My mind is constantly telling me to "Get running, you've rested long enough". My body, in no uncertain terms says "Sod off, I need sunshine on my skin with healing ultra-violet, like I'll soon be getting in Menorca".
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A little jog up to the Castle (Click to enlarge) |
Not that I've been completely inactive. Every now and then I'll break into a little jog for a hundred yards or so, just to remind the old legs I'm not done yet. Like last week on a braw day up Castle Hill when all the world, and their dogs, were taking advantage of warm Spring sunshine.
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A well behaved Labradoodle playing with children |
Gorse was flowering at its glorious best giving off a heavy scent of vanilla. In years gone by it was a favourite haunt of yellowhammers that bombarded us with their constant requests of 'a little bit of bread and no cheese'. Last week I heard not one.
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Gorse |
Blackthorn was looking good too. At its best it often presages a cold spell of weather - the dreaded blackthorn winter. It may have been thinking about it for days later the temperature certainly plummeted. Each Spring when I see the wonderful blossoms I make a mental note to revisit them in September and gather their juicy sloes. I never remember!
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Blackthorn |
In Springtime next door's garden puts mine to shame when a beautiful camelia comes into flower and outshines everything else in the neighbourhood. I really must sneak some cuttings off it when they aren't looking...
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Camelias |
In the gloaming, just after sunset, a strange object appeared in the sky. It resembled a comet and stayed there unmoving until light faded. It was a long way away, just above the horizon and difficult to photograph without a tripod to steady the camera when zooming. My old hands tend to shake a little, but I did my best.
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Comet? Or what? |
Lastly, after 65 years, my service medal arrived in the post. Upon demob I was homeless, so nowhere to post a medal to at that stage. My guardian had died while I was on active service in the Canal Zone, her house sold and all my belongings mysteriously vanished.
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For services in the Canal Zone |
Earlier this year I got talking to a guy on a bus who'd also served in Egypt during the Suez crisis. "Did you get your medal?" he asked "No" I replied, "didn't even know I was entitled to one". At the guy's suggestion I applied to the Ministry of Defence and after a couple of months they duly obliged with my boxed souvenir.
It brought back many memories. I was a medic at RAF Kabrit on the Great Bitter Lake. I was also a marksman and often had to ride shotgun on ambulances driving the 22 miles to the Military Hospital at Fayid.
Thankfully, I never had to shoot anyone!