Mud

A decent night was passed. I awoke just before 05.00 to scurry to the kitchen and make myself a hot drink. H did not stir so I left her for a bit.
And then I had to stir her and I’m not sure she did what I expected. OK then, I thought, cross your legs.

And off I went for my swim. It was a foggy, misty morning and the drive was through greylight, rather than daylight.
The roads are drying out, and some heavy machinery is taking steps to clear the drains in Hagbourne where the road floods. Similarly, someone (the landowner) needs to take steps to clear the roadside ditch between Blewbury and Hagbourne. Now that the road is less flooded, I could see the overflowing ditch must have spilled its guts across the road. There is clearly a blockage somewhere.

Back home, I suggested to H that she should pay another visit outside. A very sudden interest was shown when she spied an intruder in the garden. A black cat which took itself, at speed, between the shed and the fence. Too tight a squeeze for H. And then with considerable insolence the cat climbed the fence and brazenly sat on top of it.
By now, H was well on her way through fifty fits and had to be summoned inside. I think this is a new cat …perhaps it belongs to W and B’s new neighbours.

The other day W was telling me she had had a very difficult time with Burt the evening before. Apparently he couldn’t move off the sofa and was moaning and yelling at her. She thought she was going to require paramedic help but they sorted themselves out. I do feel for her.

I did battle with the contents of my wardrobe and then stuffed them back inside, secure in the knowledge that this ‘sort out’ was not a quick job. I put it in my memory bank for later.

Next, we set off for Hagbourne and the Millennium Wood. This consists of small plantations of different types of trees. There is a wood of the same name at Long Wittenham. In the middle of the Hagbourne Millennium Wood is a clearing with a stone circle.

We parked up near the wood and set off to explore. We did not get very far because all routes led to mud. Untraversible mud.

We eventually found an unmuddy route alongside some paddocks.

And then made it into the woodland and found the clearing. It looked all green and pretty in the sunlight. But this masked a treacherous quagmire that lay below the grass.

It was a very pleasant experience sitting on a bench – enjoying the sun. I will return but probably to use the cycle tracks but not to the woodland until the ground has dried out a bit.

I returned home to continue watching the space shuttle documentary. It is worth a watch- a very sad story about a tragedy that might have been avoided had NASA been more diligent.

I tried hard to avoid falling asleep in the chair…

Thought for the day