5th
May 2010 The Day We Went to Bangor
Now
it might have been due to my advancing years but having a habit of embarrassing
myself is something I have had to get used to. Sometimes guilty of foot in
mouth disease, on this occasion I had arrived at a causeway that lead over to
Church Island, just beneath the famous Menai Suspension Bridge. As I sat on the
wall enjoying the view over The Straits, and after having had a look around
both the graveyard and the small church that gives the island its name, a young
woman came up to me pushing a pushchair. “You've got beautiful eyes!” I blurted
out without thinking. Indeed the jade green eyes this young Irish-looking young
woman had were amazing. She just laughed and so started a conversation.
Moving
quickly on, I cycled over the bridge and got to Bangor. Now a big problem with
cycling during these first few months of the year was sweat. I have probably
said this earlier in the book but it was a big problem. Back in 1989 I had an
operation on my nose [Leave my nose alone please!] to remove polyps formed due
to asthma. Anyway, due to this I have not got much of a sense of smell. Ask the
ladies who had to sit in the staffroom of a Special School I taught at not so
long ago after I had eaten an out of date packet of prawns! So on reaching
Bangor and after having a lovely guided tour of the cathedral with the
administrator of same, I went for a late afternoon swim at the local swimming
pool. Well I must have looked a state for the ticket purveyor asked whether I
just wanted a shower instead of a swim. I wanted a swim! I love swimming! They
let me in for free.
The
evening after the swim was spent at The Spinnies, a reasonably nearby nature
reserve. I had cycled past where I had hoped to stay, Bangor Youth Hostel but
it had gone, knocked down which was a great shame as it was a beautiful
building and I had stayed there many years ago with my first fiancé, Joy. How
sad the Youth Hostel Association is losing so many places, sold or demolished.
Birds were few due to an extremely low tide at the reserve but the sleep in the hide there was comfortable.
Tickle My
Feathers
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