So here I am at last, online in my own flat! Yay!!

I have so many photos to share with you.
And so many more to take.
I admit I stopped for a while, given the frustration of not being able to share them.
And the weather here is defiantly rainy, which doesn't show many places at their best.
But now I can pick and choose, and I'll probably choose to take at least some in the rain.

For example the town is immensely proud that Le Tour is coming through it on 5 July, so I have to take a photo of some of the painted windows, banners, yellow bikes used as planters etc.

And the local independent shops in their courtyards and alleyways, the many many many pubs and chipshops, the glooming old churches etc. All of which can be done from under my waterproof jacket.

But I thought I'd best start with Otley Show.
Fast forward quite a way if you are not interested in Agricultural Shows, I admit I took lots of pics. It's the first show of the season and it usually pelts it down; although why people here are surprised by that I have no idea, given it's the default weather setting.

This year in my honour it was bright and sunny and I really enjoyed myself.
Went on a limited budget, and although I took enough for food and drink (because it was a day out and a treat) I promised myself I would not buy anything to bring home, and I didn't. I know other people might see that as the wrong way round, but when I was a child we always had warm squash and homemade sandwiches on days out, so buying a chap crappy burger and an ice cream still speaks to the child in me, rather than some tat which catches my eye at the time and them just has to be moved around the country later!

So I stayed there for hours and it was money well spent.
Bullocks!
No, really. Bovines first.

.

Why is that bitch forcing that poor bull to smell her armpit? :cool:

Rasta sheep and pygmy goats.

Horses of courses.
Including a Shire horse.

More Shires in their fancy dress.
(ETA just realised is two pics of same horse, but none of the other horses came out as well on camera)

I love the Rasta sheep! And that you're online!


Sent by thought transference

As I said, they're geared up for the Tour de France.

Cycling challenge.
And no, I didn't. But only so I didn't win the whisky of course.

Love the cute cows!

There were various commercial tents as well as stands selling food to eat there and then.
Traditional and expected, and perhaps not so traditional or expected...

Fell in love with the tiny hand made guinea pigs. And so cheap too.
NO.
Bad guinea pigs. No.

didn't get no preserves either.
Although I admit they had some interesting combinations, including hot beetroot, which I can attest is wonderful with corned beef having had it at Limey's.

Pies are a serious business hereabouts.

Lemonade not so much, but I liked the brightly coloured stall.
I took this on my initial tour, reasonably early on.
When I passed it approx 3 hours later it had sold out. So maybe Otley folk take their lemonade more seriously than I realised.

Welcome back Sundae, and thanks for the update.

Now you're reconnected all is right with the World and its Wide Web. :thumb:

N.

That's how I read it the first time.

:lol2:

What an interesting new world you've dropped yourself into, lots of new sights, sounds, and smells, to entertain you... and us. Fresh air and sunshine is good for health and mood, plus more opportunities to meet and make friends. Looks like you're on your way to a lot of good stuff. You go, girl.:cheerldr:

Carnivorous plants, what a great hobby/pet. :thumb:

Lemonade, 2.50 GBP is $4.19 USD. I suppose being at the fair(agricultural show) it would be at a premium like a fair/resort/show over here. But I get the impression your prices for food/drink are generally higher than ours.

glad to see you online. now what is a hot beetroot and why would you put preserves on corned beef?? the people on the stationary bikes - were they trying to jump off the car parked in the background??? also, why don't they have fruit in your pies?? I'm beginning to see why we filed for divorce in 1776.

Am I the only one to think the tags in the ears of the rasta sheep makes it look like it has googly eyes?

and that horse with the row of pub darts in its neck?

Seriously, it's great to have you posting pictures again.

Thanks for the feedback all!
If I forget to answer a question, please do ask again; it's not deliberate.

