Apparition

Rich has said so many times this weekend how much he's loved the break, meeting up with friends and seeing parts of London he's never been to before. Me too. We both, however, have a similar view on needing air, space and height. The top of St Paul's doesn't quite make the cut despite it meeting the criteria. A few days is perfect for us.

We sat at Kings Cross waiting for the train home with a content feeling after such a fine weekend. Rich said he'd like to have had another day there today. But, I also knew what he meant when he commented later, "Visiting London is like spending the weekend in Leeds railway station at rush hour." He wasn't being rude.  It was tongue in cheek. London is an amazing place but for us, an assault on the senses. 

I felt exactly what he meant.


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So, after quoting Rich and based on this week's MonoMonday theme, origins, I had a little look into quotes about crowds and solitude and their origins.  These two amused me the most.

“Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.” 
― Aristotle
(I'm a wild beast, for sure!)

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” 
― Henry David Thoreau

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Anyway, we're now home and I've just taken Litttle Dog out around our local lanes. It passes a farm. I've always smiled and sometimes waved at the three farmers I regularly see there. Sometimes they're on the moor.  One of them is a shepherdess. I always get a bit of a serious Yorkshire nod back from whichever one I see but I do like the little tradition we've built up.

One day about a year ago, I had a sad realisation. I hadn't seen one of the farmers for a long time. I remembered that a while back, I'd seen a funeral procession leave the farm. I'd assumed at the time it was an older family member, as the farmers didn't seem that old, and I never thought anything more of it. Until it dawned on me. It must have been the funeral of the one that I'd not seen. I can't tell you how sad I felt. Since about that time, I've only ever seen the two of them. 

Today, when I walked up past the farm, I looked up and who should be standing there? My old friend the farmer, grinning at me! No reserved Yorkshire nod for me today! I did a massive double take, nearly hugged him and exclaimed, "I thought you were dead!" But luckily, he got in there first with a smiling, "I used to see you here, didn't I?"  I don't actually know how farming works but he pointed and said he'd moved, "Up to pylon. Where is it?" as he searched on the horizon.

So, I can't say we're now best buddies but I am over-the-moon and I've smiled all the way home.