Down to the River for a Cup of Tea

We're just going down to the river for a cup of tea. See you in a bit.

We're back. I'm glad I went out because it's bin day and I always forget. Bins are out now – winning at life! (They're not my bins; they're my neighbour's bins.)

Walking was a little tricky today, and it will be for a few more days because I tweaked my back when I was emptying the dishwasher yesterday. This won't be the last time, but I think that, now that I go out for walks most days, my spine tweaks will get better quicker. Yet another marvellous benefit.

'Fancy a cup of tea, Matthew? James?' says I. James didn't want one and looked at me like I was weird because he doesn't drink tea. Matthew did want one and didn't change his mind when I said that he could have the tea by the river if he came out with me. In the end, it turned out that his flask hadn't been washed properly and his tea tasted of fish even though the flask hadn't had fish in it. Luckily, I'd taken my fancy thermal cup so we had extra tea and shared. 

Now that I've seen them and know that the Scandinavian houses are gigantic, they look bigger to me from this side too. That can't be an optical illusion, really, can it? Maybe it's a cerebral illusion or something. I've just made that up – I don't think it's a thing. Whatever it is, it's a bit gorgeous to wander down by the river. I said to Matthew that a day doesn't feel quite right now if we haven't felt a bit of dirt under our trainers and seen some greenery. He agreed and said that if we can't manage a walk any day, he'll be quite happy to throw some dirt at me. I don't think think he was quite with me on an enlightened level, but he made himself giggle so that was nice.

It was muddy today. Has it been raining and I haven't noticed? Well, no matter, because I like tramping about in the mud. I didn't really tramp today – it was more of a shuffling limp, but that's okay as well. 

We found a log next to a rock, which I think someone else had probably put in this perfect sitting spot, so we parked ourselves here. Matthew has discovered a cunning trick to hide his face in photos without looking like he's intentionally hiding his face. It does mean he has to wear his hat everywhere, which doesn't really go with his coat, but anything goes in lockdown fashion. I, for instance, was out in my Batman pyjamas and a completely contrasting hoodie this evening. I'm thinking of attempting to look more ridiculous every day, just for fun.

Sitting on the rock eventually became a bit too painful, so we had to move again. We decided to hop onto the cycle track for a bit and added half a mile. We didn't spot any doggers. We've never seen any here, so I think I might have been mistaken about that. Not that I'm actively looking for doggers.

It was bound to happen again because it was around sunset, but Matthew started getting jumpy. 'What's that?!' he says, straining to see things in the shadows. It was a bird. 'Do you think there are axe murderers in the woods?' he says. 'Yes, probably.' We never mention zombies when we're outside and it's getting dark because that's just too scary. Matthew did think he'd seen a werewolf on the athletics track, but it was just a rabbit. You can't see it here because it had gone by the time I'd hobbled to the fence – probably eaten by the werewolf.

We headed home after this. It took a while because there were steps to climb and then I added a little quarter of a mile by going round our block instead of straight back to the house. It's good to push yourself a little more than you think you can do, no? Just a little bit, aye.

Until tomorrow, warrior pals.

WQ