August 2021
Sunday, 19 September 2021 13:29![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, I took a trip away from home purely for my own enjoyment, spending one night in Matlock before travelling back the next day.Much Ado About Nottingham
Samathy and Lex invited me to join them for an outside showing of Much Ado About Nothing at Wollaton Hall, which had been on my places to check out in Nottingham more or less since I'd moved here.
I hadn't seen Much Ado before, and this was a very traditional performance of it, so I didn't particularly follow the plot, but it was a lovely evening (if a little cold) towards the end, and I learned a great new location that was within cycling distance of me!
Samathy and Lex invited me to join them for an outside showing of Much Ado About Nothing at Wollaton Hall, which had been on my places to check out in Nottingham more or less since I'd moved here.
I hadn't seen Much Ado before, and this was a very traditional performance of it, so I didn't particularly follow the plot, but it was a lovely evening (if a little cold) towards the end, and I learned a great new location that was within cycling distance of me!
Ice cream tacos
I misheard Ems saying she was having "tacos with rice filling" as "tacos with ice cream" on a call with her and Tim, so the three of us ended up having taco ice cream night on the 13th, as you do.
"Taco" in Norway generally refers to the tortilla wrap, so I had one wrap with vanilla ice cream, wafer, and chocolate sauce, and a taco shell with a slice of Vienetta in it, both with little ice cream foam sweets that had been hanging around since long before I moved.
I misheard Ems saying she was having "tacos with rice filling" as "tacos with ice cream" on a call with her and Tim, so the three of us ended up having taco ice cream night on the 13th, as you do.
"Taco" in Norway generally refers to the tortilla wrap, so I had one wrap with vanilla ice cream, wafer, and chocolate sauce, and a taco shell with a slice of Vienetta in it, both with little ice cream foam sweets that had been hanging around since long before I moved.
AMPDG: Movie Roulette
For AMPDG this month I pulled "Movie Roulette: Go to the cinema at a random time and see the first film showing". I modified this for not-going-to-cinema times and used a Netflix random film generator I found on Google to pick a film for me.
It came up with "The Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants 2" so, while waiting for my Sainsbury's order with popcorn to show up, I decided to watch the first film of the two beforehand, just to get some enjoyment out of it.
With that name, I was expecting pretty a pretty bad film, but the first one was good enough that I was in tears by the end. (The age difference between the protag girls and their love interests was uncomforatble though.)
By the time my Sainsbury's order had arrived, Netflix had dropped the second film, so I ended up getting that on DVD! I set up purple-orange cinema lighting in my living room, got the popcorn ready, and curled up with my phone and laptop off.
The second film was good, a pretty standard sequel. I'd recommend both to anyone who's a fan of The Fault in Our Stars and that sort of genre.
For AMPDG this month I pulled "Movie Roulette: Go to the cinema at a random time and see the first film showing". I modified this for not-going-to-cinema times and used a Netflix random film generator I found on Google to pick a film for me.
It came up with "The Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants 2" so, while waiting for my Sainsbury's order with popcorn to show up, I decided to watch the first film of the two beforehand, just to get some enjoyment out of it.
With that name, I was expecting pretty a pretty bad film, but the first one was good enough that I was in tears by the end. (The age difference between the protag girls and their love interests was uncomforatble though.)
By the time my Sainsbury's order had arrived, Netflix had dropped the second film, so I ended up getting that on DVD! I set up purple-orange cinema lighting in my living room, got the popcorn ready, and curled up with my phone and laptop off.
The second film was good, a pretty standard sequel. I'd recommend both to anyone who's a fan of The Fault in Our Stars and that sort of genre.
Dragonfruit and Ginger
The dragon fruit was getting mighty tall at the start of the month, and I was expecting it to start branching out. After watching a few youtube videos, I realised I needed to crop the top of it before it would likely do so, and the top was getting quite thin anyway, so it was an easy decision.
I decided to pot up the cutting to see if it would root, though I think it was a little weedy. (At the time of writing, it hasn't done anything conclusive).
The weediness was either because the top of the parent plant wasn't getting any sun when the sun was high (the window would need to be much taller to avoid that) and/or because I hadn't actually fed the plant since potting it up. As such, I got some liquid feed, gave it a good watering with that, and lowered the pot onto the floor, which had been my original plan but wasn't its starting point because the base of it wouldn't get any sun there.
One of those two things worked because while it took the original parent cutting a half year to spring into action, the vine put out six branch buds within twenty days!
