A HUNDRED FEET AWAY (03/10/11)

Today we moved back over the hill into Derbyshire. We are just outside Buxton in an old quarry. On the way I stopped at the new Tesco supermarket in Chesterfield…………well blow me down…………impressive! I was gobsmacked!

Chesterfield Football Club have a new stadium next door………..how they afford it only the Lord knows it is as posh as Tesco! It has some grass as well. For all this urban regeneration and modernisation I wasn’t impressed. Had to park my van hundreds of yards away, then find the trolleys,(free to be fair), then get on one of those moving ramps so beloved of airports. At airports one can lift the back wheels up and push………Not at Tesco all four wheels are locked,  up hill and down. Slow, they go at snails pace. I shouldn’t be impatient.

The disabled have dedicated parking right next to the store entrance, as do young mothers, size of most of the latter they could do with a stroll……… they then have to negotiate a moving ramp then two miles of isles. Come on if you are fit enough for the latter you're fit enough to cross a car park.

When  I made it to the sales floor…………..Bloody Hell!………..One could live in here. Chesterfield could live in here! Twenty yards of Newsagent. Bookseller racks…………cheap but nowt of substance. Electrics………..Trousers….Shirts……….Frocks…….Knickers…….. Then televisions. ………….All I needed was a bottle of wine, some milk and a loaf and a bit of salad and meat. I purchased……………………….

     This is why they are successful, they are brave. I bought the dog food because I was running low. Potatoes because they were cheap. Mushrooms because we ate the free ones last night. Pain au Chocalate because they are brilliant with espresso. Stella cos it was cheap.  If you work it out I spent £ 20.14p to avoid stopping again. It was no pleasure shopping there. No reflection on the staff, they were lovely. It must be as bad for them as it is for me and my bank balance.

Before I departed I had one last go for the Green Woodpecker. I saw it yesterday, I saw it today. No chance………Are they allergic to dogs or people whose name begins with an ‘A’?……….. It is always a hundred feet away in young Silver Birch.

    Common Puff Ball……………I hope.

     Either Liberty Cap or Hay Cap……I suspect the latter……Maybe something else?

     Loads of Canada Geese…………this is stitched and played with. I had a long lens on……..I was Woodpeckering.

Tomorrow I’m out before dawn.

   The wee blip is Solomon's Tower…………..Views east, west, north and south. I hope I get a good dawn or sunset or two.

It’s hellish hot still. I blame the politicians………..three party conferences one after the other. That much hot air plus mine any global system would have trouble coping with.

Have a good week.