It was not the aching feet that were stopping me in my tracks . To be fair they were burning . This walking plays havoc with the arches of your feet . It was not my brain working overtime thinking of reasons not to go out . Although it would have been easy not to get up and just laze the day away . Ming -Dao- Deng suggested to me this morning that "Every day passes whether I participate in it or not". So I could waste the day doing nothing or get up and make the most of it . As you get older each day becomes more precious. It was the sound of that rain that had hammered down all through the night that was putting me off moving .. The washing left out ... read more

Shall I let you into a little secret ? oh go on then . I am quite enjoying this walking . Lying in bed unable to drop off to sleep I sorted out in my mind where I was walking to in the morning . The weather whas a let down . Over the past few weeks someone told me that the clouds were social distancing too. The lovely weather had made this inprisonment bearable . But then late yesterday afternoon the clouds arrived broke and the heavens opened . The April showers had arrived with a vengeance . Good for the potatoes , the carrots, the peas and beans but a river running down the hill meant no sitting out. A wet and damp walk in the morning . By morning the rain had ceased ... read more

The work of fiction known as the weather forecast has been giving us a sandwich message the last few days. The good news - the bread of the sandwich has been that April has been a lovely month . No April showers. Wall to wall sunshine. Then came the filling of the sandwich - tomorrow the weather will change . It will feel cooler . It may rain. Not what you want to hear on Day 35 of the lockdown. The thought of rain keeping us indoors fills us with horror. I woke up to what they said I would wake up to. The sun was not shining in through the window . The central heating was running. I could have quite easily have turned over and gone back to sleep . Funny how walking always ... read more

The early morning dawn light was streaming in through the window . The time seemed irrelevant . It was still not quite light enough to rise . Looking at my watch I hoped the green luminous fingers would give me a clue to the time . It felt like 5am. The fingers went round but they were not luminous enough for me to work out what time it was . Sleep had come easily last night . Perhaps that last bit of fresh night air. Sitting outside on a bench watching the night sky. Venus as bright as ever . A satelitte passed over north to south . I waited in anticipation of the 41 satelittes that would travel the night sky above me . I think I saw 5 but I could never be sure ... read more

"The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough" Rabindranath Tagore - one of my favourites. I saw the first butterfly of the season today . A Cabbage White - the scourge of gardeners who love their cabbages . The pretty white things lays so many eggs on the leaves that the cabbages are beyond redemption. My walk today would be the other way round the allotments. Before leaving whilst pondering where to go and how long it would take I came up with an hour to walk the reverse route which would be uphill most of the way . I would be back by 8.05 I thought . Watches synchronised it time to set off . Across the park . An ambulance was parked up outside a bungalow . I wondered if Covid ... read more