It's already 30 C here in Broadgate Park hall of residence, expected to peak at 31 C at 16:00.
I delivered my car to Tesla in West Bridgford just before 08:00 and walked about 7.5 km back to my digs wearing my favourite long skirt. It's a two layer wraparound quite good for warmish to coolish weather and this morning it was just right. But it's a bit too much for this afternoon so when I go out for a walk this afternoon I'll wear something much skimpier.
I've decided, in accordance with my core belief that there should be moderation in all things, including moderation, that I'll have another drink or two in honour of the memory of my time with Lancer. It's not that he drank heavily, just that he enjoyed a Scotch or a brandy and port every day and that what precipitated his calling off our relationship was him falling ill. Well that and him relying on his ex-wife to look after him. At the same time his doctor prohibited alcohol which must have been quite a blow.
So I stopped at the Co-op and bought a two litre bottle of cheap cider for 3.40 GBP. That's less than you pay for one 440 ml can in Norway.
So here's a toast to @Lancer17. No I'm not going to drink it all, probably not more than two or three glasses over the next couple of hours. And yes, I know my reasoning is probably not terribly coherent or clear.
That it was possible for us to meet at all and to go out openly together hand in hand says a lot about how attitudes have changed for the better in our lifetimes. I do hope that the clock never gets turned back.
It's a typical Wetherspoons, nothing remarkable about it except this: the last time, also the first time, I was here was when @Lancer17 brought me here on the tram almost exactly two years ago. I'm seven eighths of the way down a pint of Black Dragon cider and feeling a bit maudlin, I do miss him so.
We had what, from my point of view at least, can only be described as a romance, a love affair. We went around the city together hand in hand, he cooked me dinner, we had a drink, we made love, we slept together, and then he made me breakfast. We did this for a week altogether, and then he fell ill.
And then it was over and I behaved like a lovelorn teenager and I'll never forget him.
After that trek and the delightfully interrupted sleep I felt rather tired so I took a nap which was interrupted by Tesla asking for clarification of what faults had occurred and for review and acceptance of new, and ever higher, cost estimates.
Eventually I felt sufficiently rested to feel like going for another walk so I headed by a circuitous route through the Nottingham Uni. campus and Highfields Park to the Lakeside Gallery and café. I didn't feel in the mood for art appreciation and anyway by the time I got there it was getting close to the 16:00 closing time.
In the café at the Lakeside Gallery. WiFi not working.
Great view of the boating lake
but whoever designed the building didn't consider solar gain; there is no overhang, no awnings, no external blinds. The whole wall is glass and is only double glazed.
Having a cheese and chive scone and a middling mocha. Not a patch on the one I had in the Pillory.
This sort of weather makes one really appreciate broad leafed trees with broad canopies.
I'm dressed in pretty much my lightest outfit green silk (?) top, unlined white miniskirt. The heat makes me feel sexy.
The next photo worthy place was a big one, Highfields Park. I couldn't get far enough back to include the whole entrance without standing in the middle of the A6005.
It's Jesse Boot's gift to the city
The inscription says
OUR GREAT CITIZEN JESSE BOOT LORD TRENT. BEFORE HIM LIES A MONUMENT TO HIS INDUSTRY BEHIND AN EVERLASTING MONUMENT TO HIS BENEVOLENCE.
On the way from my room to The Last Post I passed several things worth photographing. This is the third time I have visited Beeston. The first time was when I was en route to Orkney to see my late wife, then my girlfriend. I stopped for the night in Beeston with my ex-girlfriend, but that was in some 1960s housing estate not in the town centre. And the second time of course was when @Lancer17 took me to The Last Post two years ago.
After coffee I wound my circuitous way through the park and back to my room taking the occasional pictures of the scenery and a few selfies along the way.
I'm rather pleased with this picture, I just wish I could honestly claim to have spent some effort composing it:
But in such surroundings it's hard to avoid taking a good picture, do modern philanthropists leave such monuments?
The roots, I almost said sinews, of a yew tree
Looking across Tottle Brook from the park to the ground of the Nottingham Croquet Club. It's just by the grand entrance to the park
On the way to the Lakeside Gallery and Cafe I took a few pictures
Some impressive ivy, or whatever it is
This building is disused, peering through the windows I could see that it was probably a hall of residence in the days when students were less demanding of creature comforts; smaller than the room I have at Broadgate, with only a sink and no space for either cooking facilities or a shower. Rather like my room in hall at Exeter in the mid-70s.
I have no idea what this building is for
Not far from the gallery I passed these two charming pieces