I had to tighted the vine to the central pole to get the bottom two above the canopy, and accidentally cut into the flesh with the string, but it seems to have healed okay. The lowermost branch bud was still just below the canopy, so I brushed that one off; I only "need" 3-5 branches according to the dragon fruit vids anyway.
Meanwhile, two ginger roots I had from my Sainsbury's order had started budding, which I've never seen before! I used one for cooking and decided to just see what happens if you plant a ginger - I might get a nice plant! Having seen wild ginger growing in Hawaii, it would definitely be impressive if it thrived.
The dragon fruit was getting mighty tall at the start of the month, and I was expecting it to start branching out. After watching a few youtube videos, I realised I needed to crop the top of it before it would likely do so, and the top was getting quite thin anyway, so it was an easy decision.
I decided to pot up the cutting to see if it would root, though I think it was a little weedy. (At the time of writing, it hasn't done anything conclusive).
The weediness was either because the top of the parent plant wasn't getting any sun when the sun was high (the window would need to be much taller to avoid that) and/or because I hadn't actually fed the plant since potting it up. As such, I got some liquid feed, gave it a good watering with that, and lowered the pot onto the floor, which had been my original plan but wasn't its starting point because the base of it wouldn't get any sun there.
One of those two things worked because while it took the original parent cutting a half year to spring into action, the vine put out six branch buds within twenty days!
I had to tighted the vine to the central pole to get the bottom two above the canopy, and accidentally cut into the flesh with the string, but it seems to have healed okay. The lowermost branch bud was still just below the canopy, so I brushed that one off; I only "need" 3-5 branches according to the dragon fruit vids anyway.
Meanwhile, two ginger roots I had from my Sainsbury's order had started budding, which I've never seen before! I used one for cooking and decided to just see what happens if you plant a ginger - I might get a nice plant! Having seen wild ginger growing in Hawaii, it would definitely be impressive if it thrived.
Matlock Overnight
In a litmus test of how I might handle a longer trip, I booked a hotel in Matlock at the edge of the Peak District, and caught the train there after work on a Friday. On Saturday I planned to walk the scenic route to Matlock Bath, get the cable car to the odd attraction of the Heights of Abraham, and get the train back home.
The walk took me along the River Derwent for a bit, through the public park in Matlock, then up and along a cliff-edge along the East of the river. The views were some of the best I've seen in a fair while.
A section of the path was called Giddy Edge, and it lived up to its name, being a narrow path with a handrail running around an outcrop of rock that was otherwise a sheer drop.
I nearly turned around and went for a safer-looking route, but went for it in the end and I'm glad I did!
At the other end of the path was a No Entry sign, indicating a one-way system for Giddy Edge, which at least answered my question on what I would do if I encountered someone else coming the other way.
After that, I had some fun exploring some crevices in the rocks that definitely didn't have "No Access" signs in front of them, though some of the deeper nooks had been properly gated up, the spoilsports.
Shortly after this I got to Matlock Bath, emerging near the railway station and the entrance to the cable car ride to the top of the opposite hill. I had a ticket booked on this, but not for a couple of hours, so in the meantime I explored the town, a weird place that had three fish and chip shops in a row, and plenty more nearby, despite being one of the furthest places in England from the sea. I bought some fudge from a fudge shop. There was also a beautiful walk up through the forested hillside above the otherwise uninspiring Lovers' Walk, where I had my sandwiches.
I walked back to queue up for the cable car to the Heights of Abraham, a self-described "country park" on the hill across the river. I think "country park" is a bit of a stretch; there wasn't really any park land; just a small web of pathways with a restaurant, picnic area, ice cream shop, playground, and, anachronistically, a Punch and Judy show that actually seemed to be a draw.
The cable car ride itself was nice (even though it was mandatory to take in order to get to the park; the walking route being closed "due to covid" which is a pretty flimsy excuse to push more people through the paid route, I felt) and, in fairness, not overly expensive compared to, say, the London dangleway.
The park had caught my attention for the two cave tours they run. The first one was very good, with some narrow and low parts, a decent walk, and a nice large cavern at the lowest part. The second one was barely more than a crevice; the bits I've explored myself on the way here were more impressive!
It started raining so, as is traditional, I bought an ice cream (salted caramel), and sat and ate that in my raincoat. Afterwards I took the cable car back down to Matlock station, where I waited for a train home.
Overall I didn't find the trip too anxiety-inducing or overwhelming, though the train back from Derby was A Lot, as I unfortunately chanced into chuck-out time for a football game where Derby had been playing. On the back of that, I decided I reckon I'd be up to certain bits of travel again.
