Practice Swing

Two weeks ago I returned to walking to my recorder lesson, four and a half miles, and it is such a lovely walk that I blipped some of the things I passed/saw on the way.

Today I was back out in the early sunshine and I set myself the task of looking for new blips, a difficult task when I know this route so well.  However, I managed to find some new blips although I was still tempted to capture the ford and the narrowboats on the canal, the old stand-byes.  There was smashing sunlit woodland; my favourite beech tree standing proud in its field; a cat basking in the allotments; a lone bowls chappie going back and forth spraying the bowls ground; greylags dozing on the canal bank, but I've gone with this golfer purely because his swing mimics the leaning silver birches in the foreground.  When I looked closer on the computer, I spotted the ball still on the ground in front of him so it must be a practice swing.

Two weeks' ago I also recorded who I chatted to en route.  There was no sign of the robin feeding lady this morning but I did briefly chat to a runner who complained that I was walking faster than she could run.  I told her it wasn't a problem, she was running much faster than someone sitting on their settee - a piece of Hobbler wisdom used when folks find the running tough.  I also chatted to a couple of the Canal and Riverside Trust folks who were busy working again on the Dowley Gap lock.  It is looking very fine in its new whiteness.  One chap was trying to artistically shape a shrub growing up the side of the lock wall.  When I walked back that way after my lesson, two women had chopped it right down!

I was pleased with my lesson today, lots of hard work but my tutor thinks I'm ready to move on a book.  I stopped off at a new food shop in Saltaire, Digin the Hut, and picked up a first for my lunch - a soy bean and mushroom arancini with dip and salad, also a box of their scrummy doughnuts as Pete had an interview today and I thought he would be in need of something sugary.  I shall certainly be returning to try their complete arancini collection.

The loo engineer had been whilst I was out and pronounced that it needed an engineer with a bigger van, better tools and ladders, so that will be another couple of weeks then.....

If any local blippers want to spot the blips, they are here!