Local day

English meteorologist are just as useless as American ones. I was told by numerous websites that today was supposed to have RAIN. Some sites said heavy showers, others said just rain, and my ever helpful wunderground hasn't predicted one day right since I arrived. I figured since it was going to be lousy, I would have a lie in, go to Argos and then maybe off to a museum. Well, I woke up and it was drizzling a little but nothing I couldn't handle. By the time I got up and around, the sun had some out and it was nice. I needed to run to Argos since my watch decided to break and I found a nice inexpensive one there.

I came back here to re-think my day's plans since the weather was turning out to be nice and my left foot was putting up a fight with the little walking it took to get to Argos and back. As I was walking back from the tube, I decided to take a quick detour down the side of the canal. I thought there was a footbridge across it and I figured it would cut off a little of my journey home. Well it turned out to be this little park with grassy spots, a smaller pond and people were walking and riding bikes down there. I thought that it would be a nice little place to have a picnic and relax for the day. I came back to the flat, made my lunch (ham and cheddar baguette, salt and vinegar crisps, Ribena, and some fruit), grabbed my camera, book, iPod, sarong for a picnic blanket and I was off.

When I came back to the park, there was a longboat just coming through Mile End Lock which was really cool. I'd watched a special on the canal boats and canal system on the travel channel so it was neat to see one in person. I found a nice little spot to have my lunch by the smaller pond and saw this adorable little family of what I call "Tipp-Ex ducks". They are all black but their beaks look like they were trying to fish something out of the bottom of a bottle of white-out. Since I've never seen one of these ducks at home and they call white-out Tipp-Ex here, I thought the name was appropriate. There were 2 parents and I believe 4 ducklings. They were swimming around, diving for food, and the babies were squeaking out little baby quacks. They were too cute.

As soon as I sat down to eat, the London tradition of drizzling/raining for at least 5 minutes a day (at least while I"m here) promptly began. I had brought my brolly, but the rain didn't amount to enough for me to take it out. I had a lovely lunch out there and read some of my book. Some of the time it was sunny and at other times a few sprinkles dotted the pages of my book.

A bee caught my eye as I was reading. I have heard that the bees are supposedly disappearing. Whether it's because of pesticides, mobile phones, pollution or they're just going home to Melissa Majoria (Doctor Who S4e13 reference), I figured I should get a few picture of the little guy while I had the chance. So if you look at my pictures and wonder why I took so many of clover, play a game of I spy with yourself and see if you can find the bee :) There's also an I spy picture there to see if you can spot the bird. Good luck!

As I walked back, I saw another couple taking their longboat through the canal lock. Their dog Lizzie came over to me for a little pat and I struck up a conversation with the husband of the couple. They had spent a month on their boat coming down from the north on their boat. They were going to go all the way down to the Thames and then back up, all on their boat with Lizzie! I was quite impressed.

It was a lovely, restful day that my feet desperately needed and appreciated! :) Today's pictures are here.