Bloggers Blog Party - August 2016

August 2016 provided a fair selection for the Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party:

Thursday 4th August: There is a company in Northamptonshire that features these hot pink dumpsters/skips as part of their services. Hot pink isn't a colour usually associated with garbage so this one and others stand out.

Friday 5th August: Speaking of objects that stand out, in all my years in Northamptonshire, I never noticed this yellow donation box near the fire station, mostly because it is positioned on a side street I've rarely walked down, on the side of the street I've rarely walked along.

Sunday 7th August: This was a sunny evening in the town of Rothwell. I walked to this town on most days as a part of catching up on exercise I'd missed out on over the preceding few months.

Wednesday 10th August: Ah...a resting horse and a hungry horse! The one on the right was the first horse I'd stroked since 2009; however, the ones I stroked in 2009 were happy for my company whereas this one was only interested in food - to the point where they were trying to get into my bag.

Tuesday 16th August: During my sole visit back to Nottingham over the summer, I was sure to ride past my old college on the bus. So far, the place hasn't changed much as a result of the ongoing merger between it and New College Nottingham, although the student lanyards have emblazoned on them "student" now rather than "Central College Nottingham".

Wednesday 17th August: These cows were also interested in food but alas, I had nothing for them.

Saturday 20th August: It the centre of this image is a semingly faint rainbow; however, in person it was significantly more bright. It's unfortunate that my phone's camera is often unable to capture the fullness of a rainbow.

Saturday 27th August: By contrast, my phone's camera was able to pick up the blanket-like quality of these clouds with ease.

Tuesday 30th August: This truck spent nearly ten minutes entering the narrow gate to a factory situated out of the photo. Even though it was blatantly obvious to onlookers what was going on, that still didn't stop some people from hooting as though doing so would magically make the truck hasten its entrance.

Bloggers Blog Party - July 2016

For the end of August, here are July 2016's Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party photos.

Friday 1st July: These are the inclined moved walkways in the Tesco Extra in Long Eaton. During my last month in Nottingham before the summer, on some evenings I would travel to Long Eaton for no other reason than the pleasure of riding the bus.

Saturday 2nd July: This is Matlock Bath on the day I travelled to Bakewell. I enjoyed seeing Matlock Bath again after three years.

Sunday 3rd July: This is the centre of Bulwell as I was walking to Hucknall. At this point in time I was having a much-needed break, as I was discovering that I wasn't as fit as I was a year ago. I stopped off at the Tesco Extra here for some extra food and water because I needed the energy.

Monday 4th July: I spotted this neat row of buses on the street on which I would catch my bus back to my grandparents' house.

Thursday 7th July: This corridor at Central connects Reception with the corridors to the Library and down to the gym. I stood at this intersection directing people for the Experience Day, hence the decorative balloons. If I recall correctly, the amount of visitors the college had for the day exceeded 300, if not much more.

Friday 8th July: This arrangement was for the principal, as it was his last day at Central. I was at his farewell party, which started an hour after this picture was taken.

Saturday 9th July: I noticed this red London bus on what appeared to be an army event day in the centre of Nottingham.

Tuesday 12th July: On this day, I took my final ride on the Calverton Connection of my Access era in Nottingham. When I next visit Calverton I'll be a student at Nottingham Trent University.

Thursday 14th July: I liked the "Vampiro Los Pollo Hermanos" (obvious reference to Breaking Bad) and the sentence at the bottom about daily specials.

Friday 15th July: A friend of mine and I visited this charity shop, which featured clothing and furniture styles from the 1920s-40s.

Saturday 16th July: This was my final full day in Nottingham before the summer break. This is from the upper floor of the Broadmarsh looking down.

Taken on that same day while on my bus back to my grandparents' house, this is a view of Central.

Sunday 17th July: This is stretch of road on the route my grandfather takes between his house and my mother's.

Friday 22nd July: I spotted on the ground this bending dandelion.

Sunday 24th July: Just up ahead are roads leading onto a major route through Northamptonshire. I walked on that route over a year ago.

Tuesday 26th July: I think the last time I walked through this wooded area before recently was a couple of years ago, at least. I don't recall ever going down it during any of my breaks from college.

Friday 29th July: This was a piece of free cheese my mother received in her shopping delivery; in return for trying it, she wrote a review about the product for the company.

Bloggers Blog Party - June 2016

June 2016's Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party post.

Saturday 4th June: My grandfather and I stopped off at a garden centre on the way back to Nottingham after he'd picked me up from my mother's house. He needed some small plant pots.

Sunday 5th June: This fresh asphalt was placed in my grandparents' town during the half-term break; it was so fresh, in fact, that the "new road smell" was present, more so since it was a hot day.

Thursday 9th June: The Keighton Auditorium, where a handful of my fellow students and I went to see Eddie Izzard giving his pro-EU talk at the University of Nottingham.

Saturday 11th June: This is a major bus stop in the town of Keyworth, near a set of small stores. Further down route, as the bus loops through the town, there is another set of small stores and another major bus stop.

