I have been exploring footpaths I’ve not been along for years, listening to bird song, watching deer, walking into cobwebs and avoiding stingers and people. Avoiding people has been easy as I set off at 6.30am whilst everyone in the house is slumbering. I either walk from home though this is fraught as Hector passes comment and opinion on every bird or cat, or drive to the local woods and pick up a plethora of footpaths. I don't have a route planned,I just walk walk walk and follow footpaths I have driven past many times not giving them much thought as to where they lead to.
Every so often I stop to look at a plant as my brain whirrs and stirs with irritation until I remember the name I would have known, without hesitation, as a child. At times I text Jules who runs a Facebook group called Stay Well Simply and she tells me what the plant is and how beneficial it can be.
At times I look at the sky with the ever changing colours and clouds. It seems strange to see a plane nowadays and that's something I never thought I would say, living as we do under the Heathrow flight path. When we had lunch outside we saw a plane and turned, pointing to it saying "ooh a plane".
Some things go, some things are yet to be.
I will look back on this strange period fondly as I venture a little bit further each time and the loop becomes easier. Each step is closer to that time, whenever that time is.
Strangely yesterday morning I remembered words I read in a many moons ago ..
Someday was a distant spot we hungered for
but were anxious not to find too soon
I feel like that at times about the end of lockdown. Granted I miss my family, friends, freedom, spontaneity and routine but I also like the simpler way of life. There is less jostling, chaos, noise.
Sleep is important to me. I need sleep. We all need sleep, it's the time to rest, to recharge and relax. I find sleep therapeutic especially moreso now I am sugarfree. I know that whatever happens in the waking hours at the end of the day I will sink into my bed and sleep for 6 maybe 7 hours and I will wake up again ready to start a new page. I am not a morning person, I am an early riser and the early morning walks suit me as I am not ready to hurtle into conversation and opinion. I am content to be out walking and alone with my thoughts.
When this is all over I will still walk though maybe not as far in one go as I do now, instead I will return to 2 or 3 walks a day and the walks might become the water cooler times of my day or I might continue in blissful uninterrupted solitude.
Until then I will walk, think and ponder under changing skies.
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