February 23rd and it's Nottingham

When I walk Around Nottingham I can usually see various aspects of this building just poking up so that I can work out where I am. It sits on top of the Council House which looks over the square in the centre of town. I am quite fond of it.

I moved to Anne's house

where she lives with her family and this amazing puppy, Freddy. He can't keep his head still. Great to live with the love of a dog again.

After a long motorway trip from Devon with Ted we visited my favourite shoe outlet near Leicester, called Rohde. I bought two pairs of boots; one red one brown and very retro to many but exactly right for me. Then Ted unloaded me onto Anne who was still at work and went off to have his own Nottingham adventure. He was born here and so knows it so well. My great grandma was born here and worked as a lacemaker until a Manchester man swept her off her feet.

From when I was about 5 till 9 we lived in a little town not far from Nottingham called Belper.

This is where we lived - 84 Bridge Street. Downstairs was what we would now call a continental deli and we lived on the two floors above. I loved living here. One of the reasons was that we spent time with my Grandma and Grandad who lived in the village of Fritchley quite close by.

I always love to visit Belper and then get the bus to Fritchley but this time everything was a little different. I caught a bus from Nottingham on Monday - well I and 9 others waited at the stop until a really pleasant bloke came to tell us the bus wasn't going but he would shepherd us to another bus which would get us to the appropriate bus. Now I'm a mature person I don't panic too much at this sort of hitch but instead get close to someone who looks as though they are a local and then charm/pester them with questions. Enter Ross who not only seemed to know where he was going but was from Belper too!! And then it turned out that Ross spent his first twenty something years in Brisbane followed by 20 something years in Denmark. My 'local' picking radar went haywire.

Then guess what? After involving several other kind passengers in my search for a way to get to Fritchley, a woman turned as she left the bus and said 'I'm going to Fritchley. I'll drive you there.' This is the absolute joy for me of travelling. This is Chris in her conservatory with her beloved orchid.

She has lived in Fritchley for 40 years and from her house I could see Grandma's cottage blurrily through the trees which turned out to be the best way because the present owners have built on and doubled the size of the once perfect cottage. Chris says that next time I come on a pilgrimage I can just pop in on her. SO lovely. She also gave me a simple plan for tackling my journey for the next day. But that will be for another episode. here's a teaser photo for my next ep. It's a spring called St Ann's Well at a Spa town. Tata! xxxxxxxxx