Weather, walking and talking.

Late last night I googled "Weather in Saddleworth" to get the forecast for today. "Rain/snow - clearing later!" was the gist of what I found out. "Rain/snow"? It's March, for goodness sake, and almost the middle of March as well! I don't expect wall to wall sunshine but I would like a bit better than "rain/snow". 

So this morning when my alarm rang and I contemplated going for a morning run, I looked out of the window and wasn't too surprised, although somewhat disappointed, to see sleety rain coming down at quite a rate. Now, I don't mind running in a bit of drizzle. I don't even moan too much if it starts to rain on me when I'm already out and about. But the prospect of stepping out into that driving nastiness was more than I was prepared to take first thing in the morning. No! I got back into bed and watched the sleety stuff blowing past the window for a while before I got up and did some yoga exercising instead. 

Besides, I walked home from Uppermill last night; it's not as if I was lacking exercise. I had been to a meeting at the chess club about the Manchester end of the chess exchange with Pontevedra that we are helping to organise. Someone offered me a lift back to Uppermill but the driver was a visitor to the area and a little nervous about driving in the dark especially in a place that she didn't know well. therefore she didn't really want to drive all the way to Delph. Anyway, I was happy to be dropped off in Uppermill from where there was a bit more possibility of a bus. But no such luck! Faced with a 45 minute wait, I set off walking. 

Mind you, walking in the dark is quite therapeutic, so long as it isn't raining or too cold. It's something of a zen experience. You are not distracted by fine views (apart from one or two occasions when we have walked home in the small hours of New Year's Day from a friend's house at one of the high points around here - distant lights on a frosty night!) and once you get into the rhythm, one foot in front of the other and so on, you are alone with your thoughts and put the world to rights in your head. Not, however, that I recommend doing this every night. 

So now I am waiting for the promised clear spells so that we can take the air later today. 

In the meantime I have been looking at the papers online. Among other things, I found out that in Naples, working on a new metro station, they came across two Roman ships from the first century. This happens in Rome as well and in some Spanish cities. I find it quite fascinating that you can live in places where there is so much ancient history under your feet. 

And then I saw an article about an actor who has appeared in several things that I have watched on television. Intrigued as to how a person could make himself look so different for these diverse characters, I took a look at the article. Among other stuff, I came across a sentence that began "the old Etonian has played two lords in as many years...". This is an actor called Harry Lloyd. So, another up and coming posh school actor! We have Damien Lewis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dominic West (Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West to give him his full name) and goodness knows how many others, all doing really well on the stage. I have no doubts about their acting skills; it just seems a bit like a takeover. What chance do the kids who have done performing arts courses at ordinary schools and colleges have in the modern world of acting? I wonder! 

And finally, here's a little something to cheer us all up. Everyone thinks that their baby is the most beautiful, the cleverest, the most advanced that ever there was. Here's a link to someone's video of their seven-week-old saying hello. Is the child an early talker? A tiny genius? Or is this the linguistic equivalent of the windy smile from a month-old baby?