End of Era

One of the last chocolate bars to have traditional foil and paper wrapping has sadly succumbed to the modern world. After the fall of the Kit-Kat, Aero Mint was holding the fort all alone, that was until I saw (and bought!) the abomination in Tesco earlier.

Mint Aeros are one of the best chocolate bars out there, for one simple reason – the bubbly bit in the middle is green. For that reason alone it is in my top three chocolate bar list!

Also of note regarding Aero bars, the logo that appears on the chocolate itself Is the old original logo, which has remained through countless changes to the wrappers.

(This now ends my chocolate history lesson! )

Countdown!

I’m now just counting down the days until I go to Malta. It can’t come soon enough! The lack of any decent summer is one reason to look forward to the break, it’ll rain a bit over there, but the majority of the time the sun will be beating down.

Another thing to look forward to is the flight. I’ve not got any of the jitters I had when I went to France, first time flyer and all that, this time I just want to get on the plane. I got the tickets a week ago and it’s made it all the more real. I’ve picking up travel stuff here and there (I got sun lotion yesterday!) and pretty soon I’ll be buying the €uros in!

Aside from the holiday, one thing of note happened to me a week or so ago. My bedroom door fell on my hand. It was every bit as painful as it sounds! The door had become loose, so I unscrewed it and propped it up, which worked okay for a while. Stupidly, one day I didn’t prop it up right and the door smashed down on my hand. I couldn’t move it for a minute, and even now it feels all odd when I touch the area it hit. Apparently it caused nerve damage, inflaming it and making it feel all tingly. I hope it isn’t permanent.

Iain & Aleks came back on Sunday from Bulgaria. They’re moving to Colindale in North London tommorow. This of course means plenty of trips to the capital, and with Colindale being close to Wembley, maybe even a trip there?

The Park Tunnel

The history of Nottingham has always fascinated me. Growing up in Notts, I’ve always found pictures of how the city used to look like of great interest. Even comparing pictures from the eighties and today, the old Victoria Centre food court and bus station for example, has always been interesting for me. I guess it’s because the city has changed a lot over the years.

One way or another, I found this website of a guy called Ray Teece who has taken many pictures of the city in the last two years. An interesting way to document how our city looks now, but of more interest are the pictures he took of one of Nottingham’s hidden gems. The Park Tunnel.

The Park area of Nottingham is unique, it’s a residential area right smack bang in the centre of Nottingham that seems stuck in the 1800’s. Buildings remain from that time, the streetlights are gas lit and access to vehicles is prohibited at night and on certain days.

Built largely by the Duke of Newcastle, this guy also had the idea of building a tunnel from the estate which would lead up to Derby Road. Built for horse-drawn traffic, apparently the gradient of the tunnel proved too steep for actual use so never became the thoroughfare as intended.

The entrance on Tunnel Road in the Park is obvious for all to see, upon first finding it when walking in the Park a few years ago it was certainly intriguing for me. In between the houses that have been built around the tunnel as the years have gone by, the entrance was still there. Unfortunately, me being me, I was put off walking through a tunnel which I was unsure of where it came out. Plus it was quite dark!

I’d always wanted to know where exactly it did come out. Apparently it was somewhere on Derby Road, but I could never find where. I get the number 18 bus up Derby Road almost every day, and have done for years, and I could never seek it out. There is the Cathedral, a charity shop, a school and Budgens. No visible entrance!

Well, thanks to Ray’s website, I’ve managed to locate it. He has took a few pictures of the Park end of the tunnel, and one of the Derby Road entrance. Apparently it’s in the courtyard of a new development built on the site of the tunnel. Right next to Budgens is the entrance to a car park, through which you can enter a staircase which leads to the tunnel.

The picture below clearly shows the wall to the left was the start of the entrance, but the new development built over the entrance has meant that now just an unsigned staircase leads to this tunnel and a genuine historical Nottingham curiosity.

It’s a real shame that there are no pictures of how this part of Derby Road looked before it was built on, and indeed that I never saw how it used to look. But it’s nice to know that the tunnel can still be used. Though I’m still put off by all the scary darkness!!

(All pictures above are copyright to Mr Ray Teece and are from his Nottingham21 website)

Another Sunny Afternoon…

Just found this on the net, Oasis were performing in Toronto last night and something happened to Noel Gallagher. (It’s about 1.30 in!)

Best bit is Liam’s reaction!

Merry Christmas!

Well, no sooner has the new school term started, three days into September, I’ve managed to spot the first piece of Christmas crap for sale.

Working my way through Primark I could see numerous Santa’s propped up near the escalators. Primark weren’t advertising them, but barely into September and shops deem it acceptable to sell Christmas goods!!

The changing of the month – and season, apparently – has also annoyed me as I walk through Nottingham. I thought I might go and buy some items I’ll need when I go to Malta. Things such as a sunhat, sandals and maybe even some new sunglasses. It soon became evident that most shops are now stocking autumn/winter stuff, I’ve left it too late! Superdrug are still selling suncream though, so all is not lost.

I’m currently sitting in the Espresso bar of John Lewis, drinking an Americano and generally being fancy. Watching all the envious eyes look at me as I tap away on my iPhone.