Better late than never…...

I have been TOTALLY uninspired to write for the past few weeks. The weather has been cold, wet, grey and totally blah and why am I whining?? It could be a LOT worse ie. in the minus double digits as it has been, and still is, in Callander, Ontario. I've realized I do need a little bit of sunshine and daily walks to keep my mojo working and my yin and yang balanced! I've spent waaaay too much time on the internet googling random stuff to make me laugh - I'll share some of it but, be warned, it is random!!

I've always thought of myself as an optimist until I saw this:

I think the third glass has a very valid point so…. maybe I'm a realist as, when I saw this:

All I could see were the calories!!!

 I'll leave it to your imagination what I saw in this:

Which I really kind of like, so ……. I will stick with being an optimistic realist!! 

Moving on…..

A few weeks ago I met up with another friend, Anna, whom I've known since childhood. In fact we are distantly related through marriage and, like me, she was born in Nottingham of Polish parents so we have lots in common. We met up downtown at everyone's favourite meeting place! This time, instead of a Christmas tree in the Market Square, this is what I found:

The Nottingham Wheel. A VERY large enclosed Ferris wheel modelled on the London Eye. I've been on this before, there are great views of the city from the top but I think I'll wait for better weather. This is what it looks like at night:

Anna and I were on a mission:

We were off to see Michael, nicknamed 'the wig man'!!

After climbing at least five flights of very steep stairs, in a very old building, we came to his salon.

Michael was charming, very professional and just totally lovely!! He explained that he had trained and worked as a hairdresser for many years but his specialty now was fitting wigs for women with hair loss for whatever reason, including those post-chemo.  He took great pride in his work, ensuring the colour, fit and style suited each individual client. Anna had chosen her style the week before and was coming now to be fitted with her own personal hairpiece. As soon as it was placed on her head she began to beam!!!!

Michael trimmed, primped and pouffed until he was totally satisfied with the total effect. Anna couldn't stop beaming!! The effect was a total transformation!

Without seeming patronizing, I am totally awed and inspired by people like Michael, one of our unsung heroes, who make such a difference to people's lives. His pride in his work was truly evident.

Way to go Anna, you ROCK!!!!!

So…… an opportunity like this can't go by without a wee celebration……..

We headed down Standard Hill and past Nottingham Castle……….

We passed this cool looking dude…………

You HAVE to know who he is!

We passed this old Tudor house… The grey building to the right is People's College of Further Education. I went to school there for a year post 'A' levels to study English Lit and Chemistry. It was also very fortuitously placed across the road from where we were heading and where, as students, we spent a lot of time!!!

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, affectionately known as 'The Trip' to all Nottinghamians.

The Trip is said to be the oldest inn in England, dating back to the 12th Century. Richard the Lionheart had reputably stopped here on his way to fight in the Crusades. The Inn is partly built into the Castle rock with lots of nooks and crannies:

It's usually crowded and, if you're tall, watch your head!! People were a lot shorter years ago!

Here's Anna's Knight-in Shining-Armour admiring her new hair-do!!!

After a brief stop we headed down Maid Marian Way, crossed by St. Nicholas' Church (constructed in 1678!!), passed by another favourite watering hole of our youth:

The Royal Children

We stopped by one of our favourite stores again - just to look!!!

Guess what caught my eye??

I was VERY tempted…. my favourite colours!! But I resisted…for now!!

I LOVE bright colours. I just don't get everyone wearing grey, black and drab colours, whether in Nottingham, London, Vancouver, Toronto or New York when we have beautiful bright colours that sing to the soul!! 

And, a reminder that spring is just around the corner on this side of the pond and that nature is full of colour:

The crocuses and snowdrops are beginning to bloom.

Later on that week………. I was able to go to the theatre to see this stage musical that I have been really looking forward to:

The Full Monty.

It was drop dead fantabulous, funny, hilarious… even better than the movie!! I loved it!! The audience did too! And yes, it WAS the Full Monty…...

During the interval we went outside on the balcony to cool off!! Phew...

These were the views of Nottingham:

I have been so  fortunate to grow up in such a great city and to have such a charmed life!

And just because this made me laugh, I'm adding this:

Talk soon

Zoe

PS. Anna and I are headed to Poland in a few weeks, should be VERY interesting and lots of fun!

                                                 

So my legs are waxed…….. Part 3

               Our last day in Lanzarote and we woke up to this:

Get your minds out of the gutter!! I'm talking about this:

                                

Grey skies and grey seas, so ….. we decided to:

                                       

Just like this ……..

And we headed down to Playa Blanca Harbour:

to catch the ferry to Fuerteventura:

The car ferry was already leaving:

We had tickets for the passenger ferry:

The girl at the ticket office couldn't believe I was wearing flip-flops. She was wearing a down jacket, scarf and winter boots. I told her I was from Canada and she nodded knowingly…… We are a hardy bunch after all!

              Unfortunately my feet got cut off in this photo! No tan lines here and another bad hair day!

             Someone else was having a bad hair day too! Not many passengers up here, they were all below decks! What a wussy bunch!

        

 We had an uneventful crossing to Fuerteventura and disembarked here:

       Fuerteventura is the second largest of the Islas Canarias.

          This is a popular surfing beach but no surfers out today!

                After checking out the local patisseries :

We ( I ) …... decided on these. I was assured they were calorie free by a smiling pastry chef…..

