Stoke-on-Trent is set within some very beautiful countryside and it doesn’t take long to get out of the city, which is a real blessing. Just north of where we live is the Peak District, a national park with beautiful hills and lakes. This is where the area of the Roaches is, and is probably my favourite place to go to in England. They are rugged looking, with rocky outcrops, impressive cliffs and pretty fields, full with heather. It looks down upon Rudyard Lake and Stoke-on-Trent lies discretely in the distance, far enough away to not cause a blot on the landscape. We enjoyed climbing the rocks up to the highest point and watching the sun set behind the hills, bathing the cliffs in a beautiful orange glow. That time was very special and it was a shame to say goodbye to the family the following day. We will miss them

On Saturday I went with Peter and my friend Jim on a unicycle ride in a nearby park. This was the first time for a long while that we have gone on a ride together, so it was very cool. We enjoy riding in the woods on bumpy paths and whenever we see a dangerous hill, we ride down it and see if we can reach the bottom without falling off. By the end of the ride I was caked in mud and my coat was ripped, but it was worth it! Here’s Peter riding down the hill (turn your speakers on).

Monday morning was quite interesting as I was asked to look after Laura (5), Emma (2) and Esther (baby/wa), for a few hours, while their parents were away. I have never had any experience with babysitting, so I was a bit anxious, especially as they are so young. The kids are great fun though, and everyone was still ok when their mother returned which, believe me, was a big relief! At one point the baby started crying upstairs, so I left Laura and Emma to play with their toys as I checked up on Esther. My mother had given me tips on what to do if the baby cried and I tried everything. Nothing worked. Just then I heard Emma crying downstairs, so I left Esther for a bit and went to see what the problem was. Laura had got the comb that she wanted. I looked across at Laura and she was trying to comb her hair. Suddenly she picked up a pair of scissors and attempted to chop a big chunk out of her hair! I stopped her just before she did it and when I asked her why she tried, she said “my hair is tangled”. I can only imagine what her mother would have said if Laura had succeeded!

In the evening, Ally, Peter and I all drove off to the roaches again, and enjoyed the sunset ….AGAIN! That must be the third time that we had been there in the space of a week, but I never get bored of the place. I took a panorama from one of the hills, but as I was browsing through the pictures later, I deleted the last picture by mistake. Ally was not very happy, and he reminded me of the fact that I am always doing silly things like that. I deleted the final picture of the Lei Feng pagoda panorama whilst in Hangzhou, and worst of all, the video of Gillian and I doing silly dances in the aisle of the plane on the way back from Chengdu! D’oh! Ally still hasn’t forgiven me for that one….

Yesterday, we took the day out and we drove up to Leeds (north east of Manchester) to watch England pay Pakistan on the final day of a cricket test match. There were so many people there and it reminded me a bit of China! We spent most of our time queuing in the car, in lines of people or waiting for public transport. However, the game was excellent and England thrashed Pakistan getting all their players out for only 155 runs (points). That was…good! J Take a look at the SWEET panorama that Peter took (note the ‘twins’ on the right side of the picture carrying beers up the steps J):

I’m sure that that has inspired you to go out play a game of cricket. It has for me! See you later!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 11th, 2006 at 9:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. It was posted by Mark, who has posted 4 time(s). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.