Anthea's Virtual Jotter (AVJ): What a difference a day makes! Adventuring. Being best mates. New walking routes.

Saturday, 28 November 2020

What a difference a day makes! Adventuring. Being best mates. New walking routes.

Today is damp and chilly. It was not too bad first thing when I went out running but it has gone seriously downhill since then. It’s a good job we went adventuring yesterday, which was bright and crisp, as today is one of those days when really you feel like going back to bed to curl up with a good book.

In the crisp and bright weather of yesterday we had another family adventure, another Diggle Chippy Hike, with my brother-in-law, our daughter and her two small people. The four year old had apparently decided that I was her best friend again. On the last few adventures she has been rather shy, possibly as a result of having been asleep in the car just before reaching our house and waking up on the wrong side of the carseat, possibly as a result of simply not spending enough quality time with us over the last few months; going out for walks is not quite the same as being together indoors. And so maybe we bonded anew when she spent Wednesday morning at our house. Whatever the reason, I was her mate again and she prattled away to me as we walked the few miles to Diggle. She is a good little stomper. And now I know all about Poison Ivy, a cartoon character not the plant, and her companion Giganter, and how they acquired their names and their super powers.

I also found out how she plans to have her hair cut, when she is grown up, when she is (counts on fingers) one - two - three - four - five, yes, when she is five! They grow up fast these days. When she is five she will have a asymmetrical cut (not the terminology she used - she explained it to me with lots of gestures) and she will have blue highlights! Hmm! They DO grow up fast these days! I checked with her mother later and she has had the same description of the desired haircut. At the moment the child has very long, glossy, dark hair. There might well be a fight about cutting it short! We suspect this haircut plan is the consequence of having older sisters who both dye their hair odd colours. And then, one of the sisters has a “hairstyle” app on her iPad, which the small fashionista likes to look at with her! Such is modern life!

After we had eaten our fish and chips by the duckpond, throwing occasional scraps to a very tame robin, we spent a little while in a nearby playground - all except for Phil who decided he did not want to hang around but set off for home, ostensibly to put the coffee on! One of our neighbours was walking past as we were in the playground. Like us, she walks miles and miles around the area. She suggested an alternative route home for us, up a lane opposite the chippy and eventually bringing us into the centre of Dobcross village. Phil told us later that he too had walked that way and knew it of old, but I had no memory of ever walking that way. How nice, to discover a new place to wander, seeing the same views from a different perspective!