Slackers in botanical garden

Today I visited Sheffield Botanical Garden together with some friends from the course to do some slack line walking. It was a long time since I last tried slack line so it was fun, and it is very different from tightwire since the slackline can go sideways under you in a way tightwire can not.

Here I am on the slack line!

The slackline stand out quite much in the park and some children also tried it out, and they all looked so happy to do it.

We also juggled and did some other circus things together, and practiced some pass juggling. The weather was very unpredicible; it rained, was sunny as in summer and then it suddendly started to hail big ice marbles from the sky.

The pavillion that was used as a greenhouse. It was free entry.

Before I met everyone we ha a walk around the botanical garden and the pavillion.

No doubt it is spring times.

Parkwood springs view and diabolo practice

This weekend I have been very lazy and mostly staying at home. I needed to rest after two weeks of circus course with the London trip between them, and it has been very nice just to relax for a while.

In the afternoon I decided to take a long walk around Burngreave. I managed to find a post office quite near my house, but since it was Sunday it was not open. I tried to ask in a convenience store if it was possible to buy stamps there but he seemed very unsure about international post and told me that I had to visit the post office.

Then I just walked around, and passed Abbyfield park which was full of kids playing football. I wondered why there was quite a big brick wall around the park so It was impossible to look in or out from the park.

I saw on the map that I was quite close to an area that was called Palmwood Springs so I walked in that direction to see what it was like. It turned out to be some kind of big nature park open for everyone. The entrance was very empty and was just a sign saying “public footpath” with a small map. But when I had walked a little bit in this area I realized how high up above Sheffield I was, and it was a nice view over the city. I really recommend to climb up in the Palmwood Springs area for a free nice viewpoint.

I was almost alone, except for one running woman and some downhill mountain bike guys. There was a prepared track for the bikes that was surprisingly long; it covered almost the whole area from top to bottom.

There were also two football fields and some forest where a dog and the owner played around. I decided to practice some two diabolo, but it was super windy so it was even more difficult to keep two going at the same time. I tried to spin one diabolo and then take my cell phone to take a picture when I spun, but it was impossible since the wind would make it change angle and direction and I cannot do the diabolo with one had yet, and especially not the left one.

Downhill mountain bike track

Then I decided to try to throw the diabolo as high as I could, an then I had to run around since it would be totally unpredictable in which direction the wind would push the diabolo in the air. It was dangerous once when i catches it the diabolo hit my hand. Either it spun very fast or had such a high speed, because my hand started to bleed when it got hit. Well, I continued anyway until it started to get dark, and then I walked back home to make chicken stew for dinner.

Edit: 

I wanted to add some top diabolo tips for windy days

• Don't do diabolo when it is too windy
• Try to drive the two diabolos with your right hand rather than the left. If you like me, drove with your left at first, the it will feel like you are doing it twice as fast when you are doing it with you right hand.
• Let diabolo land on the string and not other body parts, because it will hurt

Twilight pictures of city center

This is a continuation from the last post about my walk around the city center of Sheffield.

After visiting Devonshire Green and the university area I stumbled upon this area with many food restaurants and small shops, typical for areas near universities I think. It was a nice to walk around and look inside the stores and feel the smell from the restaurants.

Then intensity of the rain increased and the sun started to set, so I started to walk back home. Then sun sets about 17-18 I think, which is a lot more than in Luleå at this time of the year.

I passed this house with Banksy style graffiti art that I liked. 

The city hall had some nicely lite fountains outside.

Here is the red building again.

I also passed the Peace Gardens on the other side of the Town Hall, which also had a nice light design. I liked how the fountain where at different levels throughout the "garden", and here you can see stairs for both humans and water. 

Even my cell phone was soaked in water due to the rain so those pictures have a lot of water on the lens.

The fountain in the middle changed height. 

Then I walked back home and went to Tesco to stock up food for the upcoming week. Luckily it finally stopped raining.