Day 579 - As I walked I wondered if this would ever end . Covid that is . It was a miserable day. The sky was steely . The clouds so thick they obscured everything apart from one sliver of silver where the sun was trying its best to shine through. A real silver lining in a sea of grey. I could not hear any birdsong . They were keeping out of the wet and the cold . The butterflies had long gone and even the dragon flies who had graced the riverbanks were no longer to be seen . The goosander had raised her brood and they had moved on. There was no sign of a single swan. Just me , the river which was just doing its own thing and a muddy path . I had my thoughts - I wished I was working . I was feeling bored . I could hear the sound of airplane high in the sky . I could not see it but it broke the silence of the riverbank . Sometimes I hear the swans as they fly by . Their huge wings flapping . The swishing sound heard before they were seen
. Occaisionally I meet someone else out walking . A man and his friend with their dog . They are no locals . I dont recognise them nor have I seen them before . One man has a carbon racing foot and leg . I wondered how he lost his leg . An accident perhaps . I sometimes bump into a holiday maker staying in the village and searching out places to run in safety . Today though it is just me . My thoughts - the ones swirling round and round .
The work on the riverbank has . The bank has been stabilised . Will it hold the floods back this year ? I was not sure . Pumps had been brought in to pump excess water out before it reached the village . With all the rain they might soon be tested . There is not a flower in sight now that Autumn is approaching . With the colder days , the shorter days there is little to see . An odd flash of yellow from a Buttercup . A hint of mauve from the blackberries and red from the Hawthorn and the Rose
Hips . Some of the trees have a yellow tint to the leaves . Other trees have dropped their leaves already . Piled high on the ground . The acorns crunch under my feet . The conkers beg to be picked up or kicked up the road . My thoughts are broken though as a flash of black flies by. We dont see black birds so I take a second look as it flies out of sight . A cormorant . I never knew we had them on the Dee but apparently they up stream at times and I felt priviledged to see it . I felt lucky to be in the right place and at the right time.
So the burning question has to be - when will this all end ? So many cases of Covid being identified . Are we measuring our cases differently to other countries . Are we too honest in our counting ? I kicked the long grass throwing up water . A car passes me. I stand in the grass to stay safe . When will we be getting our booster doses ? Surely they are due . My thoughts yet again are broken . Do you know if I can walk this way she said. A lady I had never seen before . She had dropped her daughter off at university and wanted to walk somewhere . I described the way . In a womans way . Up the road until to the green house with the eggs for sale Turn right. . Past the chickens and the bullrushes . Long squiggly lane and then turn right . Lots of cars parked up to your left . Along the river , racecourse to your left , through the gate , follow the river and then home. You cannot go wrong . . We smiled and she said that they were directions she would understand and remember . She thanked me .I hoped she would not get lost . I probably would never see her again . But that is normal . Like ships in the night we met , we spoke , and we moved on .
