I went out in the wrong shoes a few weeks ago. Rocket Dogs, these are. Not at all suited to walking, but we were at the bottom of our street before I noticed, and since we were only doing a mile, I didn't bother going back to change. Also, they're all rainbowy and cheerful, which is nice. They look like sweeties (candy, if you're American).
It was quite dark already, but we can't be using that excuse to not walk for the next six months. We'll have to get used to dark walks now that the clocks have gone back, but that gives us next spring to look forward to, so that's nice too.
'Matthew,' says I, 'do you fancy a spooky walk to see if we can scare ourselves?' 'Yep,' says he, because he's braver these days than he used to be. 'Let's go down to the river then, where the trees look like witchy fingers!'
This is how dark it was. The sun had already set, and the Scandinavian houses were looking their best. I like them at this time of day, when they look their cosiest and most inviting. We thought about going down onto the river bank to gaze over at the houses for a bit, but it has been raining a lot these past couple of weeks and Rocket Dogs are no good for puddles, and you can't really wash them if they get muddy, so we abandoned that idea.
Instead, we strode off along the track towards the spooky end, where you can't hear the road much, and where the tall, thin trees play tricks on your peripheral vision. I'd really like to see a night-vision video of me walking in the dark because I'd imagine it would be hilarious. I'm aware of my eyes being as wide as I can possibly make them, as I prepare to fight or flee!
Matthew decided here that he'd take a different route to me, as there are two bits of track running parallel for a spell. So he crashed off through the trees, I suspect being noisy to scare off the werewolves. I didn't have the heart to tell him that werewolves are attracted by noise. I think he'd be fine though if werewolves did turn up – he's some kind of supernatural creature himself, our Matthew. I took a photo of him (just below) and he's not in it! He was there, but he's not there. I'm not joking!
After a few yards though, Matthew's little bit of track turned off in a different direction so he came back over to me. It is quite pretty down here at dusk. So pretty that we nearly got lured down this lane, but then we realised that it went off down the river and that Matthew's track was the right one, so we crashed back through the trees and onto the right track again. It's only a little one, being a mile long and no more, but I can get lost pretty much anywhere in the dark.
There's Matthew! See him? He's there, brandishing a wooden sword. He'll only take a sword out with him if we're going somewhere where no one will see him, or if we're all taking swords and might have a fight. This is a thing we do when we're on holiday in Alnwick in particular. Wait a minute, I think I have a video of that somewhere ...
Hehe, here it is. Thomas and Matthew having a wee sword fight at Warkworth castle the summer before last, filmed and refereed by James. Sometimes all four of us had a good scrap, with some really good knuckle bruises. And sometimes we had an audience, which was very fun! We took our swords everywhere on that holiday, tucked through the belt loops of our jeans, just in case we found any likely duelling spots. Ah, fun times.
Anyway, nice to share that with you, but it's got nothing to do with our walk. Actually, the walk was nearly over, what with a mile not being any distance at all really.
The floodlights were on at the sports centre – five-a-side footy was still allowed a couple of weeks ago, but I guess it isn't from today, eh? This field here was where the boys learned to hit a golf ball ... with a golf club, not just with a their fist or something.
And here, awwwww, was where Matthew learned to ride a bike when he was four. Course, he then didn't ride one for many years and had to relearn when he was about twelve, but that's alright. Not everyone has to be an amazing bike rider.
After this, we were back to the beginning and just a few hundred yards from home. Done.
Phew! I've made it to the end of this post – I never thought I would, I tell you. It's been sitting open on my laptop for about three weeks now, waiting patiently to be finished while I played with our new German shepherd puppy, Freya. My Freya photos are not on my laptop, so you'll have to wait to see her – unless you have Instagram, because she's already on there. But don't worry, she'll be on every walk from next week – they'll be short ones, but they'll get longer as she grows ... into a MASSIVE GIANT DOG!!!
Oh, hang on, I've just remembered how to get my photos across quickly, so here she is:
Miss Freya Rawlinson – if I changed one letter, she'd have the same name as my grandma!
Normal service will resume in a few days.
Until probably tomorrow (still two walks to write up from a few weeks ago), very patient readers.
WQ
Comments
Post a Comment