Bruce - our pints are bigger than yours, and yes that is at a premium price because it's at a show. I think our supermarket food is similar in price, depending on whether it's local or not, and taking into account taxes (yours - ours tax is a flat rate across the UK). But eating and drinking out/ takeaway is still cheaper in the US, although that's coming to meet in the middle. We serve smaller portions and give lower tips thanks to a higher minimum wage. Also (again) menu prices are shown inclusive of tax where applicable.

Sarge, it was a corned beef roll. I'd usually have that with Branstons Pickle, but I'm open to a bit of hot chutney action from time to time... We do have fruit pies, but the specialists tend to sell the meat ones, especially at shows. Fruit pies in general are family sized, as opposed to the little ones for one or two people.

I didn't see the googly eyes initially, but I saw the darts even when I was at the Show.

Bunnies! I went a little camera-happy with the rabbits, Ive never seen so many new flavours. I've just chosen a couple for you.

If you wanted a cat, why you get a babbit?

Back to people.
Country crafts and traditional ways of working fascinate me. No idea why I spent more time watching the blacksmith competitions than the man with the lathe/ treadle/ thingy...

Drystone wall building (this was of a more impressive height later, I think they were on a break) and a rather good folk band. I was waiting for them to sing All Around My Hat, but that was more because I was sat in the shade eating than because I really needed to hear it.

Sun's out, guns out.

Vehicles.
Ice cream van with improbably small queue. I queued 20 minutes for my cone later.

Coffee van.
After I took the photo I saw a sign which said something like "Feel free to take a photo, but if you're not buying from us we'd appreciate a small donation to be made to the VW Camper Van Association" or something like that. Blahblahblah. Had I seen it I wouldn't have taken a photo. But I didn't, so I did, and then skipped away guiltily.

Old Americans, especially those who have seen active service, are close to my heart, no idea why :lol:

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Great pics (and you say the sun never shines there!). I particularly like the bricks and blocks lorry. And the animals. I love a good show.


Sent by thought transference

Chicks with bricks come!
Chicks with blocks come!
Chicks with bricks and blocks and clocks come!

Creepy things I liked, as well as more normal decorative items from the same stall.

Talking of handicrafts, here are some from the show tents.
I took photos of the things that caught my eye, not always the winner.

Knitted goods for Limey.

Wooden stuff. I loved this bowl.

Not sure what this was judging.
Amusing Things to do with Fruit perhaps?
("Tell them one about the Mau Mau")

Gift wrapping.
I think mine look better when I have the money to do it to my satisfaction, but then I didn't agree with their prize giving, so I doubt I'll enter next year.

And flower arranging which I admire and wouldn't even know where to start in official terms. I can arrange to my own satisfaction (and Mum's admiration) but I work only to my personal taste. I enjoyed them anyway.

Oh, Heavens! The B & T S tipper is a Thames Trader and I remember them being a familiar sight during my childhood.

How quickly the years do pass.:thepain:

Lovely miniature gardens.

Did the fox say anything?

A couple more for one of my official sponsors, Limey.
Otley Brass Band.

I loved the little chap on the bongos, but it was hard to get a shot of him.

He said, "You're gonna hear me RO-ARRR! uh uh uh ohohoh"

Actually it was probably something about socks and blocks and clocks.

Ferrets.
Rescue ferrets. Which I found quite funny, until I stopped by to listen to the charity's stories of abandoned ferret rescue. And then I queued up to pay the 50p suggested donation to pet a ferret.

They were so gorgeous and the stories so harrowing (mischief!)

Chicks with... well, just chicks really.

"Stop Judging Me! Oh, that's the whole reason I'm here? Okay, sorry. I'm such a bird brain."

And no, this chicken hasn't been blow-dried, it's a silky.
A breed I've known two people to keep. They lay tiny and beautiful blue eggs.

Is it time for dogs?
It is.

Taken partly because there were so many of every kind at the Show - and nary a badly behaved or killer dog amongst them. And partly to please the dog-lovers. And partly of course to prove to Bruce that I don't believe the only good dog is a dead dog.

I don't really approve of fat collies though.

