I AM becoming addicted to going for walks around the borough.
They provide space to think, force fresh air into lungs made sluggish by central heating, and (hopefully) slow the decline into crumbledom.
Another bonus – by the way I’m not talking marathons here, just a 30 to 50 minute fairly regular trot – is that you see more of the area in which you live.
Shoehorned out of my car, I’ve discovered Hillingdon is not held together by road signs and traffic lights. Beyond the windscreen wipers there’s grass and rivers and real weather which can’t be experienced while driving.
Real life has its disappointments, though. Last week, I was walking around the muddy common in north Uxbridge rather than across it as usual.
One step on the waterlogged grass had convinced me I was likely to end up like Lindow woman, the name given to the ancient remains of a female (carbon dated to AD250) who was found in a peat bog in the North West of England.
Surrounded by evidence of the recent extreme weather – potholes, scattered branches – I was pleased to see that the ditches around the green, over and beyond my few squelchy steps, had done their job collecting water.
But also in these gulleys, right next to the Green Flag awarded to Hillingdon Council for its good work on the common, floated lager cans, wine and vodka bottles and several orange Sainsbury’s bags.
Later, walking by the River Frays, my walk was again spoiled by a heap of polystyrene and other rubbish dumped on the river bank. I hope when community service orders are dished out, some offenders will be charged with cleaning up these eyesores.
In spite of their polluted environment and being buffeted by rain and wind for several days, the local swans were as well-groomed as ever. How is it that in the winter months, while we all resemble drowned rats, they look as though they’ve just had a wash and blow dry?
Talking of which, Mr F says his current irritation is the canonisation of swan-like Mary Berry. He accepts she’s a cookery icon with longevity and wears colourful jackets, but says she’s not Mother Theresa. I’ll cancel the lemon and poppy seed tray bake I was planning to rustle up then….
Email me! bmailbarbara@gmail.com.
