I was going to say that today got off to a slow start but, considering that I got out of bed almost immediately the alarm rang for the second time, that’s not really the case. However, time has gone past and here we are in the afternoon. Maybe it’s just me going slow.
For weeks and weeks now, every Tuesday evening, usually quite late when he remembers, Phil gives my bike the once-over - well, he checks brakes and tyres - prepping it for my departure to the Uppermill Wednesday market. And Wednesday morning has come around with rain and wind, making this fair-weather cyclist reluctant to go out on two wheels. Okay, on two of those Wednesdays I had appointments with the optician and had no plan to cycle anywhere but there have been a prodigious number of rainy Wednesday mornings.
So this morning I looked out, saw that it appeared to be fine and got myself organised to cycle. Of course I did get rained on, or rather drizzled on, but not enough to be a real nuisance. The bridle paths I ride on were extremely puddly after last night’s rain, which was heavy, and It was probably easier to be on a bike and ride through the puddles slowly, if rather splashily, than to be on foot and have to circumnavigate them.
On all the bridle paths at the moment there seem to be wide “trample zones” where walkers have gone off the path to avoid the puddle. This is not good for the local environment; a all path-side plants don’t grow and plant diversity is reduced. That’s the end of the eco-rant!
Maybe I cycled slowly or maybe it’s the fact that I seemed to find a fair number of people to stop and chat to but it was late morning by:the time I returned home. In my defence, I did cycle on to Greenfield Tesco in my hunt for a few items that neither the coop nor the market sell.
One of my stop ’n’ chats was with the Don Zapato, or whatever his name is, who has the shoe and slipper stall on the market. Somehow a simple “good morning” led to comments on the weather which led to discussion ef Easter processions cancelled because of rain and wind which led to visits to Spain. He confessed that he voted in favour of Brexit but would now vote to stay in the EU if we were to have another referendum. Fat chance of that!
He was persuaded by Nigel Farage’s rhetoric about taking back control and such like but since then has reached a point in his life where he wants to spend more time in Spain, or even go and live there. Like many people he has realised that life was simpler without Brexit restrictions. Too late, mate.
I also had a quite random chat about allotments with a chap who was taking photos of land by the canal in Uppermill. The photos related to a project to turn more canal-side land into allotments, as has been done successfully closer to Uppermill centre. He turned out to be someone important in Uppermill Spiritualist Church (who knew it still had regular events and organisers?) as well as being president of Delph Allotment Society. We talked about the satisfaction of growing your own vegetables, the second such conversation I have had this week. The first was yesterday with the chap on the industrial estate who runs a workshop for fixing, cleaning and polishing expensive cars. He lives at New Barn, close to Slackcote, where we lived some 30, almost 40, years ago and grew our own potatoes. The New Barn resident keeps pigs and chickens and thinks we live in the best place in the world.
Today’s allotment man revealed that five people have been asked to leave their Delph allotments, for failure to maintain them properly and actually grow stuff. They have been snatched up by people on the waiting list. I have often contemplated applying for one of the plots but maybe I have grown lazy as I have grown older. Would I be ejected for neglecting the plot? I think that nowadays I would be as much a fair-weather gardener as I am a fair-weather cyclist. Use it or lose it!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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