A Fantastic Find During A Walk In The Forest

On Sunday me and Mrs W took a walk in the New Forest. Following a route devised by the National Park themselves,  directions got a bit vague and we found ourselves on the wrong path. Lucky for us we did for suddenly we spotted a couple of deer about 50 feet away through some trees. We stopped immediately, and as we watched realised there was more, at least eight of them. We managed to move a few paces to get a clearer view and the simply stood watching them for a couple of minutes. They knew we were there, at all times at least two were keeping an attentive eye on us, but clearly didn't feel threatened by us. I managed to get the following video of them watching us watching them - they finally ran off when we decided to see if we could approach any closer.

We are used to seeing animals in places like Marwell Park, but to see so many wild animals so close up in their natural habitat was a moving experience. 

Remember These ?

Spotted on my way to work. It was heading south . Taken at Weston Shore Southampton 8:45am today
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More Songs Should Have Whistling In Them

My current favourite

That Lucky Feeling

This morning, for no apparent reason,  I woke with one of those "It's going to be my lucky day" type positive vibes. On my way to work I stopped to buy some milk, outside the shop was a guy selling The Big Issue.  Such was my feel good factor I not only gave him £2 and told him to keep the change but also an extra £1 and told him to buy himself a lottery ticket. I carried on to work with mixed emotions of feeling good and wondering what the hell had come over me!

I got home this evening and waiting for me in today's post was an envelope I didn't recognise. I opened it and found a cheque from the Premium Bonds people for £25. Happy days :-)  My "feeling" was obviously more of a "premonition". Then I turned it over and spotted the bit that said the winning bond was in the name of my daughter (the cheque has to be payable to me till she's 16 ) Not so happy days :-(  I rarely have much spare cash  at the best of times but that has to be the quickest in with  one hand and out with the other ever, even by my standards.

Still, I'm pleased for her (I even smiled through gritted teeth as I exchanged the cheque for cash for her) but I've bought myself a lottery ticket for tonight. Just in case. £17,000,000 triple roll-over , and after all today isn't over yet.

2D or not 2D

Thanks to a busy spell and a crashed laptop a few things I would no doubt have blogged on have gone un-Wurzeled since my last blog. Like Saints getting to Wembley again and winning a trophy - great day out; a couple of new babies born to friends and family:; small matter of a general election announced; my Mum discovering she needs a heart by-pass; the start of the cricket season to name but a few.

But back up to date. Last night I went to the new Imax screen at the Odeon to see Alice in Wonderland. Not a film I was particularly fussed about (Mrs W's choice) but it was my first chance to experience not only the huge Imax screen, but also my first of the modern 3d movies.

At over £12 a ticket  (including the booking fee - why am I charged 75p a ticket for the privilege of saving the cinema the need for any employee to serve me?) I was expecting something special. Apparently it was. From the opening credits Mrs W was oohing and aahing, occasionally even dodging and ducking. I, meanwhile sat watching and wondering what the fuss was about. The trouble was that I have one eye that is  much weaker than the other. It's not blind, if I close the good one I still have vision in the weak one, but for purposes of focusing my brain simply ignores it. This can make perception of depth difficult, as an optician explained once if i lined up a snooker shot I'd have no way of gauging the distance between cue and object balls. I don't play much snooker, but was relieved to find that it wasn't imagination that, when playing cricket I can stand there bat in hand, watch the ball leave the bowlers hand and see (or rather not see) it disappear half way  between bowler and me, only to hear the dreaded noise of ball hitting stumps a split second later. But I digress. The same problem, I now discover only after paying my £12, prevents me from seeing a 3D film. I tired all sorts during the movie, crossed eyes, special glasses on, off, upside down, back to front - nothing made any difference. If you ever watch a 3D film shut one eye for a while, you'll see what I see. It's still perfectly watch-able (with the special glasses) but no different than watching a normal film.

Mrs W told me it was fantastic and never wants to bother with an ordinary film again. I guess we'll be parting company at the screen doors next time we visit the cinema.

Normal Service To Be Resumed

Thanks to my laptop hitting it's self destuct button blogging opportunities have been severely restricted recently.

A new one has been aquired, which includes Windows 7. So normal service will hopefully be resumed as soon as I have found my way around it.