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It's been a fun week! Tuesday we drove up into the Lake District, making a few stops along the way. The weather was sometimes sunny and sometimes cloudy so we did get some bright skies. Once again the Cumberland Pencil Museum has eluded me. we got to Keswick too late for the last entry but we did stop en route to see an ancient Stone Circle at Castlerigg. This was no Stonehenge but far more real and natural. The remnants of the stones were about 30 feet from a narrow little country road through a gate. There were sheep and lambs wandering through and the lambs were skipping about and climbing over the smaller stones. There were a few people around but not crowds and a farmer came by with his dog and herded the sheep back out of the area. I missed that as it all happened in the space of about 5 minutes while i was facing the other way taking pictures but Graham watched the dog do his job. We drove into Keswick after and had a nice meal in a cozy pub and then went into store that's been selling chocolates and candy since 1927! Yum!

On Wednesday we saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Palace Theatre and that was good fun! Bright and colourful and zippy songs! The car really few! *well with hydraulics and wires, i suppose but you couldn't see it* We met up with three good friends after for a Chinese buffet and no, we didn't feel like seeing the show again 30 minutes later lol!

Thursday was our road trip an hour or so south of here to Trentham Gardens and the Monkey forest where they have Barbary Macaques roaming around free. They are an endangered species and this is a sanctuary. They don't have enclosures orcages, they are fed but otherwise left to their own devices in the compound. The staff only intervene if an animal is badly hurt or ill because they won't let them suffer. The animals are used to the people walking around on the paths but they won't approach people either. They are the canniest things, the largest ones we saw are only about as big as a labrador retriever maybe, in height. Their little faces are so intense and human looking. We saw them feeding and the guide did a talk about them. One thing i found interesting is the females give birth up in the trees. There's also a heirarchy among both the females and the males in the group.

When we got back last evening Graham dropped me off at a pub in Manchester where a group of Corrie friends were meeting and greeting as a starter for this weekend which is a "Coroping" weekend. Today we're having a coach tour of filming locations and tomorrow night there's a dinner/party. Looking forward to seeing more of my old friends who are arriving for the weekend today as well as seeing a few last night that i haven't seen for a few years!

(no subject)

Right. First off, you remember i did one of gramie_dee's radio shows... it's online now here. Not your usual Autopsy Report, because I got to pick the playlist!

Today was spent getting on and off a bus touring around the Greater Manchester area seeing location sites from Coronation Street including canals, a church, a lovely hall with a registry office used for weddings in real life and on the show, a park and driving by quite a few other areas. The guide, Mark, had loads of trivia, gossip, history and info and was very entertaining. A few of us had some drinks after the tour but Graham and i came back here after rather than making a night of it. Just watched Corrie and Ashes to Ashes (I'm still confused! one more week and the answers had better be there!)

Tomorrow our group is cobbling on the cobbles and having a coroping party in the evening.