One of Those Days...

I was going to post on literary matters today, but once again life has got the better of me...

It's been one of those days when I really shouldn't have got out of bed in the morning.  I was driving away from home when I realised I might have forgotten my jodphur boots...  Then I got to the office and discovered that I was short of just one jodphur boot. I phoned my husband, asked him to have a look for the other one, in case I'd dropped it, and was resigned to the fact that I'd have to take a trip home before I ventured out to the stables..

I left work smartly at 4.  When I got home, I was told that the missing boot had not been found.  So I looked in the car again and found it!  It was stuck under the back seat all the time... 

Now, this was enough of a mishap, but then I realised that I'd taken a vital set of keys away from work.  There were no spares.  This meant I had to go horse-riding, then drive all the way back to the office to lock up. 

To add insult to injury, I was stuck in a traffic queue for ages at Dalry.  What's worrying about this is that the traffic chaos was in full cry at 6.30pm, but when I was driving back at 7 it had still not abated one iota.  And my colleague had reported this morning that when she'd been driving home at 4.30 yesterday, the traffic at this same junction was hurrendous.

This is worrying.  I'm inclined to blame it on the installation of a new set of traffic lights which has reduced traffic flow to a trickle.  But no doubt the transport planners will take the easy way out and build a new bypass to take Dalry out of the equation completely.  And if they do this, bang goes some more prime cycling country.

Over the past ten years, I've felt increasingly threatened on the roads and the back roads of Ayrshire are one of the few places I've got left where I feel almost safe.  If they put in yet another bypass, then another part of our environment will be eroded away.  My husband frequently comments that we're like an endangered species whose habitat is continually under attack. 

Maybe I'd better stick to walking.  There's a fascinating documentary about the Munro's on at the moment hosted by Nicholas Crane.  I've not yet bagged a Munro, and I'm running out of time to do so, 'cos I'm not getting any younger.  I prefer bagging Wainwrights.  And talking of Wainwrights, I'm getting Lake District withdrawal symptoms again...  It't not a good time of year for walking, I know, but that doesn't stop me wanting to go back there.

Here's a photograph I took on our last visit to the Lakes in  December.  It's of Helm Crag, near Grasmere, and it's taken from the shore of the Rydal Water.  Needless to say, we didn't get up to the tops on that visit - though we did manage to climb up to the summit of Loughrigg, which at around 1599 feet is just a mini-Fell.  It was a perfect walk for a winter's day, mind.  With the weather so inclement, we didn't inclined to do anything heroic and go for anything higher.  Discretion is the better part of valour and the views were still spectacular.

One of Those Days...

I was going to post on literary matters today, but once again life has got the better of me...

It's been one of those days when I really shouldn't have got out of bed in the morning.  I was driving away from home when I realised I might have forgotten my jodphur boots...  Then I got to the office and discovered that I was short of just one jodphur boot. I phoned my husband, asked him to have a look for the other one, in case I'd dropped it, and was resigned to the fact that I'd have to take a trip home before I ventured out to the stables..

I left work smartly at 4.  When I got home, I was told that the missing boot had not been found.  So I looked in the car again and found it!  It was stuck under the back seat all the time... 

Now, this was enough of a mishap, but then I realised that I'd taken a vital set of keys away from work.  There were no spares.  This meant I had to go horse-riding, then drive all the way back to the office to lock up. 

To add insult to injury, I was stuck in a traffic queue for ages at Dalry.  What's worrying about this is that the traffic chaos was in full cry at 6.30pm, but when I was driving back at 7 it had still not abated one iota.  And my colleague had reported this morning that when she'd been driving home at 4.30 yesterday, the traffic at this same junction was hurrendous.

This is worrying.  I'm inclined to blame it on the installation of a new set of traffic lights which has reduced traffic flow to a trickle.  But no doubt the transport planners will take the easy way out and build a new bypass to take Dalry out of the equation completely.  And if they do this, bang goes some more prime cycling country.

Over the past ten years, I've felt increasingly threatened on the roads and the back roads of Ayrshire are one of the few places I've got left where I feel almost safe.  If they put in yet another bypass, then another part of our environment will be eroded away.  My husband frequently comments that we're like an endangered species whose habitat is continually under attack. 

Maybe I'd better stick to walking.  There's a fascinating documentary about the Munro's on at the moment hosted by Nicholas Crane.  I've not yet bagged a Munro, and I'm running out of time to do so, 'cos I'm not getting any younger.  I prefer bagging Wainwrights.  And talking of Wainwrights, I'm getting Lake District withdrawal symptoms again...  It't not a good time of year for walking, I know, but that doesn't stop me wanting to go back there.

Here's a photograph I took on our last visit to the Lakes in  December.  It's of Helm Crag, near Grasmere, and it's taken from the shore of the Rydal Water.  Needless to say, we didn't get up to the tops on that visit - though we did manage to climb up to the summit of Loughrigg, which at around 1599 feet is just a mini-Fell.  It was a perfect walk for a winter's day, mind.  With the weather so inclement, we didn't inclined to do anything heroic and go for anything higher.  Discretion is the better part of valour and the views were still spectacular.