DERELICT SUNDAY - ON A SUNNY AFTERNOON

We had a great service at church, although sadly I was unable to sing, but I still enjoyed being there and hope that by next week my voice will be back to normal. 

Part of the service was hearing from people with their response to the Prayer Room yesterday, which was very interesting.  By the time many had responded, time was getting on, so the sermon was considerably shorter than usual, but very good nevertheless.  During Lent we are going to be thinking of the five senses and today, the theme of the sermon was "Touch" and how important it is, not just for babies and children but for everyone.

After the service, we went out, as usual, looking for dereliction.  We decided not to go near the M4 as Mr. HCB had found out that a very large footbridge was due to be moved, so we didn't want to get caught up with that.  

We made our way through Highworth and Lechlade, turning off towards Faringdon and just before we got to Langford, we came across what Mr. HCB thinks may originally have been pig sties.  

From the photograph, it looks as if there is a lake in the background, but when I got closer, I could see that it was, in fact, a very large puddle, but it was rather dirty from water that had obviously seeped out from the nearby piles of manure - good job my nose isn't as good as normal, because I couldn't smell anything nasty!

I was able to get quite close but didn't want to venture too far in just in case I got stuck in the mud.  We did wonder whether the upright posts near the wall were the remains of feeding troughs and although I have looked online, I can't find anything.  We also spotted some other dereliction, but that will have to wait until another Sunday.

It was a beautiful sunny day, with blue sky and fluffy clouds, but the wind was very cold, so I didn't stay out taking photographs for too long.  We then meandered back through the countryside, enjoying driving through several villages, which looked lovely when the sun was shining on the honey-coloured Cotswold stone.  We also enjoyed seeing lots of daffodils, primroses and many trees blossoming, including magnolia - Spring is definitely on the way.

"Springtime is the land awakening.
The March winds are the morning yawn."
Lewis Grizzard

P.S. Apologies for not responding to all your kind comments yesterday, but we were out in the evening celebrating our younger grandson's 20th birthday.