Chippenham Park, Cambs

This afternoon the sun was shining and we fancied a different walk, so we visited Chippenham Park (sometimes called Hare Park), at Chippenham, Cambs. This is a private property but it is open to the public on certain days. The spring flowers were out. Kings Edward VII and George V came here for shooting parties in the early 1900s.

Don't confuse this with Chippenham in Wiltshire. This park is surrounded by a wall that would have cost a small fortune when it was built centuries ago. The wall is many miles long.

Shaking off a cold

I have had a cold for a week now. Last weekend I was rough with it and felt really under the weather. A week later, although I no longer feel unwell, I still have a runny nose. It is taking longer to shake off the symptoms. It is some years since I last recall having a classic cold.

Son visit

Our son Tim came to see us this afternoon. As usual, he was only able to stay a few hours but we always appreciate visits by our boys. In years gone by he came up from London with one of our granddaughters, but she is at school now.

Stroke after-effect

I  have mentioned this before, but I seem far slower at noticing errors than in the past.  As an example I used the Roman phrase caveat emptor on one of my blogs yesterday.  Only a day later when this appeared on AmateurRadio.com did I notice that I had the wrong spelling caveat emtor.  On my amateur radio blog I have corrected the mistake, but I had not seen it! Sometimes it is a keying error, but I should have noticed this. The error has also been corrected on the Amateur Radio.com site.

Helping children of war torn lands?

Mixed views. I do not like unrestricted EU access into the UK and firmly believe it is up to the UK to decide who can live and work here.

At the same time I feel so sorry for the true refugees who have fled war and conflict who wish to come to the UK for a peaceful life. Some of these people are really desperate. 

In all conflicts it is the children who suffer the most. One woman is trying to make life in Calais just a little better for some children.  She is trying to raise money to buy a double-decker bus to convert.

If you would like to help just a little see https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/sophie-besse-bus?comment_id=1325867307439276&fb_comment_id=1324719837554023_1325867307439276#f30de133eed222e

Whatever your views, the little ones are the innocent victims. Life can be cruel and hard. You could help just a little?

Continuing stroke after-effects

One of the post stroke effects I think I have mentioned before is driving the car.  I have done some quite longish drives in the last year but my brain "feels" like I am going faster than I am. To me, 40mph feels like 50mph and 50mph feels like 60mph. So, I drive at slower speeds than I did.  I have no idea why this should be so.  I assume this is to do with the way my brain is processing data.

Also, time seems to be different. I take longer to do things and yet time seems to be going along faster - but this may just be me getting older!

Guided busway to St Ives

Today my wife and I took the guided busway up to St Ives, Cambridgeshire. With our bus passes the trip was free.  The sun shone and we ate out inexpensively in the cafe at the URC church which is in the heart of the town. Food, service and prices were excellent.  St Ives is on the River Great Ouse and has some fine buildings.