2012-21
2012-22


As we returned to Sowerby Bridge we became the entertainment!
2012-23
2012-25
Luckily Steve, Dad and Jez did a brilliant job!
2012-24


And if you aren't already heartily sick of locks, canals and boats here's a video of us going through a lock, probably only of interest if you are actually related to one of us by blood tbh!


 

Monday 2 April 2012

The mink farm

The mink farm is up the hill behind our house, it's abandoned now and like a lot of abandoned places it has a strange, rather eerie feel to it.  For me anywhere that something was kept against its will is always going to have a melancholy atmosphere and this place is no exception.  Whilst I know the barbed wire was in fact to keep thieves out it feels now very much as if it was also to keep the mink in.
2012-11
The mink were kept in small cages, a row down either side of the 50 foot long sheds, of which there are about 12.
 2012-14
The sheds are now falling down and overgrown and this only adds to how strange the how place feels.
 2012-2

2012-3

2012-13

2012-15
The barbed wire is everywhere.
 2012-10
Because the mink farm is so high up it does give the most incredible views over Elland and the wider Calder Valley.
 2012-6

2012-7

Elland by-pass
 2012-5
 
And the M62
2012-4

2012-8


2012-9

My favourite barbed wire photo
 2012-16