Feeding the ducks

[sawyl]

Another arctic start to the day. I decided to skip running, while pater's Sunday CTC was cancelled because of concerns about the ice.

I spent the morning indulging in a spot of retail therapy at Go Outdoors before returning home in time to go for a walk in the park with mater before lunch. Not long afterwards, my sister arrived and invited us to go with her and her youngest two to the university to feed the ducks. This was an unexpected success: the ducks, geese, swans, and moorhens were obvious starving in the cold weather and we were soon surrounded by a flock of hungry waterfowl.

By the small pond that sits between Claycroft and the Tocil halls of residence. Initially we didn't think that there were many ducks there, but as soon as we started dishing out bread, a small family came rushing over to meet us.

We moved round to the main pond behind Arthur Vick and Jack Martin, only to find ourselves mobbed! My sister was very put out by the presence of the swan and wasn't sure we'd be able to get away without it following us...

After enduring the freezing conditions for half an hour or so, we returned home to meet up with my brother-in-law and oldest nephew, who'd stopped off at my parents on their way back from a shopping expedition in Coventry. After a brief pause for tea and a much longer one when my sister realised that she'd somehow managed to loose her car keys, they left for home and we settled in for the rest of the evening.