Follow-my-leader

Another action packed morning here. Steve took me to the park, where I met my friend in the Museum's gallery. I wanted to see an exhibition of printmaking by local print artist Terrence Millington. http://www.stroudlife.co.uk/Words-quality-artist-s-work/story-18000232-detail/story.html I particularly liked his four-plate etchings, but Angela thought they were all too precise and neat. I said I thought that was partly the point of etching....

The museum doesn't have cafe, just a thermos, so we went off to Costa at Tesco's, and then walked along a peaceful footpath to Homebase (the one in Stroud is not closing) and from there I took the canal towpath back to town. I could've continued along the canal towards home, but I decided to take the river Frome nature reserve footpath. Unfortunately, as I hadn't walked this path for some years, I ended up on the wrong side of the river. Oops! Figuring it would keep me young in mind, I took off my shoes, hitched up my trousers and plunged into the river....

Bloody Nora, it was cold! And getting deeper as I approached a natural plunge pool in the centre. Despite feeling quite Swallows and Amazon-y because I was wearing flapping black and white linen sailors' clobber, I decided to beat a retreat along a broken tree, back to the bank I'd come from. I was able to edge my way through the woodland landscape and only had to clamber over a couple of obstacles. It took me ages to reach Capel's mill viaduct, though, and from there I took the 'normal' path along the canal to Bowbridge. The journey had taken me two or three times as long as if I'd just gone by a conventional route.

After that, CleanSteve and had scrambled eggs on toast and watched Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix. I love Lewis, and have never quite got over the disappointment of not bumping into him in Trader Vic's during the Bahrain Grand Prix of 2010. Incidentally, I watched that one from the top of the high slides of Water World Arabia*, which offered a grandstand view of the race track.

* not the real name of the theme park, which I think had the word Dilmun in it, but I'm just waiting for TMLHereandThere to come along and supply the missing words!

PS There are only three cygnets now, out of the original six. One of the parents at nursery said that she saw some of them being rounded up several weeks ago, and being put in a box, in a van...