Coils and wheels.

I thought I would share a couple of things we have seen recently. The pictures are ones that I have found on the internet as we weren't quick enough with the camera to get our own shots!! Or maybe we were too fascinated with what we had found to bother.
We found four of these yesterday on a beautiful, sunny, autumn walk along the canal. They were basking in the sun but obviously it was still quite cool and they were slower than usual, hence we got to see four grass snakes!!! One of them just slithered under the nearest hawthorn root, and we could get a really good look at his face close up, while he was coiled up in safety. He was beautiful, and it was really exciting to be able to look at hime for so long. His little tongue flickering in and out, tasting the air. Fabulous!

And this is what we found on a walk on David's birthday back in August. I managed to pick this one up, to the delight/disbelief of everyone!!! It kept coiling itself really tightly around my hand, so that even though I knew that it was a harmless little Slow worm and that it is really a legless lizard, I still got a little squeamish and had to put it down before getting a better grip!

And one day a couple of weeks ago, we were driving along and saw a Penny Farthing going along the road!!! We drove along behind it for a while so that the boys could see, and it was so thrilling to watch this chap cycling along on this ancient machine. Or was it? It looked more like a newly built copy to me, but why would anyone do that?!! Jonathan quickly pointed out to David (and me!!!) that it was called that because one wheel was like a penny and the other, a farthing. This was quite meaningful to David and probably Will too, because there has been much talk and handling of old coins in our house recently. And if the boys had been in school? No doubt they would have 'been looking' at Victorian times at some point, with pictures of various things from the era, but they wouldn't have seen this. You can't beat seeing a real Penny Farthing actually cycling along a very quiet country lane, to understand what it must have been like to ride one! He was so high up! And the wheels so thin!! Jonathan would've loved to have had a go, I think. He likes a challenge!
Oh and a link to another fabulous you tube video...The Badman song.