.

And of course my totes fave dog photo is because of a man...

I think we just have the birdies left to go!
This show of birds of prey was lively and informative. The handler told the story of each of the birds as he introduced them, many were rehabilitated by him after the people who kept them as trophies realised they could not cope with them.

Some other birds he had looked after had been sold on to zoos for breeding programmes and once in a while he was able to provide a bird for future release, if he had it young enough.

In general though, he kept and exercised the birds and took them to schools for educational purposes and exhibited them at shows. Almost all of them flew, there was one which wouldn't and one which couldn't.

He was very engaging, but was very strict about how people and their children (and dogs) should behave while any bird was loose. I saw his big show on the main ground, and it was very impressive. Then a smaller one, where I took the photos, which did not involve flying but allowed a closer look at the birds. He also showed off his impressive collection of scars, to further reiterate that these were not domesticated animals, merely ones who had decided to work with him for food and shelter. Like Diz. Except for the work part.

No pictures of the scars?


Sent by thought transference

Again, I didn't get good photos of all the birds, so I've just used the ones I thought looked best. There were about seven in total, including a sea eagle and I think a bald eagle.

I doubt the scars show in this photo.

You're right. He is very.


Sent by thought transference

So that's it, the end of the Show.
Don't fret, it's just the beginning of Otley...

Is it just me, or, does Bird Guy resemble Regular.Joe?

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Digging the pics, Sundae.

Welcome back to the internet!

Thanks, that show is much bigger than I expected. I agree the wood bowl is outstanding by any measure.

i have thoroughly enjoyed your pics. it was almost like being there

As mentioned before, the town is truly proud - and capitalising on - the fact that Le Tour is coming through on the 5th July. Le Grand Depart. In fact I came home to a letter just yesterday lunchtime telling me about road closures and parking restrictions. Apparently if I don't move my car from Boroughgate before 05.00 at the latest it will be towed away. Quel horreur!

Anyway, pretty much every business in town has formed a link to the Tour, window painting and bunting being the most popular. Here are some photos of Tour specific shop windows, and also some general shots of shops, courtyards, alleyways etc. It's a great place for small independents.

Oh don't be fooled by the weather. If you check the date stamps you'll see I was skipping about down in a very short space of time before it started raining again :eyebrow:

I can see both of these from my front room window:

A complex of retirement flats.
An art gallery which is one of the few eschewing the yellow jersey motif, going instead with the polka dots of the King of the Mountains.

These bikes are all over town.
They're a lovely sight.

Local butcher.

Jewellers showing the route.

Shop that sells soap pretending to be other things.
Nice presents, except I always worry people will take the gift at face value and then be really disappointed to find it is only soap. There is precedence for that - Mum was really excited by the little box of chocolates I sent her from Leicester, gutted to realise they were chocolate scented candles.

Heebies, where I still hope to work once I get used to already putting in 30-39 hours per week in my main job.

The market towards the end of the day as it was packing up.
it's small but well attended, I'll take a photo of it in full swing at some point.

The alleyways and courtyards are still a little bit of a magical mystery tour for me; I can't always remember which one leads where.

They're lovely though.

We're in real Walking and Cycling territory, the Gateway to the Dales.
So lots and lots and LOTS of cafes and tearooms.

Many have water for dogs outside, and pubs advertise that they are dog-friendly.

Two specialist alcohol shops.
I have been in to look. They sell quite extraordinary things. the beer shop sells a range by Voodoo Donut for example, as well as more seriously beery lines.

The proprietor in the wine shop told me of a time last Summer when a man just leaned into the open door, snagged the nearest bottle and took off down the street. The owner was so furious he chased him down, he said it was pure instinct. The man got away but dropped the bottle. It was actually a fairly generic bottle of sherry. When he got back to the shop he realised he'd left both his shop and till unattended. Luckily it wasn't a planned distration burglary, just a general scrote working on his own instinct - ie a criminal one.

He rearranged the shop after that.