Cooler

Thank goodness, I had a really great sleep, probably something to do with being awake all yesterday. And it was so much cooler overnight and a gentle breeze tickled my calves via the open window. ‘Quite a comfortable night,’ I thought to myself as I made my cup of coffee soon after 05.00.

We arose quite slowly and some of us had brekkie before we took ourselves to Pangbourne Meadows where Eleanor and Kallie went on another route march and I walked a much shorter stroll, but which was very pleasant, as I talked to various people and explored various text messages.

There was quite an altercation between two men over their dogs which had an unpleasant fight. One of the men seemed to be rather unpleasant too and he employed colourful, but boring and limited vocabulary. I thought there was going to be a punch up. H decided briefly that she was going to help sort out the embattled dogs, but thought better, and backed off. They were tiny dogs and one was on the lead. I didn’t see the onset.

BUT… I have never heard such anguish, and a painful and scared yelping as followed the battle. One of the little dogs was seriously traumatised. Its owner, after the bitter exchange of words, disappeared onto a boat and the unpleasantly aggressive swearing monster stormed off towards the car park.

Next up, or maybe before this, I chatted to a local lady who was talking about the litter. A load of scattered rubbish had greeted us when we arrived. There had clearly been some revelry last night, ( unsurprising, given the heat) and, whilst the revellers could be bothered to lug their refreshments down to the meadow, they could not be bothered to remove their debris to one of the nearby litter bins. Or even home. The local council employ a patrol to clear such mess up. And it had been cleared up quite quickly.

This lady also mentioned the group of young teenagers who are currently terrorising the local roads. 13 year olds. I have read about them on local social media, and have felt quite shocked because they seem to be fearless, think themselves above the law, and one of the mothers certainly thinks to commit vandalism is acceptable in the absence of suitable entertainment being provided. And has openly stated as much, supporting her son. Amongst other activities, they ride their bikes along the pavements oblivious to pedestrians, break off wing mirrors, key cars, hurl abuse around and vandalise public toilets. All very delightful.

The police now patrol the meadows on horseback and locals are trying to build a body of evidence to support their case against these delinquent children. Apparently they belong to a group moved into the area from Thatcham.

Eleanor reappeared with Kallie to join me on the bench after my exciting morning.

We moved back off to the car and home, although I did take a little jaunt to Cholsey Tesco Express to rebuy some of the items I failed to get at Waitrose yesterday.

Once home we both seemed to be hungry so re-ate yesterday’s lunch. Or ate another version of it.

But – today we ate my first cucumber from the garden . And how good did it taste? Very good. It had a delicate flavour, which Eleanor pointed out that supermarket cucumbers lacked. I also plucked some beans.

The beans were added to rice to make stuffed peppers which I prepped and we ate in the evening. Along with tiropitas so it was a Greek evening.

I don’t think we did much in the afternoon. My eyes may have briefly closed but I kept my desire under control for most of the day except for one episode of Clarksons Farm.

Kallie was lucky enough to get a second wander where she came up against some balloons at a kiddies’ party. I believe there were fewer balloons when E and K left the Rec.

The day has been massively cooler and quite pleasant, which was a great relief. Tomorrow we may go to Greenham.

Thought for the Day