Advertisement
Day 55 - 110 to go. I never liked maths at school but numbers now fascinate me. 55 days x 2 = 110 . The number of days left until we go on holiday . If we go on holiday . I couldn't sleep last night . Was it the cheese I ate for supper ? Or just my head full of facts and figures ? Whatever it was I lay there counting sheep. Waiting for morning to come. It is work tomorrow I thought . A virtual canteen set up so that we can all meet up. A telekit to listen to. My suit lies unused in the wardrobe . I cannot remember the last time I wore it . Nor can I work out when I next will put it on. I miss work . I never thought I would hear myself saying that . I thought about retiring and seeing Europe . Now after 55 days without work I miss it . I tossed and turned and wondered if this lockdown will ever end . Some bright spark suggested that we won't be going anywhere this year . Nor next year . They even suggested that travel wouldn't
happen in a motorhome until 2022. Well let's see about that .
This time last week we could cross the road without checking for cars . Today it seemed manic . All of a sudden they were everywhere drowning out the birdsong . I had not got much of a plan. After 55 days if I am honest I have no plan apart from setting out and seeing where my steps take me. Down the hill . I see man with terrier - he is in front of me so does not notice me . Now after 6 years of living here I know where he lives , Our lives only seem to come together with Covid 19. I head for the A61 , cross it and head off through the council houses . I see not a soul and then when I relax three people turn up together . One walks into the pull in to make room, another stands at the bus stop. The third is the type who does not move for anyone . Like buses they all come together . I turn into Ankerbold Road and head for the River Rother. Clean now full of
wildlife . Kingfishers and voles as opposed to rats and chemicals of the 1950's . The chemicals from the discharge of Clay Cross Works . The old brickworks taken down .They once were lively places with heat radiating from the kilns. A railway station closed by Dr Beeching .
I never knew the germans dropped bombs on New Tupton . As I walked up Ward Street in the past I never gave a thought for why the houses ended and why there was a small public garden constructed d. It turned out the bombs had destroyed a few houses and this was what remained .
I had been thinking while trying to drop off to sleep why I love travel and why I love facts and history . Yes it was the atlas that dad brought home with it coloured pictures of the Taj Mahal , the dwellings of the Hopi Indians , the walls of Cuzco and giant lily pads .d It was the Globe that mum purchased for me with all the countries of the world . I used to spin it and I learned all the countries names . But most of all it was school that influenced me although I did not appreciate it then. . An old fashioned grammar school where the teachers wore flowing gowns for everyday use .On high days and holidays they put on their coloured hoods and mortar boards . The corridors had parquet floors . We walked on the left and we did not speak until spoken to . We all looked the same . The same navy gymslips until we got into the upper school when we were allowed a navy skirt . Short blue socks , regulation shoes , a gabardine , crisp white shirts and red and navy diagonally striped tie and scarf . A blazer with the school badge - the motto on that and our hat said in latin "Inter sylvas querere verum " " We seek knowledge in the groves " - literally translated . We were encouraged to find out things , to learn something new and not to feel a fool by asking .
Yet again I learned something new today . Walking past that garden I will no longer think of it as just a garden but a reminder of World War II and the effect it had on the area of New Tupton . I wondered how many walked past and never gave it a thought .
Advertisement
Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 11; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0729s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
jackieandchris2011
Jackie
School
I thought you had gone to the same school as me until I saw your motto. But our motto was Mon Dieu et Droit or something like that, and we also wore navy blue berets with a red tassel!! Everything else was the same though!!