Day 247

Sunday 22 November

A beautiful day today. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do to raise energy levels and my general disposition.

The sun has been shining all day and the temperature has been mild for typical November days. But that’s something that needs to be reconsidered now; global climate change has altered what the ‘normal’ was for any winter month. But, it has been a truly beautiful day.

We are now in the second half of lockdown #2 which is due to end on December 2nd. As this is restricting the shopping and visiting distractions that ordinarily grab people’s weekend attentions, so there seems to be many more people out and about walking.

That has to be a good thing. But I can’t help thinking that when all of this is over (the general feeling is that Spring will be near normal) that many will forget this flirt with the great outdoors. They will once again be seduced by ‘Sale’ signs and those ‘plastic’ trappings of modern living. Consumerism will rule again.

This craziness of this year, above all else, has underlined to me how rotten all of that is and how very little it satisfies the soul. Compared to being outdoors and spending precious time appreciating what is right in front of me.

I think this was compounded by a trip to the tip. Chucking out stuff accumulated over the years that has spent most of its life in the loft, just sitting there. Giving no joy, no practical help, no educational or aesthetic pleasure. Pointless. So, it was thrown out.

But our walk today was lovely. Our local one, around Lawford. But, this time we took a slight detour. As we walke through along the public footpath which skirts a small patch of woodland, I noticed the leaves on the ground had been cleared by walkers. Two and four legged, I suspected.

So, we decided to walk that way, see what was there, where it might lead. We discovered a alleyways of trees paved with dry, crisp leaves. They were golden in places where the sunshine was managing to beam through the skeletal canopy above.

A fifteen minute deviation that brought us back to the original path. A deviation that allowed us to meet another walker and another dog for Mabel to play with in the leaves. A deviation that provided different sights and sounds that we would never have seen if we hadn’t ventured off the normal path.

We took another alternative turn when we came out of the woods and entered the field with the sheep in. We have only ever walked on one side before. Today we went left, not right. And we met the sheep farmer mad his classic looking black and white sheep dog. A brief chat revealed that he was using rope to divide the field into five sections so that the sheep could feed on the ‘fodder-radish’ that had been planted in September. Also, to keep the ewes that lamb in March from those that lamb in April.

If we hadn’t taken that route, we wouldn’t have learnt that. And that’s the point. It’s important to walk different tracks sometimes, to go down paths that you’ve never walked before. You never know what might come from it?