park – My London+

A touch of spring

Yesterday, I took a stroll along one of my old ‘lockdown’ walking routes to admire the spring flowers. First was a local park where I used to jog (I jog no more!), and then via back roads and over a railway bridge to what is now known as Beeline Way, a path that runs along the railway line. Here the Friends of Beeline Way have planted spring bulbs. I’d heard that it looked pretty, so I decided to take a look for myself.

At the end of the path there is a playing field where boys were well into a game of football. It’s been many years since I spent Saturday mornings in a cold, wind-blown park watching my boys play in Little League. And it was always cold or wet. In winter I would lose the feeling in my toes. Even on sunny days, the wind would sweep across the field. While I hated the standing around, I loved watching them play.

Jay. I didn’t have much time to capture this, and only had my mobile with me.

And then these final two photos were taken in my back garden.

See you next week.

Sunrises and flowers

I’ve started jogging again, after saying ‘never again’! I’d been thinking about it for a few days before I took my first jog in six months. Once out, I realised how much I’d missed the early mornings. There’s hardly anyone around but a few dog walkers in the park. Sounds seem magnified, so the birds seem to sing louder. Being close to nature works for me, and there’s always the possibility of seeing a great sunrise.

Yesterday our clocks went forward one hour. It meant I was late up. I try to jog every other day, and yesterday was a jog day. However, I felt tired and decided to run in the smaller park nearer me instead of Beverley Park where I usually run. It was an overcast morning and blowy. No lovely sunrise, but you can’t get it every day! One day I ran in rain. There was the sun and rain, so there was a rainbow. And then there are the flowers in the park. It gets more colourful each time I go. This will be the second year I have seen spring flourish in Beverley Park. I ran through half the seasons last year, only stopping in September. I did continue to visit the park, though I wasn’t jogging. So I have been through the year there with all the colour changes, as well as the rain, the sun, the snow, mist and wind. Is there somewhere you go regularly to get away from everyday stress and to keep sane in this pandemic?

Now to the photos.

Waiting for the wind to disperse the seeds

The tennis courts (to the left) can re-open today. Fully booked all week!

A quick run through Blagdon Park on Sunday morning

My Week in Pictures (4)

This last week, aware that I am putting on weight (probably not helped by Easter chocolate!) I decided that I would do some jogging. Mindful that the last time I did this (in 2012) I did my knees in and could barely walk, I have taken it easy by not running every day. About every third day I am power walking up to a nearby park and then run one lap around it, stopping every so often to take photos (a good excuse for a breather). It’s early days yet, but I hope to continue. I go early (about 7am) when social distancing is no problem as there aren’t many people out.

I was thinking of posting some pictures of past visits to London, but all my photos from last year and further back are on a server which has gone into meltdown. My son tells me that when Windows 10 updates it does ‘something’ to the server and messes things up. Hence I could not get into it this morning, and though my son had a go at fixing it, he couldn’t manage it. I do have the photos on my old laptop so I might try and transfer them all onto memory sticks because this is jolly annoying.

So, here are the usual week’s offerings of trees, flowers and whatnot.