Evening stroll

A summer's evening stroll down to Roberts Park invariably produces some interesting sights. 'Saltaire Shakespeare' are once again offering free performances of a Shakespeare play on some weekend afternoons and evenings. This year they are showing 'A Comedy of Errors', which isn't a play I'm familiar with. They seemed to have much better sound this year than in the past but sadly I'm so deaf that I'm still unable to make sense of it. The plays are always performed in modern dress and with a minimum of props, using the natural amphitheatre around the bandstand. They seem to be attracting some reasonably sized audiences, and everyone looked as though they were enjoying it... 

... with the possible exception of one rather restless doggo. 

On a warm wall on the road down to the park, I spotted Chappie, the very antithesis of a restless doggo, being a very chilled-out kitteh. He was apparently exploring the meaning of 'different strokes from different folks', with lots of people stopping to give him a quick scritch behind his ear.  He's something of a star in the village, often seen out and about. He has even been known to hop on a train in the station and thus disappear for a few weeks! His owners kitted him out with a GPS tracker but he seems to keep losing them. I personally think he must be a reincarnation of Sir Titus Salt himself, given that he strolls around as if he owns the place, and everyone knows him! 

Finally, that old familiar view of the New Mill across the weir. What isn't familiar is the ultra low level of the river. It's so low that almost half of the weir is now dry, the water held back by a low sill. You can't see from the photo but the resident heron was sitting hunched up on the dry slabs, looking rather forlorn. I've never seen the river so dry in all the years I've lived here. It is apparently revealing all sorts of 'long lost treasure' like submerged cars! Stretches of the canal are also closed to boaters because of the lack of water. At this rate we will almost certainly have water rationing soon - hosepipe bans and they'll maybe even resort to standpipes in the streets if the drought continues. I can only ever recall that happening once before in my lifetime, in this area.