Coming back to Oz

Since my last post where I went to watch a Women's Ashes match at Hove, I have managed to do a few things and visit a few places.


A visit to the Malvern area where my youngest daughter lives and we went on a local stroll.

Some of the local buildings and neighbours were interesting.

At home I enjoyed a cup of tea in my F1 mugs.

I went on a visit to the seaside (Hastings)

There are some old buildings in the area.

I walked along the Basingstoke canal to see a bike race.

Wiggo and Mark Cavendish rushed by.

Went for a countryside walk around Chobham

A new Scotty dog puppy came onto the scene

Winter was coming and squirrels were collecting nuts

The new puppy seemed to like watching football

It was getting frosty in the mornings

Anyway, the time is soon approaching when I will be heading back to Sydney and leaving the English winter behind.
My next post will be from Sydney and include a visit to Blacktown to watch some T20 matches.

Peewit

Narrowboat frenzy

The section of the Basingstoke canal near where I live was dried out for a while to allow the fitting of some new lockgates.

Here are the new gates just after they had been fitted

 

A few days later the canal was flooded again, so having lived here for two months and not having seen a single boat go by it was a pleasant surprise to see the first two of a fleet coming along.
Having got into the lock they had trouble trying to close the downstream gates due to the accumulation of debris in the canal

 

The new gates in use

 

They eventually got the gates closed

 

Time to flood the lock

 

Almost ready to open the new gates for the first time

 

Open at last

 

The first narrowboat makes its way onward

 

Travelling companion

 

Heading for the next lock that is close to my house

 

Through the lock and heading for the brick bridge

 

Narrowboat seen from my bedroom window

 

More boats came up afterwards. Hardly a frenzy but at least the canal was in use for once

Peewit

Living in Woking

Hi All

I have moved just a few miles from Bisley to a house on the outskirts of Goldsworth Park in Woking. This takes me into a different borough council. So instead of Surrey Heath BC who made a reasonable job of keeping Bisley in good order, I am now a council tax payer in the Woking BC area.


Even though I have only been here a couple of weeks I am not that impressed with the upkeep of the area. I also saw a thief in a hoodie who had just stolen a postman’s delivery bag and when I approached him, he threw the postbag in the canal and ran off. I rang 911 on my mobile and although the police took some details nothing further happened. I guess that even if the culprit had be apprehended, that the local magistrate would have let him off scott free.

Here are some pictures I took when walking my dog today.

We will start with some scenic ones.

A local lock on the Basingstoke canal

The wildlife walking on the ice

Now some of the problems

A signpost in need of repair

The barriers from a repair on a footbridge are now spread all over the place as rubbish.

The temporary repair has been like this for weeks.

A nearby lamppost of falling over and the top is coming off. Graffiti on the fence as well.

A broken wall in Bampton Way

Worn out road names.

Ah yes, this is a wheelie bin borough. This town is never going to win any awards for good looks. A shame as the terraced houses look quite nice.

This is where the money is spent. A white elephant by Woking station.

I hope things improve here as they have a way to go to catch up with Surrey Heath BC.

Regards
Peewit