Sunday 12th November

 Carpe diem as they say so we were out there just after nine under the clearest of clear ice blue skies,  the white frost on the grass crunching satisfactorily underfoot. The sun, though still quite low in the sky, was beginning to melt the ice on the road and the cold nipped at the nose and ears despite there not being the whisper of any wind. It truly was the most glorious of autumn mornings, the mist suspended over the ground in places or beginning to swirl and dissipate as the sun found it.

Stopped probably too often to take pictures but it`s impossible to do it justice really - at least it is with my camera. The contrast in colours was irresistible though 

as was the clarity of the view.

and the almost mystical light.

It was the kind of morning, empty of people and especially with only the one dog at my heels (the one that doesn`t need to be on a lead because she always comes back the minute she`s called 😉) that demanded a longer walk.

So, with the mist still ambushing us round corners where the sun hadn`t quite penetrated,

we headed back out on to the road, still slippy in places, and even took a slight detour for a pic of the little graveyard at the crossroads which looked especially peaceful with the long shadows on the neatly cut grass.

And then, one of those serendipitous moments that is one of the great delights of walking (and also because we were still lingering, unwilling to abandon the day) I stopped for a proper look at the phone box (mothballed some time ago) and the post box next to it, still operational. As I lined it up for a pic, wondering how long it has been there, I noticed something I hadn`t registered before, despite using the box every now and again over the last 30 something years.

Not the handy little cover over the slot which keeps the contents safe from the driving rain and snow.....no,suddenly realised something I might have expected to see wasn`t there...........here`s a clue.

I pondered this as we finally turned for home, the frost still lingering on shaded ground the sun was never going to reach, 

sheep grazing peacefully where it was spreading a little warmth.

A quick Google when I got home revealed (courtesy of the postal Museum - who knew?) this delicious little snippet:

"You will find, however, that in Scotland pillar boxes do not have ‘EIIR’ on them. This is because some Scottish people did not accept Queen Elizabeth as the second monarch of her name, since Queen Elizabeth I was never ruler of Scotland. Earlier pillar boxes with the cypher were vandalised and even blown up, and because of this they instead depict the Scottish Crown."

Yay! Quite right too. 😉

So - coffee, a shower, a light brunch of leftover kedgeree (very P.G. Wodehouse) and I reckon the Diem had been well and truly Carped.