There's no working shower in our house so we all have to have baths. I didn't manage to get my bath today, so by 9pm, when I was still in my pyjamas after work and hadn't had my walk, I decided to just get it over with and not bother with proper outside clothes. Does it matter when there's no one to see me? And even if I do encounter another human, are they going to stop for a chat or are they going to cross the road to avoid coming within six feet of me? I did put my trainers on, though, because three miles in socks would be stupid.
These are my pyjamas, and my trainers that are still muddy from a couple of days ago. I'm hoping the dried mud will eventually just fall off.
I could've done a quick walk around the little block and been out for just 15 minutes, but these days that feels like cheating, so I decided to do the bigger block that's three miles and takes nearly an hour because I'm still pretty unfit and slow.
The customary empty road shot:
Half a mile up this long road, I wondered whether I was getting a bit sweaty because I'd started off at a brisk pace for a change or because we're having a mini heatwave and I'd made the daft mistake of putting my winter coat on. I think it was both.
Big empty six-ish-way junction:
Another mile up the road – where I don't really take any pictures because it's just people's houses, lovely as they are – and I was at the halfway point, already! My legs were hurting in that great way that makes you feel a bit smug because you've put some effort in, but I was ready for a little break. No tea today because I didn't really want to hang around in the dark on my own, but I did need a little sit.
This is the Shrimp roundabout, so called because the pub that's here used to be called the Shrimp, so called because it's near the old Morecambe FC football ground, and Morecambe FC are nicknamed the Shrimps. This roundabout marks the start of Morecambe, and because I live to the east of it, that means I live in Lancaster. Don't you just love all of this trivia? Keep it somewhere because it might come in handy in a pub quiz one day, if we ever get to have those again.
So I was looking for a bench now, somewhere to have a little sit and a rest, but I couldn't find one that wasn't scary. There was this little park where we saw Sirius Black, but I wasn't going in there on my own – with Matthew is one thing, but on my own ...! I'd been pushing my luck already by going into cemeteries and down dark allies this week. Best be sensible for a change.
Round the corner and into the little 'village' of Torrisholme, I wondered whether this very low raised bed counted as a bench. Probably not. (Yes, it's a raised bed – in normal times, it's beautifully kept and full of flowers, but the people who maintain these will be furloughed just now.)
Further on, I wondered whether these might count as benches. Definitely not, for two reasons: we are not allowed in play parks right now, and, even if we were, I wouldn't fit even a leg in one of those.
In the middle of Torrisholme, I wondered whether this might count as a bench. Probably not. Someone else had clearly wondered the same and tried to consume a snack of grapes here but spilled them, probably because this was not a bench.
Aha! The fifth postbox. A George V one, you'll recall. How nice.
At the other side of Torrisholme, I wondered whether this might count as a bench, and I decided that it would because I've seen people sitting here lots of times. So this was where I had my break for about three minutes. Honestly, it's not that much fun having a break at this time of night on your own when the streets are completely empty and it feels like 3am and very eerie. Best to keep moving.
So home again, just less than a mile and a half – easy peasy. I did stop to snap this, though. I couldn't focus on the little rainbows in the lights, but I guess someone put this here as an NHS tribute. Lovely. (Yes, there is also an actual bench behind it, but this is a little park and little parks are creepy at this time of night on one's own, as we've established.)
Keeping up my brisk pace, I covered nearly a mile in no time – I'm getting good at this! Here's the new road, which I'm still fascinated by and I don't know why because it's just a road.
The new road is just so clean, it makes me want to walk on it. And I don't know why at all, when I'd been so good at avoiding dark bits this evening, I decided to go up onto the new road even though you have to go up this very dark, completely unlit path to get to it. It's almost as if I've developed a stupid desire to scare myself just a little bit once a day. Why would this happen? I can't even watch scary films because they disrupt my sleep for weeks. Why would I actively look for genuine scares? Idiot.
Up on the new road, I realised I'd gone a bit too far in my thrill seeking when several gigantic lorries whizzed past – they look a hell of a lot closer in the dark than they do during the day. They also look as though they're driving right at you. I didn't take any photos of them because I was concentrating on not being hynotised and pulled into the road by their lights.
Look, down there was where I was supposed to be:
Back down on the right road, look who found me! My Thomas. He will always be a little bit anonymous in this blog because he's always on his bike and I can't get him to stay still for a proper photo. You may recall, though, that in previous photos he had black hair. You can't see it here, but he's now half blonde and half magenta, because why not.
He didn't stay with me long because he's 16 and very cool and I'm boring and embarrass him even when there's no one else with us.
Up over the hill – very easy now and I no longer even consider it a hill – and I was on the home straight. The final customary empty road shot.
Three miles in my pyjamas, done. I'm running out of ideas for places to go, so I think on my lunch break tomorrow, I might have a good think and make myself a list of new places to show you. Also, I know you miss the bird songs, so we need to find some new ones.
Until tomorrow, night owls.
WQ
P.S. Hello to my third confirmed reader, Kathleen! Hiya!
Hi! Thanks for my shout-out :)
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