TO BOLDLY GO.....

Mr.  HCB decided that as England had not been in the ICC World Cup for 27 years, he would not come to church this morning, but would do his praying whilst watching the game!

After church, therefore, I had to go out on my own, but didn’t want to go too far.  I knew there was a derelict bus on a trading estate on the other side of town, but because the hedgerows have grown up quite tall, and I am very short, I couldn’t see over them to get a good shot.  However, just up the road I remembered there was a little track through to a bridge where I thought I might find something.

The collage starts at the top left where you will see the little track, which is quite overgrown - as I was walking along, I thought that perhaps I shouldn’t be there on my own, but carried on boldly anyway - deciding that if anyone tried anything, I could kick and scream quite loudly  - not that there was anyone around to hear me!  The top right shot shows the bridge that used to have a railway track over it, but that’s been removed and it’s a cycle and walking path along the top.

The bottom right shows the graffiti on the wall and there is more on both sides under the bridge and on the top of the bridge.  I have to say I didn’t hang around for too long and picked my way very carefully back, as there were lots of stinging nettles along the path, as well as brambles.

I crossed the road, because there was no pavement on the side where I was, to find another pathway, with a derelict gate flung to one side, with even more graffiti and more brambles - it will be a great place to pick wild blackberries in the autumn!  Again, I didn’t stay too long and walking back along the pavement towards the car, there were about three gates in a large wooden fence which ran all the way along to a newish housing estate.  When I looked carefully I could see that there were bolts on the outsides of the gates but no padlocks, so of course, I had to draw back one of the bolts and look in through one of the gates - and found yet more very tall brambles.  I didn’t go in through the gates because I couldn’t have got through the brambles anyway but I did notice lots of discarded bottles that had obviously contained beer or lager, so it could be a meeting place for youngsters.

I was happy with the various shots though and decided that a collage would show where I had been.  I’m now at home to find that Mr. HCB and our son, Jules, have been chatting on Facebook Messenger.  England are now batting and sadly have just lost their first wicket.  It would please them both if England win, but there’s a long way and a big battle ahead!  Think I might go and sit quietly and read in the conservatory. 

“To me, it doesn't matter how good you are;  
     sport is all about playing and competing. 
Whatever you do in cricket and in sport, 
     enjoy it, be positive and try to win.”
Ian Botham