Thursday 16th June: One of my friends at college discovered this pop-up book about the human reproductive system, which both of us found fascinating. My family used to joke about such a book but I didn't think one actually existed!

Saturday 18th June: The Rushcliffe Mainline as it was passing through Bingham on this beautiful and sunny late morning/early afternoon. This bus picked me up a couple of minutes later.

Thursday 23rd June: My grandparents' window cleaner passed me this note in the morning so that they'd know he'd been around to clean. They've had the same window cleaner for at least the past six years; I remember him from when my family and I moved back to the United Kingdom and I've spoken to him a handful of times since I've been at college, as well as made him coffee - hot, two sugars!

On the evening of this day, this was the state of the sky as I was on the way to the polling booth. I wasn't sure whether to take it as an omen of the coming result or to accept it as a mere beautiful sky.

Saturday 25th June: This mural in Hucknall appeared to materialise out of nowhere; it's near to where the construction has taken place so I wondered if it was a new addition due to all that.

Monday 27th June: Here comes a pigeon! I travelled on Indigo to Long Eaton after college, where this pigeon participated in a high-speed landing. The reason I was able to photograph it was because it flew as I took the picture, not because I was aiming for the pigeon.

Wednesday 29th June: My buses were being slightly re-directed, for part of the street their stops are located was blocked off due to roadworks and they had to drive up the main road and around to circumvent said block.

Bloggers Blog Party - March, April and May 2016

At long last, here are March and April 2016's Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party posts, merged into one piece along with those from May of this year:

March:

Saturday 5th March: This menacing black cloud lorded over Nottingham on this evening; I posted another picture of the cloud nearer to the time of its appearance.

Sunday 6th March: Various construction projects have been occurring in Hucknall recently; this one is near to the town centre.

Wednesday 9th March: This long hallway can be seen when someone enters a part of my college campus separate to the main building.

Friday 11th March: I rarely go inside the Nottingham Council House but sometimes when I do, I take a photograph to allow others to see its interior.

Saturday 12th March: I rode the TrentBarton 141 route for the first time; while it travels through various villages from Hucknall to Sutton, I departed the bus in Mansfield.

Sunday 13th March: Just a small of the centre of Derby, looking over the river towards the Jurys Inn.

Monday 14th March: These cupcakes were available in my college's canteen in the weeks leading up to Easter. They are delicious!

Saturday 19th March: In this room, I listened to a speech by a Nottingham Trent University lecturer about English. The lecturer appear after I took this photo; I wasn't on my phone while he was speaking, of course.

Tuesday 22nd March: The White Hat is a pub on the TrentBarton Black Cat route; this was my first journey on Black Cat.

Thursday 24th March: I received this free chocolate Creme Egg on my bus trip back from college.

April:

Sunday 3rd April: I spotted this muddy area with a track through it in this field not far from my mother's house.

Friday 8th April: From a field near to the one in the previous picture, I photographed this sunset. I was careful to not directly point my phone at the Sun, even with the clouds surrounding it.

Thursday 14th April: I spotted this odd mug located in a random corner of my college; in particular, on the main stairwell. It was still there the next day but has since been removed.

Also on the 14th of April, I spotted these three ducks lying down near one of the main bus streets in Nottingham. Despite the noise of people and traffic, they appeared to be comfortable.

Friday 15th April: Chocolate rice cakes are not something I recall coming across until I noticed them in the Tesco inside the Victoria Centre.

Saturday 16th April: This is Skylink Express, which is one of TrentBarton's newest bus routes; I used it to travel to Clifton and was my first time on the link.

Sunday 17th April: Another view of an area near to the centre of Derby. Not a bad area to walk around, central Derby.

Also on this day, a view of a part of the market square in Bingham. I was there in the early evening on this day.

Saturday 23rd April: I thought this was a pretty neat name for a street; it's located in Calverton.

Sunday 24th April: A friend and I went to the pub on this afternoon and I ordered this chili dog, which was extremely tasty. I walked some of it off later in the day.

Saturday 30th April: The University of Nottingham is located near this major route; however, as NTU is the university I'll be attending, I won't be in this area.

May:

Monday 2nd May: Jess Glynne is coming to Nottingham! A shame that I won't be attending her concert, however.

Wednesday 11th May: Billboards for the next Doom game by iD Software started to appear around Nottingham.

Saturday 14th May: This scenery, which includes a view of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, was taken from a Red Arrow bus.

Monday 16th May: My college received some brand new chairs for its reception. I was present while the chairs were being installed.

Saturday 21st May: Joe's Kitchen is a restaurant that came to Nottingham during the improvements to/expansion of the Victoria Centre. I haven't yet eaten there, though; I like the sign.

Thursday 26th May: The "Periodic Table of Beer Styles" was something I encountered on this day.

Saturday 28th May: I recently learnt how enjoyable it can be to sit in the non-driver front seat of a bus. I usually sit on the first set of raised seats but on some buses I take this front seat, if possible. I think this was near Draycott but I'm not fully certain.