AS GOOD AS IT GETS PHASE DAY 169

DVT DAY 184

A.G.A.I.G. DAY 169

Today is all fairies and surprises. Today we headed off to Trentham Gardens to walk the fairy walk and to see what it had to offer. What it had to offer was a day of lovely gardens, exquisite woods and colourful hedgerows. Situated just outside Stoke on Trent it took about 90 minutes to drive their and found a well organised set of shops as a lead into the entrance of the gardens. I remember that I once or twice ran the Stoke marathon and finished in Trentham Gardens. We enter and see our first fairy:

We headed for the space sign posted to a place to lose yourself and we found a designed “grass stream” winding through some sculptured landscaping. Of course we found more fairies.

I was taken aback by both the surprise of the sculptures made of wire and the prominence of the dandelions. Those that read the blog know that I have for sometime been using the dandelion clock as my metaphor for the time I have to live. My time is dependant on the way the various winds of cancer blow and the dandelion clock diminishes. So it was an interesting experience to be confronted with the symbol so starkly and beautifully crafted.

The gardens contain a huge lake which can be walked round. Around its edge are dotted interesting objects, a few of which are below.

However the fairies were the special things that caught the eye along with the beautiful hedgerows.

We wandered around the various attractions and spaces stopping to take pictures and a restorative ice cream. I’ve not really done the gardens justice so I would recommend a visit, the landscaping and the variety of things to see is really worth it.

We drove home via a strange and circuitous route that my satnav made up including the fun of a toll motorway. Once home there was a coffee to have before changing into my training gear and wandering down to the shed to climb up onto the exercise bike for 50 minutes. A late dinner and time to look at the days photos an to write the blog. Amidst the days main activity I also managed to reset the immersion heater, sort out some meeting times and contact the re-pipe man, and keep track of bits and pieces of work. What I’ve not got to is the growing pile of books that I need to read to prepare for a future conference presentation.

Preparation reading waiting patiently for me to get to it.

I wonder sometimes how I manage to survive, noting that I have two copies of the same book and managed to confuse 45mm with 60mm size blades. A busy life tends to do that.