Yesterday we went and walked what we call the Forest Path. Well, it is a path but even when you stretch your imagination to the limit it’s rather hard to call the wooded area a forest. Especially at the moment when you can still see the rooftops up on the main road as the trees are still largely leafless. The signpost calls it a bridlepath, which also demands a bit of imagination as in some places there’s barely room for horse’s bottom to get through. Someone must use it as a bridlepath, because we came across piles of horse droppings, quite fresh too.
Ostensibly we were investigating to see how the bluebells are getting on, as there is usually a fine display there in bluebell season. We weren’t really expecting much but we had seen some bluebells in flower in gardens in Dobcross the day before. The forest path, like our garden, had plenty of bluebell plant leaves but no blooms as yet. Dobcross must have its own odd microclimate. Their snowdrops were in flower considerably earlier than ours too, and they were a good deal bigger.
The other, more sensible, reason to walk the forest path, apart from the fact that we felt the need for a little variety, was to check on how muddy it was. For a few weeks we have gone past the entrance and declared that it would still be too muddy as there had been so much rain. As the path goes down into the valley bottom it does get very soggy. However, we had had a few days of sunshine. This was the time to try it out.
We were pleasantly surprised. It was in splendid condition and in the section that gets really boggy there was evidence of some maintenance work having taken place. Fresh gravel had been spread. Maybe our conversations with councillors who came canvassing for our votes had borne fruit.
So we had a pleasant stomp through the trees in the sunshine. The previous day we had hiked up Lark Hill, aka The Quarry Road, also in the sunshine, and admired the daffodils. I still didn’t get around to tidying up the garden though. There might be photos of both these excursions tomorrow.
Today, by complete contrast, has been a day of damp and drizzle. Nobody was sitting outside sunning themselves today. But it was of no importance. I had arranged to meet the members of my Italian class for lunch at an Italian restaurant in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. We have our classes online, largely for economic reasons. We are too small a group to make it viable to hire a room for the class without putting up the prices or recruiting a lot more people. So every on e in a while we meet for lunch. For anyone interested, I can highly recommend Noi Quattro.
Our teacher friend was asking what everyone has planned for Easter Celebrations. In our case it will probably be the usual Sunday dinner but with added chocolate eggs. One of our number is planning an Easter Egg Hunt in her garden. If I tried that in the garden we share with the neighbours, it’s quite likely their dogs would find the eggs first - not a good idea as I am told by the dog-lovers in the family that chocolate is bad for dogs!
Anyway, here is a nice Easter story I came across:
“Small is Fun, March 7, 1939
Children who are small enough to pass under an archway in Bow, east London, qualify for a weekly parcel of toys. In 1907 the headmistress of Devons Primary School in Bow, Clara Grant, set up a wooden arch on the pavement, inscribed with 'Enter all ye children small, None can come who are too tall'. Any child able to pass through the arch without bending could receive a parcel of toys for a farthing. These parcels quickly became known as Farthing Bundles and Clara Grant as the Bundle Woman of Bow.”
What a nice idea!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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