The pain intensified after our very lovely Pokemon-filled walk by the river the other day, so I ended up taking a week off work, and off walking or doing anything much. It was good. I needed a few days of not sitting at a desk. I spent most of it lying down with many pillows around me, reading for hours and hours. You'd think it would have made things worse, not moving, but it actually didn't. A rest was what was needed this time.
However, when I was ready to move again, I realised almost immediately that I was right back at square one, the very unfit and rubbish-lunged place I'd been at the start of lockdown. I suspected this would be the case, but Monday was the day I looked in the mirror and made a very solemn vow to myself to walk every day again. My back was feeling very much better and I had no excuses left for staying inside.
I started small. A quick street walk. Remember this, my street? Good gods, we get some dramatic skies, don't we?
No messing on Monday evening, I just got my head down – actually, I didn't, because that would be a very peculiar walking posture. I kept my head up and strode out, walking just wherever my feet took me. They took my down a couple of streets and then along a ginnel with a dodgy flickering street light. I looked about for Dementors, because street lights always flicker when there are Dementors around, but of course, I'm not a witch or a wizard, so I wouldn't see them if they were close by. But I felt no despair, so there probably weren't any Dementors.
Two small streets really wasn't far enough, so I decided to stick a hill in the walk. This is Margaret's hill, you'll recall, even though Margaret hasn't lived here for at least twenty years. Whoever owns the hill, it's still good to add a little leg-stretching obstacle to a walk.
I don't think I can ever walk past these lions now without stopping to take a photo. Just so ... chess-like. Astonishing.
Do you ever remember that Jaffa Cake advert with the woman eating Jaffa Cakes in bites, and she holds one up to a classful of little children and says, heavily accented, 'full moon'. She takes a bite, then says, 'harf moon' (that's not a typo, she says 'harf'). Then she pops the other half in her mouth and says, 'total eclipse'. Every time I see a harf moon, I think of that advert. That's all.
Oh! I found it! Here's the advert: Jaffa Cake Total Eclipse.
Anyway, no time for resting to admire pretty views on this walk – it was a mission, to kick start our walking again, not a jolly to look at flowers and stars and unicorns with sparkly horns and rainbow wings. Get a grip, people, we're not doing this for fun!
That view is very nice though.
I think there's something really weird about this huge expanse of pavement, but I don't know what it is. There's definitely something missing. What's it for? You could fit another house on there. Or some of those stone bench things where old men play chess in the summer.
Everything felt very familiar this evening, but with a very different sort of atmosphere to the start of lockdown. Four months ago, it was all very strange indeed, and we never thought we'd get used to seeing empty roads. There was that time I lay down in the middle of the road as well. Now, I'm not really sure what it feels like. Have we got used to it? Are we are preparing for being much less sociable for a long time? I can totally cope with that because I'm really not sociable at all. It's not all about me though, eh?
I spent the rest of my walk looking in people's front windows with no shame at all. Everyone does it, it's perfectly natural. Of course, no one can see in my window because of my wonderful brambles.
Until tomorrow, street walkers.
WQ
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