In a litmus test of how I might handle a longer trip, I booked a hotel in Matlock at the edge of the Peak District, and caught the train there after work on a Friday. On Saturday I planned to walk the scenic route to Matlock Bath, get the cable car to the odd attraction of the Heights of Abraham, and get the train back home.
The walk took me along the River Derwent for a bit, through the public park in Matlock, then up and along a cliff-edge along the East of the river. The views were some of the best I've seen in a fair while.
A section of the path was called Giddy Edge, and it lived up to its name, being a narrow path with a handrail running around an outcrop of rock that was otherwise a sheer drop.
I nearly turned around and went for a safer-looking route, but went for it in the end and I'm glad I did!
At the other end of the path was a No Entry sign, indicating a one-way system for Giddy Edge, which at least answered my question on what I would do if I encountered someone else coming the other way.
After that, I had some fun exploring some crevices in the rocks that definitely didn't have "No Access" signs in front of them, though some of the deeper nooks had been properly gated up, the spoilsports.
Shortly after this I got to Matlock Bath, emerging near the railway station and the entrance to the cable car ride to the top of the opposite hill. I had a ticket booked on this, but not for a couple of hours, so in the meantime I explored the town, a weird place that had three fish and chip shops in a row, and plenty more nearby, despite being one of the furthest places in England from the sea. I bought some fudge from a fudge shop. There was also a beautiful walk up through the forested hillside above the otherwise uninspiring Lovers' Walk, where I had my sandwiches.
I walked back to queue up for the cable car to the Heights of Abraham, a self-described "country park" on the hill across the river. I think "country park" is a bit of a stretch; there wasn't really any park land; just a small web of pathways with a restaurant, picnic area, ice cream shop, playground, and, anachronistically, a Punch and Judy show that actually seemed to be a draw.
The cable car ride itself was nice (even though it was mandatory to take in order to get to the park; the walking route being closed "due to covid" which is a pretty flimsy excuse to push more people through the paid route, I felt) and, in fairness, not overly expensive compared to, say, the London dangleway.
The park had caught my attention for the two cave tours they run. The first one was very good, with some narrow and low parts, a decent walk, and a nice large cavern at the lowest part. The second one was barely more than a crevice; the bits I've explored myself on the way here were more impressive!
It started raining so, as is traditional, I bought an ice cream (salted caramel), and sat and ate that in my raincoat. Afterwards I took the cable car back down to Matlock station, where I waited for a train home.
Overall I didn't find the trip too anxiety-inducing or overwhelming, though the train back from Derby was A Lot, as I unfortunately chanced into chuck-out time for a football game where Derby had been playing. On the back of that, I decided I reckon I'd be up to certain bits of travel again.
Wild blackberry jam
I spent an afternoon one weekend collecting a punnet of blackberries, and the jam I made with them turned out pretty well!
I spent an afternoon one weekend collecting a punnet of blackberries, and the jam I made with them turned out pretty well!
Art
I made three more coaster-sized dutch pours to go with the one I made previously, in different colours
Upon drying, I discovered that some paints dry very transparent, so I'll have to bear that in mind next time!
I made three more coaster-sized dutch pours to go with the one I made previously, in different colours
Upon drying, I discovered that some paints dry very transparent, so I'll have to bear that in mind next time!
Perseids
It was the Perseids meteor shower this month, so I decided to go to my local fairly dark open space after dark to see if I could spot any.
Saw a very bright meteor on the way to the dark park near me, then at least two more in the next 40 minutes, and finally one on the way back home. Pretty happy with that!
Also got checked in on by a group of teens who weren't sure I was okay, bless them. I guess I was lying motionless on the grass in the dark... oops? I'd mostly been ignoring people who walked past on the nearby footpath, but this lot managed to accidentally spot me with their flashlight. I think I gave them a bit of a jump.
It was the Perseids meteor shower this month, so I decided to go to my local fairly dark open space after dark to see if I could spot any.
Saw a very bright meteor on the way to the dark park near me, then at least two more in the next 40 minutes, and finally one on the way back home. Pretty happy with that!
Also got checked in on by a group of teens who weren't sure I was okay, bless them. I guess I was lying motionless on the grass in the dark... oops? I'd mostly been ignoring people who walked past on the nearby footpath, but this lot managed to accidentally spot me with their flashlight. I think I gave them a bit of a jump.
