Long walk, bloggers catchup and being an idiot with a wasp nest.

A bass speaker...... booming away until the wee hours. Coming from somewhere above the locks in one of the houses. Obviously a party with people enjoying themselves but why oh why does the music have to be so loud!!! Sleep was nie impossible as the beat of that bass was all penetrating but sleep we did, eventually and waking to a glorious day full of promise.

So our Son and daughter in law with grandkiddies were supposed to visit this morning. We had arranged to go for Sunday lunch at the Anglers retreat and before they were due to arrive the both of us had a blitz through the boat. Then a phone call to say they had to much to do and couldn't afford the time to see us. Bit disappointed but understandably they are busy people and we now hope to meet further along the GU. Having a spic and span boat and nothing to do we went for a walk to the College Farm nature reserve. Took us best part of 40 minutes to walk there having gone the long way round along the road and then a bridle track. If we had gone straight up the lock flight to Bulbourne bridge, our time would have been cut by half. We know this as we took that route on the way back to FS. As per usual I didn't go short on taking photos so my wildlife blog is full of them.

Lapwing in flight.

Lapwing

Mating pair of Common Darter Dragon flies (macro) More in the wildlife blog

A mystery critter. Seen in a stagnant pond at the center. Any ideas?

On our return we had company. Tentatrice and Cleddau had caught us up and we now had a bloggers gathering. This will probably be our last meeting as we are off down the Aylesbury whilst they head of to Milton Keynes marina.

FS, Tentatrice (Jennie, Chris and there woofit Monty) Cleddau (Ken and Sue)

 Lunch was a late one. The Anglers Retreat was busy but we managed to find a table and placed our order of roast beef. Ian wasnt to happy with his pint, being a bit cloudy but my lager was fine. Then the meal turned up. Now we are not the type to complain but really we would have been justified in doing so. At £8.75 one would expect a decent size plate. First we noticed no Yorkshire Pud. How can one have roast beef without Yorkshire Pud? Not this eatery. If we wanted the pud we should have said so when we ordered the meal and it was extra to the price!!! The plate was cold, the meat was warm, the veg was okay apart from the leeks which must have been on the plate for a while 'cause they were lukewarm and congealed in a white sauce. This was a terrible meal and the chef needs retraining in my opinion. Needless to say no tip was left and we left as soon as the beer was downed. We will not return that's for sure.

Having seen Jennie and Monty later in the afternoon and talked toilets, composting ones to be precise, I left to photograph a wasps nest. Possible the most idiotic thing I could do but, there again, what one does for their art eh. The nest was on the steps leading to the reservoir and to get a decent photo I used the flash. Not a good idea as all I did was get them mad!!! After a minute of so I realised I was being buzzed....big time.....so thought now was a good as any time to depart. How I didn't get stung was by pure luck. If I'd stayed any longer, well the consequences would have been dire.