Out and about. The science of sunshine. Leprechauns likely to be arrested?

Yesterday turned into one of those fine spring days when it starts to feel as though the sun has finally remembered how to emit warmth. I took myself off adventuring in the afternoon: up the hill and down the forest path, coming out eventually at the bottom of Dobcross.

The path was rather churned up in places but mostly passable and there were some good photo opportunities. Some of the people I met along the way were carrying their coats; we’ve all got used to having to be wrapped up to go out and about.

When I came out at the end of the path, there were people sitting out their garden in the sunshine in the little hamlet that calls itself Sycamore Cottages, or something of that ilk, without there being a sycamore in sight. 

Then I walked up the hill to Dobcross centre and down the hill, past the very white house and home.

Today I have cycled to Uppermill along a mostly dry Donkey Line, although there are still a few puddly places and the approach to the bridle path across the waste land is still pretty much a quagmire. I doubt anyone is going to do anything about that path because very so often whoever own the patch of land tries to put up barriers to keep people out. At some point we need to check whether there is actually an old-established right of way across there as we have walked it for over thirty years now. 

The sky was nicely blue when I went adventuring yesterday. I’m hoping today might develop in the same way. It’s mostly cloudy so far. According to something I read there is a scientific reason for the depth of blue; it’s all to do with how much atmosphere the sun has to shine through. The more overhead it is, the bluer the sky, which I suppose explains Van Gogh country and its light. Last spring, I read, the skies were extra blue because there was so little pollution around for the light to have to push through. 

Even if we get a repeat of last year’s fine spring weather the sky is not likely to be so blue this year as more people are out and about in their cars again now. This time last year the roads were amazingly empty throughout the country but this year, even though there are still few planes around, it sometimes seems as though everyone is back on the road. Indeed late yesterday afternoon we wondered of they had closed the M62 motorway for some reason as so much traffic, including large lorries, was going past our house. We are on the A62 and whenever the motorway closes our traffic volume goes up. 

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day but I didn’t see any leprechauns when I was out and about earlier. In other, more normal years the buses would be full of people wearing green felt hats. Everyone who has the slightest link to Ireland, and in fact many who have no such link, has gone out of their way to celebrate the day, usually drunkenly and noisily. Some will probably still try to do so this year but almost certainly on a much reduced scale. 

From now on, of course, now that the government’s new bill on protests and demonstrations has got through its second vote. With the prospect of a sentence of up to ten years for being a nuisance maybe the would-be leprechauns will think twice about being noisy. I make such comments lightheartedly but this heavy-handed control measure is frighteningly severe. We are on a slippery slope to losing a whole lot of rights and privileges. Not a happy prospect. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!