Guernsey and new Granddaughter

Back to Guernsey last week to see our new granddaughter Eliza Gillian Mary for the first time, born 3 weeks early and now 7 weeks old.

On the Thursday we watched the 2014 Guernsey Air Display from the Candie Gardens which allow a good view across St Peter Port Harbour.

There were quite a few people there, here watching the Red Arrows perform one of their manoeuvres

The star attraction was the appearance of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which was joined on this occasion by the only other airworthy Lancaster bomber which had come over to Britain from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum for a two month tour.

Here's the two Lancasters leading the Hurricane and Spitfire past St Peter Port Harbour

And the two Lancasters performing another pass

The event was closed by the Red Arrows who gave their usual polished display

On the Friday Edward had his weekly swimming lesson at the Beau Sejour Leisure Centre, before which he had to try out the attractions on the outdoor play park.

Friday was a bit breezy but we went to Port Soif which has a sheltered U-shaped beach where Eliza settled down for a nap................

..............whilst Edward had a paddle with grandma.........

........then a swim with mummy and daddy........

........ then a walk along the beach scuffing up the sand with his feet.

On the Saturday we went to the Proms on the Pier in St Peter Port with entertainment from the Guernsey Welsh Male Voice Choir, Bel Canto, and the Guernsey Jazz Orchestra followed by the BBC Last Night of the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall on a big screen, then a firework display and music from The Barlows for anyone who wanted to stay a bit later.

This is Bel Canto, very impressive even though their best singer was unable to take part

A Car on the ASDA Car Park

Now that it's so easy to look up facts on the internet it's surprising where you can be led when you spot things that look a bit out of place and investigate them on your computer. I spotted a car in the car park at the local ASDA store the other day and whereas at one time I'd have just thought 'That's odd', on this occasion I decided to have a dig round to see what I could find out. What I saw was this Nissan Micra with an unusual looking number plate:

Here's an enlarged view of the number plate:

It doesn't appear to be a UK registration plate and the 'Belleville Bulls Ice Hockey Canada' seems to imply that it might be a Canadian plate. A look at the rear number plate, however, tells you otherwise:

This plate tells you that the car was registered in Northern Ireland, and 'CZ' is the county code for Belfast.

So far so good, but I decided to see what I could find out about the Belleville Bulls and found that they're a junior ice hockey team based in Belleville, Ontario and this site tells you all about them. 'Where's Belleville, Ontario?' I then asked myself and this Wikipedia article shows you that it's on the northern shore of Lake Ontario and gives you a great deal of information about the city, one of the 'notable residents' being Avril Lavigne.

There's also a sticker in the rear window of the car:

Manchester Phoenix are, not surprisingly, a Manchester ice hockey team based in Altrincham and formed in 2003 after the demise of Manchester Storm. I remember in the 1960s making occasional visits to watch the Altrincham Aces ice hockey team play at the old Altrincham ice rink in Devonshire Road.

Thanks to the owner of the car for allowing me an interesting couple of hours researching all this, and if you're from Belleville, Ontario you might be pleased to know that you've got a fan in this distant part of the world.