                                So I ate the lot!! 

Of course, after all those calories, we had to do some exercise so… we did some retail therapy!

                      Actually it was so cold we both bought sweaters!

We saw lots of foot spas and pedicures promoting this:

Garra Rufa fish aka 'Doctor Fish' nibbling away on people's feet! It seems to be the preferred choice for pedicures. they nibble away on dead skin! I think I'll stick to Kelly at Callander Bay Wellness! I don't think these foot spas are allowed in Canada for different health issues but seem to be very popular over here.

Before catching the return ferry we returned to the Internet Cafe where we sampled a few tapas.

Which wasn't a brilliant idea or selection!! Loaded with fat, salt and tons of garlic!

And coupled with a VERY rough crossing, we sat inside this time. We were fine but within minutes

I said: "Someone's going to be sick" and then the crew started handing out bags to many passengers.

Now most things I can handle but my downfall comes with the auditory special effects that accompany these bags!!! So I plugged my ears and read intently from my I Pad until we arrived back at Playa Blanca - disaster barely averted!

The next day it was time to come home!! Ryan Air was great. It gets such a bad rap over here but great service, great staff and best of all, great prices AND they keep their planes spotlessly clean. I'll fly with them again. Now to plan the next trip …….. wonder where that will be, after all:

                                                Talk soon

                                                   Zoe

                                                                                                 

So my legs are waxed…Part 2

No sun to be seen anywhere on the horizon!! So, we booked ourselves for a full day tour of the island of Lanzarote and what a surprise that was! For an island that's only 37 miles long and 16 miles wide, there
was an amazing amount of things to do and see and really worthwhile.

Our first stop was El Golfo where we clambered down the cliffs to see this:

The Green Lagoon, a popular tourist destination.

The lagoon is situated in an old extinct volcanic crater and owes it's colour to the algae growing in it. At first I wasn't too impressed, after all we have Lake Louise in Alberta:

But the place gradually grew on me, it's an altogether different kind of beauty. I love the contrast in colours, totally unlike anything I've seen before and quite different from the chocolate-box appeal of Lake Louise. The beach where people are walking is composed entirely of black sand.

Lanzarote has been called 'The Island of 100 volcanoes.' It, and all the Canary Islands, were created by volcanic activity millions of years ago. The last greatest recorded activity was in the early 18th century with the last eruption being at the beginning of the 19th century, which really isn't that long ago in volcano years!

Our next stop was Timanfaya National Park. Oh,  before I forget:

                     

Carlos, our friendly tour guide. Hola Carlos!

                                       
We bonded instantly as he was getting a wee bit stressed out by one of the touristas and I recommended deep breathing!! It turned out he was also a yoga aficionado! Actually, privately, I called him Carlos The Jackal just because of the  movie Day of the Jackal. He was nothing at all like THAT Carlos!!

We then stopped at the local camel hostelry! Here I am bonding with "my" camel. They really are VERY smelly and really quite ugly looking creatures, I was having my doubts (and also a VERY bad hair day):

But being a firm believer in this:

                                               

I got up on one!

                                                           

                                                                     
                       Going up the slopes was OK but the coming down was a different story! They really are sure footed (at least I hoped) and really cling to the edge of the path. We were heading up and down extinct volcanoes:

No prizes for guessing which one is me!! At least Air Rescue would find me VERY quickly!

Back on terra firma, my Sis and I stood in a field of lava. This is what a lot of the terrain looks like, very rough and impossible to walk through. I told you my Sis came up to my nipple line - she's either very short or I have very pert bosoms!

We continued our trip on our a/c luxury coach:
                               

The roads were very steep, narrow and not a switch-back in sight. The driver deserved a medal for manoeuvring so close to the cliff edge:

Many of the rocks were covered in lichens. Apart from lichens, there's very little wildlife on the island, lizards and vultures and…...of course:

As we drove into the centre of the island, these fascinated me:

They were dotted all over the countryside. At first I thought it was the Canarian equivalent of Stonehenge or that some alien spaceship had landed and created these circles and rectangles!

I was amazed to find out that Lanzarote has a thriving wine industry! Who knew??

The vines are planted 2 to 3 metres deep in gently sloping pits to take advantage of the subsoil at that depth and also, to some extent, provide geothermal heat to the growing vine roots. The low lying walls are built with lava blocks to protect the delicate vines from the strong winds that Lanzarote is famous for. It totally makes sense.

Here's a pit with a live vine growing.

Of course we had to sample the wines but sorry, no photos!! The wine was surprisingly good.

Actually it is humbling to see how far and how hard man will work to overcome adversity.

Our last stop was to visit a natural cavern:

These are the caves of Jameos del Agua and are the result of volcanic activity.

They were developed by  local artist and visionary, Ceasar Manrique. He had the foresight to stop developers from commercializing and bastardizing the island for the sake of the almighty $$ and he did a brilliant job. On this site there is also a museum and a concert hall for all to enjoy.

We had to walk down steps to reach this lagoon which is full of white albino crabs, the size of a thumbnail.

If you look really closely at the water it appears to have a milky haze, these are all zillions of crabs that live there.

The gardens were superb - hard to believe this was all planted in lava rock.

So inviting but ooooooh so cold!

Great day and maybe tomorrow the sun will come out!!

Talk soon

Zoe