Day 715 of Covid. I had forgotten how long Covid had been with us. As I woke this morning I began to realisethat two years had flown by. We had stopped listening to the Politics Show where the politicians justified what they were doing about the economy, furlough and producing vaccines. Boris had stopped standing on the podium giving out figures of infection, hospitalisation numbers and the deaths for the day. We had stopped listening to news of Covid. We were truly fed up of it by now. We wanted our freedom . Something we hold dearly in the light of out of Ukraine.
My walk was to take me along the Cloy. A walk I divide into three parts . The first third out of the village and out into the countryside . The sun was shining and it is breaking dawn much earlier. It is only a matter of a few weeks before the clocks change and morning earlier . The air feels clean . Spring has arrived and the weather has turned. I feel that I can almost taste and feel the freshness of the air .
beginning to green up. The leaves are beginning to open and here and there are hints of colour as the Blackthorn flowers begin to open . Daisies pop up in the grass and there yellow daffodils everywhere . A sure sign on Spring in Wales . The yellow of the Primroses and the Celandines shine out. In between I spot signs of the white Greater Stitchwort .
I usually pass people on the way. A couple of girls running before work . Not here today. Nor do I see any dog walkers. It gives me time to ponder why I have not yet managed to run the route instead of walking . All my plans to get from the couch to 5K running have gone sadly adrift . The sky is blue and there are very few clouds and even less white streams from the back of airplanes . I have reached the first third of my walk . Owl Cottage and the chickens . They cluck at me. I noticed the bullrushes are all turned to seed and I can hear the squawk of the crows . Holidays ,well finally we may be getting away. So much to
plan . The certificates of honour to be printed off, signed and added to the Eurotunnel sight. The butterflies are beginning . The Covid passes to be uploaded . Will the driver get his 4th booster before we leave ? Have we got enough money ? We had already made a trip to the currency exchange in the local supermarket and topped up with Euros . The van has been emptied .
I am on the part of the walk where sometimes I see hares or pheasants . I hear the pleasant singing of the blackbird and the robin. Still no sign of the lovely lady who speaks to me on the way. She has had a stroke but walks each day. It seems odd not to have seen her. Nor have I seen the old guy with the high viz jacket . I arrive at the river and walk its banks. I find myself counting my steps , thinking about WRexham and the long list .A long list of towns and cities who want to be City of Culture in 2025. Wrexham had reached the long list . Today we heard that we had been shortlisted for the last four entrants . Bradford , Southampton and the Northumberland region join us . Bradford has a lot of culture due to its ethnic population .Wrexham boasts that it has 70 different languages spoken in the area. From Welsh to Polish , from English to Portuguese the list goes on If Wrexham were to win we would be the first welsh town or city to achieve the honour . I can only hope and dream .
