19th July, 2012

All aboard!

The engine was called Dragon. ( I said engine!)

We went to the Nene Valley Railway on Sunday, there was a steam engine show on as well and we went for a little ride on the old train into Peterborough and back. I got a discount ticket because of my advanced years, over 60! We went for the first mile or so behind a steam engine and the rest of the trip was behind a diesel locomotive. There were quite a few miniature steam engines to run on the roads, plus a couple of full size vehicles. It would appear that the major problem with the miniature engines is the soot that builds up on the driver’s face, no picture, sorry. The coaches on the train were genuine vintage, a lot of the coaches etc were from Europe and were wider gauge, I guess they won’t fall over so easily, ha, ha. They were offering free bus rides on a vintage bus to a farm that had a vintage bus show, but we had no time. We were treated to a few sights on the trip and at Ferry Meadows I wanted to get out and take pictures, but I was told by a station person to shut the door if I was not getting off, ulp! We were able to disembark at Peterborough station and take a few pictures. We had a great day and even saw an ancient Vellocette motor cycle that would have appealed  to Andrew. We also managed to get pictures of a steam train.

Some old boy at the station

Chinese takeaway

I made a lovely Chinese dinner last night, spicy lamb with Jasmine rice, mmmm tasty and expertly cooked. Chinese food is supposed to be healthy, but if eaten in the quantities we have it maybe not, still we’ll see. Sweet and sour chicken is on the menu tonight, with some stir fried veggies, that should keep us going. The lawn is crying out to be mowed again, but it may not get it’s wish, it is going to rain soon (I hope), we need the rain for my proposed rice paddy. If I am going to eat Chinese we are going to have to take up subsistence farming, how do you grow bamboo shoots and soya sauce! The cats think we are already doing that as they get to eat birds freshly caught under the bird feeder, placed within a short stroll of the back door. Sooty is a bit fed up with the wait for the right flavoured bird to fly in, she is partial to the ones with yellow feathers, although I have not seen the robins recently.

The starlings are fighting over the bird feeders next door, so the sparrows are using our feeders, Sooty is salivating and also has a crick in her neck.

Went for an eye test today, didn't managed to see anyone, I will have to go back next week, maybe I will have better luck then. ( I hope you got the pun)