Prancer Posing

I read on social media last week that there would be the opportunity of meeting some real reindeer this week at the Ice Arena.

So I popped down in my lunch hour to take a look and to take some photos.

There were three in total, but sadly they didn't come from Lapland, but Peterborough. The Woodbine Rare Breeds Farm actually, and were being looked after by a non-elfish elf.

They seemed quite happy to walk around the penned area in Bolero Square, eating, or scratching at the straw. One had even fallen asleep.

There was an entrance fee of a small donation to raise money for a local charity called Framework that looks after the homeless. So it was all in a good cause.

A Star Turn

Country's biggest superstar was in town tonight at the Ice Arena. Dolly Parton, fresh from her stint at Glastonbury over the weekend, popped into the city to entertain a sell out concert.

Not really being a Dolly Parton fan, and certainly not willing to pay £60 for a ticket, I passed up the opportunity of seeing Miss 9 to 5.

Instead I happily listened to Nottingham's latest rising star Joy Mumford. Who entertained me and Dolly's loyal fans while they waited to be let in.

Joy sang and played guitar for around 40 minutes, with a mixture of original songs and covers, in a calm laid back style, similar in a way to Joan Armatrading.  The growing audience appeared to be enjoying her style of music while they sipped on their Pimms that was being sold from a stall close by.

Joy recently won a competition where the prize is playing at Splendour, the all day gig at Wollaton Park, whose headlining band are the reformed Boomtown Rats.

Some Ice, Some Stars And A Flame

The Olympic Torch reached Nottingham today, after travelling from Athens 41 days ago.

It had come from Lincoln, and after staying the night tonight, the convoy will be heading to Derby, before reaching London next month.

It arrived in the county during the late afternoon and made it's way to the Ice Arena, where famous local skaters Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean did a turn on the ice with it. They made history in 1984, when they got straight sixes for their interpretation of Ravel's Bolero.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of tickets for the show from a friend. Gail unfortunately couldn't make it, as she had a prior engagement, and it was also difficult to get into town, as the local authority had closed many roads across the city centre.

It didn't go to waste though, as I bumped into a pal, and fellow photographer of mine. So I invited him along. The arena was packed as you can imagine. But we managed to get some decent seats to take some shots. We both had good telephoto lenses on our Nikons, which also helped.

After the show was over, we went outside and followed the torch to the Old Market Square. It was also rammed full of people, and so we missed some of the action. But we did see them put out the flame. We also met up with another Flickrmate and wandered off to the castle, to see what was happening there.

A couple of bands were playing. and low and behold, another two photo buddies appeared. It was almost like a Nottingham Flickr group convention!

Here's one of the many shots that I took of Chris and Jayne skating with the torch.