To paraphrase Laurence Sterne, was ever blogger so interrupted?
Journeys up and down the country, a night in a plush hotel, a family wedding, more driving.
Hey ho though, so now we`re back to work...and walks. Freezing wind the other afternoon and talk of snow but now we`re back to "unseasonably mild".
Certainly a perfect golden autumn morning, the beech and larch looking particularly glorious, blue sky and fluffy clouds, skeins of geese overhead.....and two delirious dogs scurrying round, obviously also pleased to be back.
Camera dilemma though - go to ebay again or something new? Hmmmm.
Sunday 30 October 2011
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Tuesday 18.10.2011
Blowy, grey and cold this morning, wind and drenching rain tonight but at lunchtime, though still blustery, the sun shone and we walked on the railway again. Over bridges, through cuttings, under bridges...only just managed to resist the temptation to rotate the arms and make choo-choo noises. Why`s there never a child around when you need one?
Sunday 16 October 2011
Sunday 16.10.2011
Magnificent autumn morning, a cliche really.....blue sky with sun casting long shadows, a waning moon still high in the sky, warm enough for insects to be hovering in the grass (like miniature dragonflies - what are they?) but the air cool and still, birdsong in the wood,cackling crows and skeins of noisy geese overhead.......as Walt Whitman has it:
"give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities"
Mind you, later on in the same poem he also says that Nature can keep all that stuff because he really wants the city, with
"People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants",
only he was talking about Manhattan not Edinburgh.
Perhaps the dilemma is you need both to enjoy what he calls the "intense life","full to repletion and varied". Sounds good to me.
And I thought I`d fixed the camera but apparently not. May have to read the instructions. Bleah.
"give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities"
Mind you, later on in the same poem he also says that Nature can keep all that stuff because he really wants the city, with
"People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants",
only he was talking about Manhattan not Edinburgh.
Perhaps the dilemma is you need both to enjoy what he calls the "intense life","full to repletion and varied". Sounds good to me.
And I thought I`d fixed the camera but apparently not. May have to read the instructions. Bleah.
Thursday 13 October 2011
Thursday 13.10.2011
Where would we be without the internet?
Look at who and what I`ve found:
Railway Ramblers - http://www.railwayramblers.org.uk - and a book I must buy and have at my bedside.
The world is a better place for such people and such books.
Look at who and what I`ve found:
Railway Ramblers - http://www.railwayramblers.org.uk - and a book I must buy and have at my bedside.
The world is a better place for such people and such books.
Thursday 13.10.2011
Oh Lordy...can`t stop now...could be up all night.......
This account of the tortuous processes involved in getting the railway built in the first place is brilliant* - not least for the use of the word "impecuniosities" - and makes its subsequent demise at the hands of Beeching doubly poignant.
*http://mcjazz.f2s.com/BuchanRailway.htm
My camera was playing up today but this is a better pic than I could have taken anyway................
This account of the tortuous processes involved in getting the railway built in the first place is brilliant* - not least for the use of the word "impecuniosities" - and makes its subsequent demise at the hands of Beeching doubly poignant.
*http://mcjazz.f2s.com/BuchanRailway.htm
My camera was playing up today but this is a better pic than I could have taken anyway................
Thursday 13.10.2011
Much as the destruction of our railway network is to be deplored the old lines make pleasant walks. Dogs with me to work so we needed somewhere to walk at lunchtime and a friend suggested the nearby track.
Delightful despite grey day: up high one minute with views to all sides and then through a "cutting" with the dogs going crazy because the embankment was one huge rabbit warren.
And now I`ve become completely fascinated by its history:apparently we were on the old Formartine and Buchan Railway, built to link Peterhead and Fraserburgh to Aberdeen,the first 29 miles from Dyce to Mintlaw opening on 18th July 1861, the second 13 mile section from Maud to Peterhead opening the following year and the last 15 miles to Fraserburgh opening on 24th April 1865. Possibly only of any interest to railway geeks or nascent geeks: guilty M`lud......want to find out more.
Delightful despite grey day: up high one minute with views to all sides and then through a "cutting" with the dogs going crazy because the embankment was one huge rabbit warren.
And now I`ve become completely fascinated by its history:apparently we were on the old Formartine and Buchan Railway, built to link Peterhead and Fraserburgh to Aberdeen,the first 29 miles from Dyce to Mintlaw opening on 18th July 1861, the second 13 mile section from Maud to Peterhead opening the following year and the last 15 miles to Fraserburgh opening on 24th April 1865. Possibly only of any interest to railway geeks or nascent geeks: guilty M`lud......want to find out more.
Tuesday 11 October 2011
Tuesday 11.10.2011
Cold, cold, cold. Suddenly possible to imagine snow, not right now (despite the prophets of ice-age doom in some of yesterday`s press)but the wind had a sharp edge to it this evening.
Walking-really-very-fast the only way to get the blood flowing after a relatively sedentary day. Dogs zig-zagged in and out of the trees, the pheasants springing up out of their way with that distinctive alarm call.
The beasts have vanished from the fields which is another landmark in the year.
By 7 o`clock the light had all but gone but the moon was up, on the other side of the sky from this morning, lighting our way home: Orion still in his bed though.
And it really works, walking like that, warms you from the inside out, your soul as well as your body - I`ve been glowing like a Ready-Brek kid ever since.
Walking-really-very-fast the only way to get the blood flowing after a relatively sedentary day. Dogs zig-zagged in and out of the trees, the pheasants springing up out of their way with that distinctive alarm call.
The beasts have vanished from the fields which is another landmark in the year.
By 7 o`clock the light had all but gone but the moon was up, on the other side of the sky from this morning, lighting our way home: Orion still in his bed though.
And it really works, walking like that, warms you from the inside out, your soul as well as your body - I`ve been glowing like a Ready-Brek kid ever since.
Tuesday 11.10.2011
A random post: at 20 to 6 this morning there was an even more beautiful moon and a strange optical illusion as the thin cloud drifted across it but the rainbow circle didn`t move. And Orion was there - wondering where I`ve been. Maybe a few more weeks before he`s visible in the evenings.
Sunday 9 October 2011
Sunday 09.10.2011
Nearly full moon tonight as I drove home from work,shining through thin cloud and in the process creating a beautiful rainbow ring around itself.
Plenty of cloud this morning too, a uniformly grey start to the day as we took an hour`s tour of the woods.
Couldn`t have been more different to my day in Edinburgh on Friday - warm and sunny and glorious views from the top of Calton Hill:
plus elegant buildings, lively little back streets and alleyways with good independent coffee shops and a plethora of charity shops. My love affair with Auld Reekie intensifies.
Plenty of cloud this morning too, a uniformly grey start to the day as we took an hour`s tour of the woods.
Couldn`t have been more different to my day in Edinburgh on Friday - warm and sunny and glorious views from the top of Calton Hill:
plus elegant buildings, lively little back streets and alleyways with good independent coffee shops and a plethora of charity shops. My love affair with Auld Reekie intensifies.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Tuesday 04.10.2011
Only another week or so for these after work walks. Up the road just after 6 on a blustery cool autumn evening, more dramatic skies,
crows swirling across the fields to get to their roosts for the night, the light nearly gone by the time we returned an hour later.
And there`s snow forecast for the high hills this weekend..........so much for steamy jungles......
crows swirling across the fields to get to their roosts for the night, the light nearly gone by the time we returned an hour later.
And there`s snow forecast for the high hills this weekend..........so much for steamy jungles......
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