Benchmarks

Frost and a sky as blue as speedwell this morning so I ran out of the front door and down the hill to look at the river. Just breathing was good fun with the sun warm on the back of my head and the air biting my nose. White swans swimming upstream were elegant and stared down their nebs at me in passing and a male goosander going downstream started off dignified, then lost his nerve, went all of a panic and lifted off in a cloud of spray, feet running madly to get him airborne.


 Further along the bank I came across this rustic seat that somebody has constructed since I was here last week. I didn’t sit on it as I didn’t want a wet chilly bum but it’s in a good place to enjoy the view of the water meadows.  From this angle it looks like a large lizard, caught in the act of plodding off to find a different sunning spot, or like a cold-water monitor slide down the bank into the water. Or, as Spring is definitely in the air, off to find Romance with another log-on-legs. It’s doomed to disappointment if that’s its plan.

The first Sunday in Lent and at least three church agencies were collecting money for Ukraine and at Christ Church they have already filled a lorry with clothes and domestic goods to drive over. I’m sure there will be great need for the things, but I can’t help feeling that because it’s weapons and soldiers that the Ukrainians really want, if they are to win the war, this giving is as much to make us feel better about ourselves.