If you're a regular reader, you'll know how much I bloomin' love this place. It's basically just a park, with a few benches, a river, some ducks (and mardy swans)... And that's pretty much it, but I love it. In my opinion, it's the jewel in Belper's crown. This is a very picture-heavy post, you've been warned!

On Thursday, I nipped into Derby to go to the bank. Only, when I walked out of the Bus Station there was a man lying on the ground. There were about three people who'd just rushed to him, but I didn't know what to do: Whether to just walk by because these good Samaritans had got it, or to stay and help because the situation needed all hands on deck. I stayed. I didn't really help much, but I was there, regardless.

The poor man had just collapsed on the ground, he was drifting in and out of consciousness, and he really wasn't a well man. I've never encountered a situation like this before, so I honestly didn't know what to do. About five of us stayed with him throughout, and a few others drifted by for a few minutes at a time, even though none of us really knew him. It was the least we could do, because it was better than just walking by and letting him fend for himself.

One girl phoned for an ambulance. I gave him my coat as a pillow to stop his head lying on the cold pavement. We stayed with him, and tried to keep him semi-awake and talking. The ambulance took around ten minutes to arrive; but when it did, there was only one paramedic all by himself.

Because the man had fallen awkwardly and was already disabled, it was judged better to be safe than sorry. The paramedic needed to immobilse him, and therefore needed another crew to help put a neck brace on him, put him on a board, onto the trolley, and into the ambulance. He radioed the control room a couple of times, but there were no other crews available: So we had to help. We had to help hold him still, help roll and scoop him up onto the board and then put him on the trolley. Once the paramedic had got him into the ambulance, he thanked us for our help and shut the doors. That was it. A totally surreal situation: over. All in all, we were with the man, who I won't name, for about 25 to 30 minutes. I don't know how he is, and I really hope that he's okay now, but at least I'm safe in the knowledge he wasn't alone after he collapsed.

After that, I went to the bank. Normality had resumed, and it was just weird. I felt weird.

I was walking round Derby for ages in a total daze, clutching the coat that'd just served as a makeshift pillow for a poorly stranger. Derby was beautiful that afternoon, with bright blue skies that stretched for miles, blissful sunshine and unexpected autumnal warmth, but I couldn't help but focus on worrying about that poor man. I took the photos for this blog post on my phone in a (frankly) vain bid to distract myself from overthinking the situation that had just unfolded before me. Again, I really hope he's well now.

As I mentioned the other day, I've become a little obsessed with Etsy of late. This is a selection of purchases from Katie Abey Design. (Who is actually a Derbyshire girl too!)

I bought three things: A father's day card with cute penguins on it, a keyring and a pocket mirror. I had to buy that mirror, with the local Derbyshire 'slogan' "Eh/Ay up me duck!" on it. It's not very often that you stumble across anything with such a local slogan on it!

I love the keyring too, which is a slogan I need to live by a little! I thought if I had 'Don't worry, be happy' permanently attached to my keys, I might remember to stop worrying quite so much.

The delivery was really fast, the products were really quite cheap (my order cost between £7 and £8), and they're just really lovely little products to have! I think the next on my list from her shop is the Mug of Motivation. (Because, let's face it, I need all the encouragement to motivate myself I can get!)

You can find Katie Abey Design's Etsy shop here.

Bean Caffe in Derby have branched out and opened a second cafe at Riverside Chambers in the city centre. I've only been to the original Bean Caffe at Friar Gate Studios once, but I enjoyed it so much, I thought I'd give the new one a try!

My friends and I had a coffee each, but we didn't have any food. The prices are really reasonable, it was only £2.50 for a large cappuccino. And the coffee was lovely - Just what we all needed to stop us from walking around like zombies.

The decor is really fancy. And very horny too. I did actually walk into some antlers at one point... (Aren't the cushions lovely though?)

We all really enjoyed it there, and I'm definitely tempted to go back soon to try some food! I've just found out from their website that they double up Hide Burger Bar at night, so I might well have to nip down and sample a burger!

Excuse the picture-heavy post, but I felt like showing off a few photos that I took last night at Carsington Water.

Do you remember when I visited a few weeks ago and made that video? Well, I thought I'd nip back and take a few photos in what's dubbed the 'golden hour'. The hour after sunrise and before sunset where the sun is lower in the sky, creating fantastic conditions for artsy photography.

Whilst there, I discovered that I'm a dab hand at scaring geese away. Who knew? They kept on quietly honking at me as they walked away en masse. In the end, I looked like some weird camera-wielding goose herder. I also very nearly stepped in goose poo on several occasions, which is pretty gross. Although, unlike last time, I didn't get any swans trying to pick a fight with me, thankfully. 

I love the fact that Carsington is only about 20 minutes away in the car and that it's just so stunning. I don't think I'll ever tire of wandering around there with my camera. (Even though the geese might have already tired of me.)

Earlier this week I met up with Laura-May and Carole, a couple of friends who I went to Uni with. They came to visit me in my hometown and we went for lunch at Fresh Ground, one of my favourite local cafes.

If you're not local to Derbyshire (and let's face it, you're probably not) Belper has been gaining quite a reputation for an array of posh cafes. (Instead of back in the day, when it was aptly named Brown Town - Not because I live there... But because of an abundance of heroin addicts...)

Pictured is a tuna panini with a side of salad and crinkly crisps; and a cappuccino to drink because caffeine is my only addiction. (Not heroin.)

Not only is it fantastic value, it cost me £8.55 for my food and two drinks, but the ladies who work there are lovely too. I also had to leave a fair bit of my meal because the portions are so generous! 

If you read yesterday's post, you'll already know that I had a lot of trouble wading through the snow on Boxing Day. This post is not about beauty, but a bit of a rant instead. Sorry in advance.