Derbyshire 82 - Chesterfield / Gabby is still parked up/ I spy / Another three weeks of lockdown

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The brain this morning does not want to function . One side is saying get up , get moving , get out . The other side replies in a negative fashion . Let me stay in bed a bit longer. My foot aches . Underneath and on top. Shoes are rubbing toes from so much walking . To top it all brain says calves and hamstrings are aching . Lie in bed. Give in . There is always tomorrow . But then t'other side chips in but that is wasting 24 hours . Get up you lazy thing . Plan your day . Do something constructive . Strange to have a strong voice in your head saying Dont bother moving . Lie in , get up late but the other stronger side is motivating. Its voice is a little louder . There is still a world out there to see . Just get on with it . Ok I wont be walking a pilgrim trail any time soon, a short hour walk round the block will have to do .

Breakfast made for the driver . The Navigator only drinks a cup of tea just to wake the brain up. The coat is thrown to one side . Not going to need that today. Outside though it is cool . The sky is no longer that Zadar Croatian blue . It is pale and insipid. A glimpse of pale blue between white and grey clouds . The weathermen who spout the work of fiction which is the weather forecast tell us that change is on the way. The sunny days will be replaced with rain and a wind that comes down from the north . If it rains I hear one side of the brain rejoicing. . No more walks for a while . The other side shrugs and thinks what will be will be . Let 's learn yoga instead . Or watch Joe Wickes and try his exercises . I hear the brain on the other side groaning .

I walk the same old start to the walk but plan to venture out of the village towards Chesterfield . To an old bus turning circle near a footpath to the Walton Golfcourse . 35 minutes should get me there . Uphill back maybe 40 on the return trip. I pass a lady engrossed in her newspaper. She does not even notice me . Nor does the cyclist who flies past me. The first human contact is an elderly man walking uphill. He greets me cheerily . There is very little open countryside between our village and the borough of Chesterfield. Maybe half a mile between the last house in Wingerworth and the first in the borough. Those householders who live there want to be part of our village and not of the borough . It has a better ring to it to live in a village than a town . To live in one of the three best areas of Chesterfield rather than the town itself . No said the parish council . We don't want you. Our village is big enough without adding more houses and more people . The ancient boundaries won in the fight against the new one. .

There was little to see on the walk . The bus passed me by . Some of its seats had signs suggesting that no-one sat on them . Social distancing was being practiced . The bus was empty apart from one man who alighted but ignored me. I crossed the stream , stood in the turning circle before returning whence I had come. To mitigate the boring nature of the walk I looked into gardens . Primary coloured Tulips were out. A crazy garish mix of colours . The first Lilac of the year. I found myself thinking about I Spy. A game played with the children on the way to see their granny. I spy a roadsign . The children knew the Highway code long before they learned to drive . I spy house numbers . Slate plaques with silver or gold lettering , brass numbers , wooden boards . I spied every type along the walk .

Yesterday was Day 27 of the lockdown . It will continue for another three weeks . The deaths are perhaps plateauing in the hospitals but are rife in the care homes . We are not at the point that anything can be relaxed . We clapped last night for the Key workers . Standing in the doorway it was with a real feeling of community that I saw my neighbours out clapping . Some hitting pans with wooden spoons . I took the pan and spoon out but decided I could not compete with the neighbours dustbin lid banging . Queens We are the champions was ringing out loudly from one house . The new anthem of defiance to Coronavirus. Today Day 28. Another walk done - time for coffee and window cleaning . Life in the slow lane continues .

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Photos

A glimpse of the old church with its modern extension
I know which I prefer