Week 26 - that is halfway through 2021. Day 482. In 26 weeks time we have been through Christmas and will be in the bit between Christmas and New Year . Not a thought I relish . Odd how the year is just drifting away and we are not even noticing . It us an awful thought that we are ticking the months away . Two Springs under Covid restrictions , Two Easters, Two Summers . We are heading for two Autumns but wait I hear you say - perhaps we will be lucky . Our Health Minister was sacked eventually last week and replaced by a more liberal/progressive one who wanted England open for busines. To mask or not to mask that is the corny question ? The choice will be ours . If I want to ditch the mask when I shop I can . If I go into a restaurant after the middle of July I probably can. I wont need to leave my details nor leave any trace behind . The numbers of cases are growing however the link between the virus and hospitalisations appears to be breaking . Less cases in hospital and very few deaths.
But what of Northern Ireland , Scotland and Wales? As I walked this morning I thought about the disparity that would occur between the four nations if England break free of restrictions . It has been a funny old week .
The roadside verges are getting overgrown . The brambles are growing and creeping into the road. I see on my walk . I plan a diversion . I dont fancy the main road . Too much traffic. I spend more of my time avoiding the vehicles to enjoy the walk . I have a plan . A bridlepath that runs from the Whitchurch Road up the side of the farm and joins up with the old council houses on the Worthenbury Road . Should make a change and being a bridle path for horses it will be clear and straightforward ,, Yes you know what dont you?
I struggled with the first gate . Eventually it did swing open and I was confronted with a field . Just like any field with hedgerows full of rambling wild roses . Why cannot the council /the departments that look after public footpaths make gates easier
to open . A finger post or a signpost would be useful showing me where to go. I made the decision to head in the direction I knew would bring me out at the Worthenbury Road . The birds were busy calling to each other. I heard a peewit and a dog barking loudly in the farm yard . So far , So good . The gate was only a minor distraction and there was a reasonably short grass to walk through . When the path is easy I find my mind wanders . Yellow St Johns Wort lines the perimeter of the path . A plant that the medieval passer by would think useful. The signs of Autumn were there too. Big buds of the Knapweed .
I reached the corner . Always an odd place to be . A place of choices . I have to open the gate first . The farmer had let the hedge overgrown which stopped the gate opening . Just as I contemplated climbing it I was in luck and it opened after a massive shove . I added it to my list about public paths that I intended sending
to the local MP/Assembly member/Council or whoever else might take action . Right or left . Left seemed to go the opposite way . Away from where I was heading . I chose right . The field opened up. The crops were high and very wet after the overnight rain . By the time I got to the middle my feet were wet . My attention on my soaking feet disappeared as I found myself standing by a pond . Yellow Flag Iris caught my attention . A flash of colour in an otherwise green landscape . Tall fronds that would eventually hold Bullrushes . I was not getting anywhere fast . I could continue along the edge of the field . Return to where I started and turn left . coMaggie Thatchers words The lady is not for turning came to mind as I made the decision to go straight across the farmers field . Just though his crop. I had stopped thinking about Covid the last few minutes but to take my mind off my soggy shoes , socks and feet I found myself thinking about Germany. Dictating to us about how many people could attend the
football matches .
