The problem, of course, is of my own making. I thought Weebly had unlimited storage, and so never bothered to resize any of my photographs before putting them up here. I'm sure I didn't invent the unlimited storage - I wonder whether they've changed their minds, or whether I just read the wrong information on another website? No matter - it is what it is. I have several options it seems: (a) stump up for extra storage, (b) host my photos externally and provide a link to them here (thanks to Karen for that suggestion!) or (c) go back and resize all my photographs.
For now, I've resized the pictures on the last few posts, and that seems to have bought us some time. I'm not sure how much time, as there doesn't seem to be any way of finding out how much storage you have left, until you come right up against the limit. Still, it's good enough for now, and maybe if I resize one post for every new post I write, I might stay ahead of myself.
Today we went to Matlock, which is a cheery little market town around 22 miles from here, and which we don't visit as often as we should. It's full of antique shops, and the park has a sweet little boating lake with ducks paddling round in circles with the boats, which seems to delight the children (and me) no end.
We walked along the valley to Matlock Bath, which is the closest we get to 'seaside' around here. It's not seaside, of course. It's a string of shops and houses nestled in the bottom of a steep wooded valley. It was famous as a spa town in the nineteenth century, and is now full of cafes, fish and chip shops and an amusement arcade. But it does have a distinct 'seaside' air, quite different to anywhere else in the peak district. Last time we were there, we counted 26 large fibreglass ice creams. There are shops selling postcards and novelty t shirts and fried doughnuts. And there are motorbikes, hundreds of motorbikes, and people in leather trousers even on this warm spring afternoon. I have no idea why Matlock Bath is so popular with motorcyclists, but it is. In fact, it seems there was even a mass protest there earlier this year against council plans to charge motorcyclists for parking.
We ate the world's largest scone, and for once I barely took any photographs.
In the meantime, we strip back the layers of this old house and occasionally uncover a gem. This, for example, is what we found when we removed the bathroom radiator.
Oh, it is so very cheerful to be back here again!