My March

I don’t know about you, but March 2021 has seemed a long month to me. Though the evenings have been getting lighter there has still been a chilling nip in the air during the day. March however, is a great month to witness the start of spring, from the birds beginning to sing, to the garden finally waking up. Here are a few pictures of the unfurling plants in my yarden.

March is our anniversary month, and this year was our 15th year anniversary together. David and I celebrated it by sharing a tasty curry.

March is also the birthday month of both my mum and brother Daniel.

The 23rd of March this year was also a National Day of Remembrance. I took the time to remember my dad, Graham who we said goodbye too nine years ago on 28th March 2012.

David had a few days off work in March and we spent many of his days off by walking around Sefton Park. On one occasion, I spied a little grebe on the lake and Riley enjoyed the warm springlike sunshine.

Sadly, I’ve not done any reading this month at all!

Since I am back at work two days a week, I’ve spent the days in between by catching up on some series. I’ve been enjoying Netflix’s The Queens Gambit, ITV’s Unforgotten and David and I have both been having a laugh to SyFy’s Resident Alien.

Having been living together in our home now for the past eight years, some of the paintwork in the rooms are looking a little tired. So to make a start on the project of sprucing up the interiors we decided to paint the easiest room in the house, the bathroom. We decided on a medium grey to replace the purple we had on firstly. It only took us a few hours to do two coats of paint and the result is a fresh, cleaner, more modern looking style. What do you think?

I celebrated Earth Hour by switching off my lights for an hour on the 27th. This WWF campaign is to spread awareness of our carbon footprints. By using less light and energy this reduces harmful Co2 emissions.

I’m not sure what prompted Liverpool City Council to install 11 light art fixtures as part of their River of Light during lockdown, but in need of some stimulation, David and I with a nervous Riley in tow, spent a couple of hours walking around Liverpool’s waterfront.

It’s been a year since the UK was plunged into the first lockdown. How have you coped? It has been a struggle for many. From having too much time on your hands and the boredom and frustration that brings, to working from home and all the pressures it adds to the mental state. Finances have been hit hard and businesses have suffered. Not being able to travel and every day melding into one. It has been a long, dark year but hopefully we can recover and regain some semblance of normality in the coming months ahead.

How have you spent March? What are you most looking forward to getting back to doing?

Take care,

Christine x

Polar Bears, Traffic Jams and Ducks!

It’s been a busy weekend!

Friday, David and I both had the day off work and we drove the two hours to Doncaster to, Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We had visited preciously but this time I wanted to see the newly arrived Polar Bears. YWP has two at the moment, Victor and his grandson Pixel.

Pixel was the more active of the two as can be expected and I enjoyed seeing him frolic in the huge lake they have in their enclosure. We stopped to listen to the Polar Bear talk and the keeper said they hope to house up to at least eight male Polar Bears! That will be something to behold!

In their collection YWP also have shy Amur Leopards and Tigers. There was one Amur Tiger on show, (the other is off show nursing cubs!). The Tiger showed a spectacular Flehmen response to a smell on a bush. This is when the cat smells a scent and shows its teeth by scrunching up its nose. Even domesticated cats do it as well!

We spent 4 hours at the park and left at 3 pm, ‘in plenty of time to miss the rush hour traffic’, I thought! We were not so blessed as when we visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park the previous weeks as it was intermittent driving and then stopping from the M1 to the M62! We hadn’t even reached the dreaded M60 before it was 5pm and David was starting to feel dizzy!

I managed to get David to agree on stopping off at a service station. Birch was only 1 mile away when the dizzy spells started, probably brought on by too much driving, sun stroke and hunger! We both had a Costa each and then David had a Burger King chicken sandwich and I had a very fattening vegi burger. At 26g of fat I would have opted for the salad if I had known! I wish fast food could be healthy as well as convenient! The break did us both good. It roused my spirits and as we hit the motorway again, the traffic jams eased so it was a straight, none stop route back home! Poor Artie was left alone for 11 hours straight, he must have thought we had deserted him!

On Saturday, not content with walking for miles the previous day, we headed into Liverpool city centre to wander the streets in search of ducks! We followed the Aquaducked map and snapped the 20 ducks on display. They each informed of 20 firsts that had happened in Liverpool! Amongst one of my favourites was the Beetles Duck. It was indeed colourful!

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