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Overlaying - I never overlay normally. But this morning I did exactly that . I overslept . I never even heard the alarm going off . I must have slept through it waking only when I realised that it was lighter than it should have been. A quick glance at the watch and I realised I should have been awake half an hour ago. By now I should be on the road walking . Perhaps it was the weather forecast which offered me a cold chilly morning following a frosty night that had lulled me back to sleep. Perhaps it was listening to Boris oclock when he told us that we should no longer stay at home but stay alert . A message that came across in a most muddled fashion and muddies the waters. Especially as the message was geared to an English audience rather than a UK one. With all that confusion going round my head it is little wonder that I overlaid.
Had today been a working day I would by now have been running round like a headless chicken trying to catch up and get to work on time. However Monday being a non working day
and feeling like a Sunday I was able to slowly get round to working out what to do with the day. Peering outside I was shocked . No frost . The sky was a pale insipid blue but blue nevertheless . The misty murk of yesterday had completely gone . All that remained was to poke my feet out and set out on the morning walk .
When lockdown began my walks were all new covering ground I had never walked before . Now after all these weeks I inevitably walk the same way. Today we are off down the same old hill we have walked down about 25 times . The gardens are different now. The daffodils and early Tulips gone over. Replaced by carpets of blue forget me nots. The cherry blossom has all dropped . The early summer flowers are just starting to poke their heads out. Over the next few weeks the roses will bloom.
With my mind somewhere else I was surprised to be brought to reality by two young men in hi vis jackets. They were placing stickers on the refuse bins . Its bin day today and we have to weave
our way through and around them. The notes tell us that if we need support to ring the council . That might include collecting our refuse from the door rather than us taking it to the pavement , having groceries or medicines delivered . They shout morning in unison as they pass by.
The walk takes me down a route I walked about five weeks ago. Then the grass on the fields was short . The yellow celandines and the wood anemones were everywhere . Now the grass is longer . The cows are out in the field. The bluebells have gone over . We cross the Trickets Brook again . I must have criss crossed this brook many times . A couple of mallard ducks - a male and female swim in the brook . Canadian Geese fly overhead . In the distance a couple stop with their dog . They wait for me to get closer asking which way I am going . I shout over to them and say that I dont mind . Whichever way you go I will go the other so that we can social distance . They tell me if I carry
straight on I will go through Colleshaw wood or at least I think that was what they called it . They would go into the wood . Perhaps I could walk that way on another day . I will end up at Far Tupton Wood and can turn around and walk back .
On my own I get the chance to think about the mixed messages that came out of Boris' mouth yesterday. We can go back to work if we can distance ourselves from our colleagues . " Why not ride your bike to work ?" He said . Apparently he will give us more cycle paths . "Walk to work too " And then there are those potholes . He promises to fill them. Coronavirus means our roads will be better and much improved . He is going to fast track e-scooter legislation . Lord save me from e-scooters. Not a good idea . I have reached the main road having walked close to a farm. I spot the private road sign . In my ignorance I have gone the wrong way. Thank goodness no-one is about. I retrace my steps . I can see where I went wrong . A sign has been put up showing the wrong road and the right one . I choose the right one on the way back . The sun is coming out . The orange tip butterflies are about . I pass the couple on the way back and they tell me that the sign was only put up yesterday.
It seems rights of way are being abused both by the walkers and the land owners. As I walked slowly back my mind flitted over the different rules between England and Wales . Stay home , no travel in Wales . Stay alert and you can drive your car for miles just to go for a walk . It did not take a genius to see that this was going to cause some problems . I guess tonight we will get an apology for the confusion and perhaps a new message explaining exactly what keep alert means to all of us.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Boris o'clock
I enjoy your meanderings Jennifer...walking in your small village bubble of safety while messages of Boris o'clock (is that a JenGog original?) saturate the airwaves. In Sydney I feel listless...nil new infections in New South wales yesterday (our first) but the menace that complacency can spark a second more deadly wave. I sit at my desk plenty of work to do...but I feel listless. C'est la vie.