Colliers Wood

This is one of Otis's local walks, it's a park that has been built on the former Moorgreen colliery.

After a walk around the park we went for lunch at "The Dovecote" a dog friendly gastro pub, for a tasty spaghetti bolognese and apple crumble.

I left my two in the car as I didn't want to overwhelm the pub with dog perfume. Otis would have demolished the car - he is a bit of a terror at the moment, going through his teenager phase. He had chewed through his lead within moments of us sitting down.

City Walk

I took the dogs on a 3 hour, circular walk through the St Anns, Mapperley and Sherwood areas of the City this morning. I was hoping to be able to walk through the St Anns allotments (one of the oldest/biggest allotments in the country). Unfortunately all the gates were locked apart from the community orchard, so I had a quick look around there. I will probably come back in the summer to have a look around the allotments on one of their regular open days.


I came back through Woodthorpe Grange Park and had a quick look in the Tropical House, but there was nothing in there to get the pulse racing, just the usual palms and koi pond.

King of the Anthill

I have managed to win the last three poker games at my local pub, which means that I am top of the pub's league and, with two games to play, guaranteed a seat at the East Midlands regional finals. The winners of that receive cash prizes and seats at the National Finals (2 week trip to Vegas for the winner of the national final).

Wollaton Park

It was nice weather for a walk today and so I took the dogs on a four hour walk to Wollaton Park.

On the way there I passed through Nottingham Universities Business School Campus. This has all been built within the last 10 years, on the site of the Raleigh Bicycle factory.

I'm not too sure about this building, the "volcano", designed by the guy who did the "Gherkin". It looks, to me, more like a slice of edam cheese:-

Wollaton Hall:-

Sharphill Woods

I've decided to explore some of the local woodlands seeing as they are on my doorstep. These woods are easy to miss as they are surrounded by fields which are, in turn, surrounded by housing developments on three sides and the A52.

The woods themselves aren't particularly spectacular - fairly small and just a thin sliver, but, combined with the surrounding fields and bridlepaths, they make a pleasant, local, dog walk.


Mmmmm the smell of dog wee (the woods are in the background):-

Bruno tree climbing:-

There were lots of friendly suburban dogs out for their Sunday walk:-

The view of the City to the North:-
The "Friends of Sharphill Woods" were out in force planting a hedgerow. Unfortunately, the farmer has sold the fields surrounding the woods to a developer who has permission to build 1,200 homes on the site. Soon this will be a great big building site - I will have to come back and enjoy this walk whilst I can.

Book of the Year

The Purple book award 2011 goes to "The Law of Dreams" by Peter Behrens. It's set in Ireland during the potato famine. A great book with an apocalyptic feel to it. I am looking forward to the release in March of his latest book, "The O'Briens" which follows the same family a generation later.

Books I've read 2011

• 41. The Fear by Charlie Higson
• 40. The Last Dog on Earth by Daniel Ehrenraft
• 39. This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch
• 38. Burn Down the Sky by James Jaros
• 37. The Dead by Charlie Higson
• 36. The Mad God's Amulet by Michael Moorcock
• 35. The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
• 34. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• 33. The Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock
• 32. Time of the Great Freeze by Robert Silverberg
• 31. The Autobiography of a Super-tramp by W H Davies
• 30. Plague by Jean Ure
• 29. The March by E L Doctorow
• 28. Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt
• 27. Day by Day Armageddon by J L Bourne
• 26. Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
• 25. The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens
• 24. Dog Blood by David Moody
• 23. Consider Her Ways and Others by John Wyndham
• 22. Tsunami by Crawford Kilian
• 21. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
• 20. The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
• 19. Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham
• 18. Burma Boy by Biyi Bandele
• 17. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
• 16. The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
• 15. Player One by Douglas Coupland
• 14. Depraved by Bryan Smith
• 13. Bone Dance by Emma Bull
• 12. The Dark Millenium by A J Merak
• 11.The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene
• 10. Leap into Darkness by Leo Bretholz & Michael Olesker
• 9. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
• 8. Whoops! by John Lanchester
• 7. Paris Underground by Etta Shiber
• 6. Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick
• 5. Room by Emma Donoghue
• 4. The Dark Tower, Volume 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
• 3. Treblinka: A Survivors Memory by Chil Rajchman
• 2. The Hungry Years by William Leith
• 1. Rage by Stephen King