Canon fire and car boot sales

One of the nicest aspects of living in England has been the glorious springs we are blessed with. However this year we are still waiting for the temperatures to warm up.  It's been the coldest spring on record since  1975. It wasn't particularly brilliant last year either when I actually think about it. Last year the skies opened up in April and it didn't stop raining once until September.  Well maybe once or twice but I was probably at work that day, or out of the country. This year the temperatures have been similar to those I used to experience back home in Nova Scotia in spring.  At least there we knew that we didn't have to start planning our summer wardrobe until the end of May at the earliest. Oh, and residents of Nova Scotia don't have to worry about the heat melting their igloos until well into June, July if they are lucky.

This post wasn't meant to be your weekly weather update for the North East of England.  Please accept my sincerest apologies for that. At least the sun has been shining.  Now if only the wind would calm down.

Andy and I had this past weekend to ourselves and on Saturday we took Wendy and Dave to a lovely old pub for lunch.  It's hard to find a place to eat around here that has good service, good food and a great atmosphere.  The White Hart in Grimsby ticks all the boxes. I had a beautiful piece of Salmon with crisp vegetables and Andy ordered the Ploughman's Lunch;  this is what he was served (with a side of home-cut chips):

The board was nearly as big as his side of the table - the food was beautiful and fresh.

After a lovely lunch we went home and took Molly out for a long walk:

We thoroughly enjoy this walk and I would love to be able to incorporate it into my run as a) I believe it meets the required three miles I need to be able to complete for the upcoming Race for Life and b) I much prefer a trail over pavement, however at the moment we aren't even going to be able to walk this route as Molly now hates going this way and starts to back off the moment we start to cross the road into the field.  It's such a shame because she really used to enjoy it, especially the big pond.  Her reason for this? The farmers around these parts have been putting air-canons in their fields to help keep the birds off the crops.  Those air-guns are loud and although Molly is technically a gun dog it's obvious to anyone that she so isn't.  She's terrified of loud noises and because of the air gun she starts to pant and shake the moment she hears one go off (it happened four times on Saturday).  What's worse is that she doesn't calm down until we are almost back home. She spent the latter part of the walk on Saturday quivering and shaking; I almost expected her to throw up she was in such a state.   The last thing I need is for her to have a heart attack.  So no more going that route unless the farmer removes the air canon - which I doubt is likely.  Next time she makes it clear she doesn't want to go that way, I'm going to listen. 

On Sunday Andy and I decided to take a drive out to one of the country-side markets that's constantly advertised on the radio. Unfortunately we didn't stick around very long as it was basically just a glorified car boot sale (flea-market) and that is definitely not the way Andy and I like to spend a Sunday morning.  Especially when the wind was blowing dirt and sand all over the place.   I love a bargain but I think I will stick to e-bay and the charity shops for any second-hand items I may need.