It's nearly November now.

This is disgraceful. I'm so bad at updating. Got plenty of half-written posts waiting to be finished, bear with me please!

Am half way through my POVA training, it's quite interesting. And I like the format, it's all online and quite easy to use.

Going to Mike's parents for the weekend - yay! Lots of sweets and nice food, and good company, obviously. I've said I'd make apple & cinnamon muffins. I did consider Hallowe'en-ifying them but I'm now thinking that might get a bit.. icky. Hmm.

I'm about to fall asleep so had better get going. Not been to well lately so need to get myself better for work tomorrow. Wish me luck ;)

xx

Horsey Horserson + friend.

I don't know if I've mentioned the horse I walk past to/from work? It's stood in this ditch by the side of a big road. It's fenced in, so I don't think the horse has been in any danger from the traffic. But the ditch is full of rubbish, and there's not a lot of flat space for the horse to walk on. I also thought the grass looked really dire. I was slightly concerned, and decided to go up there at night to check if it was being kept there after dark. Now there were two horses!!

So, not knowing the first thing about horses (or any animals, at all) I decided to ring the RSPCA. I was slightly disheartened by the response I got - it was pretty dismissive, and the lady told me it's not illegal. She encouraged me to phone the council instead. Understand I'm not complaining about the RSPCA, I know they don't have the resources to check out everything reported to them and I know they do a great job. But as someone who doesn't know anything about horses, I'd have appreciated someone to take the time to actually talk this over with me, you know?

So I rang World Horse Welfare. The lady sounded concerned - she said they may not be able to do anything, but could I email them some photos and they could evaluate it from there? I did, and a few hours later another lady phoned me back and gave me a good 15 minutes of her time, explaining that whilst they would not recommend a horse to be kept like that, there's nothing they can do at this stage. She explained to me how to see if a horse is under/overweight and asked if I was able to check every now and again - and also to let them know if there's glass or any other rubbish the horses could hurt themselves on. She said if I wanted to phone the council that might be a good idea but unless it's council land they prob won't do anything - and even if it is they still might not. She also pointed out that it's good the horses are in such a public area (big roads, cycle and walk path going past, big supermarket across the road) cos if they were being mistreated someone would report it.

I'm pleased she gave me some of her time, and that they listened to my concerns even if it was clear I had no clue what I was talking about.

My friend Horsey Horserson.

 

Horsey Horserson's friend

 

 Where they're kept.

Zoomed out a bit.

 I did feel like a bit of an idiot for being so worried but am glad I did pursue it. If nothing else I now know not to be worried, you know?

...and if the owners read this (haha - doubtful!) I'd like to apologise for being so suspicious ;)

Quick catch-up.

Today feels like a Sunday. It's kinda nice to have a second Sunday tomorrow!

Have been busy this past week, work 4 days and Lincoln on Weds for a research meeting. Not going to bore you with it but I really enjoyed it. Met some lovely people too!

I've plenty of things to write about and I will do over the next few days. At the moment the blog posts are being formulated in my head.

It's very sad about Stephen Gately. I wasn't ever a big fan but it's sad. And if you haven't already complained about it - the Daily Mail story is absolutely disgraceful. Most complained about newspaper story in the history of British newspapers, apparently. I'm not surprised!

Off to spend money. Catch you later :)

xx

On the road.

I like walking home. Not only is it over 7000 steps (lol) but you get to see so much.

A couple of girls were walking in the other direction, and one of them was swinging this rope (I know...), slapping it against the fences as she walked along. I had a feeling she wouldn't stop as she walked past me so I made eye contact with her as we were coming closer to each other. She slowed down her rope swinging. But still hit me with it. I got a half hearted 'sorry' as she stomped off. Lovely people.

Not five minutes down the road some chav started shouting at me from across the road. I ignored him (as you do) until he did an Ali G impression. Not to bad, either. I stopped, smiled and waved at him. I think that confused him cos he hesitantly waved back and went bright red. Fun times.

One of the horses is still kept in that ditch behind Morrissons. I don't get why. Took a photo - not sure if I should contact the RSPCA or something? I've seen it a few times now - and I don't profess to know a lot about how animals should be kept but I'm pretty sure that a ditch full of rubbish is not the proper place to keep a horse? Please correct me if I'm wrong...

xx

Bad night..?

Spotted in Nottingham. Must've been a fun night.

All the ducks are swimming in the water.

There always seem to be a lot of ducks around to photograph...

 

These two seem to be debating whether to jump in or not... And sure enough, jst as I put the camera away and started walking off the male did jump in. Darnit!

Kipper tie, m'dear?

I cannot stand fruity teas. They smell lovely but they taste like plastic. Mint tea, I do like.

Picture source: Buy the Case

Twinings Mint Green tea is very nice. Better than their 'normal' mint teas. It smells - and tastes - more like the proper mint teas you get in Northern Africa. Or, if you're less lazy than I am, make yourself from mint you grow in your garden.

Picture source: Cilantro

I'm not sure if I had a point to this post really. I'm just pleased to have found a nice tea!

Sneaking a peak at the Metro.

Source

I promise, writing about celebrities won't become a habit. But I was reading the Metro over some girl's shoulder and it mentioned Madonna and Lady Gaga having a cat fight, dressed in some skimpy leather outfits.

A couple of years ago, Madonna tried desperately to shock by snogging Britney Spears at some award or whatever it was.

I'm sure there are more examples.

It's sad. Madonna has a great voice, charisma and she's a good performer. I say all this, and I'm not even a fan. She doesn't need to do these things in order to get attention or to sell CDs. She needs to get some decent songs again and not try to compete with Britney et al. - she doesn't need to compete with anyone. She's friggin' Madonna!

End rant.

And I feel the way that every child should.

In the past few days I've realised how beautiful the campus is. Typical, isn't it - I've been a student here for pretty much exactly a year and now that I've finished I see it's beauty. Actually, there's probably something quite obvious about that...

I love how the tree just ends a couple of decimetres (or so?) above the water. It makes me want to go down there. Don't worry, I won't - there's bad bad algae blooming in the water.

Duckie!

I tried to catch the amazing green on his head but failed. It was the exact colour of my prom dress in year 9. In case you were interested!

Going to Nottingham tomorrow, got a few meetings. Quite excited!