Blogs from Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

http://www.heygo.com 17th March - Nottingham Nottingham began in the 6th century as a small settlement called Snotta inga ham. The Anglo-Saxon word ham meant village. The word inga meant 'belonging to' and Snotta was a man. So its name meant the village owned by Snotta. Gradually its name changed to Snottingham then just Nottingham. In the late 9th century the Danes conquered North East and Eastern England. They turned Nottingham into a fortified settlement or burgh. The town had a ditch around it and an earth rampart with a wooden palisade on top. In the early 18th century Daniel Defoe described Nottingham as one of the most pleasant and beautiful towns in England. From the late 17th century salt glaze stoneware was made in Nottingham. In the 18th century the hosiery industry boomed. There was also ... read more

"Homeward Bound " - The feeling you get whether you are away a day, a week , a month or longer. It is always nice to get back to sit in your own comfortable chairs, to eat what you want when you want. Egg on toast - beans on toast . To be able to sleep in your own bed. As I write this Gabby is sitting on our drive . We have arrived home after our short South Walian break. Gabby is a filthy girl and Glenn spent the best part of a morning cleaning her roof which had not seen a brush nor water for months. I spent the time getting washing into the washing machine and making lists of things to be done. The second day Glenn cleaned the outside of our girl ... read more

As I rumbled up the tracks from London to Nottingham I was rocked into a delightful contented slumber. Snuggly in my seat, I was jostled awake by a woman and her unruly suitcase. Where were we? “Now arriving in Beeston”. Holy smokes that’s my stop and with that I hurriedly snagged my trusty silver traveling bag and disembarked the train. There waiting for me was Davey. Someone, I met in a hostel one random morning in Sydney eighteen years ago. Over the years we had hung out in North America, South America, and Asia. However, it had been ten years since I had last seen him. But the thing about true friendships is that no matter how long it has been you simply pick right back up as if no time had passed at all. After ... read more

26th November 2017 Today I went to Nottingham Castle. The original castle was destroyed by rioters in 1831 and the current palace was built in its place only a few hundred years ago. It is now a museum and art gallery, but the exhibits weren't very interesting. There is a good view of all of Nottingham though. 17th December 2017 Newstead Abbey is much nicer. The house is perfectly restored and decorated in full Christmas-ness and there are geese and peacocks running around everywhere. The rest of the month was filled with playing in the snow, convincing myself I was dying of the black plague, and Christmas shopping (mostly buying presents for myself, and only occassionallly for other people too). 1st January 2018 Today I went to the Attenborough Nature Reserve. Birds everywhere. There were geese ... read more

1st October 2017 I've been in Nottingham for a week now and people ask "what is it like?". My only answer I guess is same same but different. The big things in life are the same; work, home etc, but the little things make me realise that perhaps I'm not in Kansas anymore. Humans are all essentially the same, Australian or Brittish so work is essentially the same, except the little things like testing less for snake bites and more for haemoglobinopathies. Home is still the same because I still need to cook dinner and wash my clothes, but watching squirrels out my window instead of kookaburras is a little bit exciting. I'm excited that I will have heaps of quirky little memories like how the bus driver literally stopped the bus, got out, picked up ... read more