Some of my walks are planned with meticulous attention to detail, lots of map looking and even lists of instructions to follow. Not many though. Most are hastily cobbled together wanderings with no proper aim. Quite a few end up with me lost and wondering what on earth I was thinking. At the end of November 2013, with my redundancy letter sitting on the coffee table I went for one of the latter. Continue reading a badly planned Sunday walk – first published 24 November 2013
October 28 2013 and the world outside my morning window was a scary looking affair, trees blowing all over the show, rain hammering down. The news was full of it, the worst storms in decades had finally hit the south of England with ninety mile an hour winds, torrential rain and flooding. I say finally because the weatherman had been warning us about it for days and I was beginning to think it was a bit like all those barbecue summers they promise us, not going to come to anything. Continue reading Going to sea in large vegetables is a bad idea – first published 28 October 2013
Lanzarote, and another day of lazing on the beach. It was a holiday after all, even if I was beginning to feel slightly under exercised and over fed. There was the occasional stroll down to the marina with coffee in Nud d’Naplun. While we were there we sampled the delights of the frozen yogurt shop next door. I’m not sure if the yogurt was low fat or not and the toppings most certainly were not but it served as lunch so I guess it didn’t matter too much. Continue reading Timanfaya National Park – first published 21 October 2013
20 April 2016
With the cool salt air in my face I strolled across the grassy area where the kite skateboarders hang out thinking about ice cream. Sadly there were no lads performing acrobatics with their skateboards today. In fact there was no one about at all. Still the sun sparkled on the sea and the grass along the promenade was dotted with daisies. It was enough to keep me smiling. Continue reading Lost in West Wood
After a light lunch and a rest Commando declared he felt up to a little more gentle walking and suggested we have a look at the canals. This sounded a lot more like it as far as I was concerned, although I knew he wouldn’t be anywhere near up to the walk I had originally planned, so off we went. Continue reading Avoiding the marathon
28 March 2016
“Just a little further,” CJ said, still looking at the pigeons surveying the storm damage. Usually that’s my line and I wasn’t sure of the wisdom of going much further when the storm seemed to be gathering all around us. “I’d like to see the greylag geese.”
Despite my misgivings, we carried on. Maybe our luck would hold. If not I could blame CJ, although that wouldn’t be much use when we were both soaking wet. Oddly, the sky over Portswood, where it had been black and dropping rain earlier, was now blue, probably because this black clouds were now in front of us. Continue reading Just a little further
27 March 2016
Typically, as soon as building work stopped for the Easter break the weather took a turn for the wet and windy. The first chance I got to go out walking was Easter Sunday and it was blustery with the odd spot of rain. Still, it was now or never. There was somewhere I’d been meaning to visit for a while and our Thursday afternoon arch shopping trip told me time was running out. By coincidence, it is a building site of sorts and I was half reluctant to go there. Continue reading Last chance to see…
The beginning of October 2013 was the beginning of the end of my job with Silver Helm. There was one last meeting with the HR witch and the New New COO and I was determined to have my say even though I knew fighting was futile. Did it make me feel better? Not really, but I’m pretty sure it made them feel worse. Continue reading Once more unto the breach dear friends – first published 4 October 2013
Promotions are usually something to be celebrated. Most bring extra money in the pay packet, more interesting work, further opportunities and job security. At the end of September 2013 I discovered it isn’t always the case. This particular promotion slithered like a snake, unannounced, unwanted and with a venomous bite. Continue reading Here we go again – first published 24 September 2013
12 March 2016
A Saturday trip to town with Commando gave me a chance to have a look at the progress on the WestQuay II, or Watermark development. Let’s face it, I didn’t have the money to go shopping and I had time to kill. Besides, I’d read some old stone walls had been uncovered at the base of Catchcold Tower and I wanted a look before they covered them up again. Continue reading Turn and face the strange