What A Relief

Date 21^st July 2016

Dear Diary...

After living through the hell of Tuesday's hottest day, I was so reassured that today had cooled down slightly and the heat of the sun had been blocked out on occasions by some much needed cloud, allowing me to take a trip to the park with a friend and her young son.

The previous evening had been spent sitting in the garden, playing a couple of games of scrabble of which we had both won a game each and watching the sun go down over the roof tops. I have to admit it was very pleasant sitting under the shade of the trees, the only sound coming from some wood pigeons cooing above, we seem to have gained many of these species of birds, as I'm constantly finding egg shells on the lawn to which I presume the baby has already hatched and not died...hopefully not! I might add.

But we were desperate for some exercise, so set off in her car about 1 pm, luckily there wasn't too much traffic on the road. I have to admit to hating being a passenger in a car when the sun is hot and there's no air, but today was fine with a nice cool breeze, followed by a mixture of cloud and sun. Adele was blaring out over the car music system, my friend loves her music.

Arriving at the park we were pleased to note there was plenty of parking space and my friend left the car under the shade of some trees.

Her young boy who is two and a half, was excited because he knew we'd be heading for the ducks, which he loved to feed.

First we had a much needed walk through the woods talking much of the way about anything and nothing, more or less putting the world to right, as you do. It always amazes me how when you walk in woods or parks, people usually always say good afternoon, or of course good morning, something you never seem to hear when walking to town, or along the streets, unless of course you know them.

We saw a lot of young students sitting around, so I presumed the colleges have either broken up, or the kids are between exams. Yippee! Holidays are just around the corner.

There's a cafe close to the lake, so we headed off to get a couple of coffees and an ice cream for her son. Kids seemed to be enjoying their play antics, running around chasing each other, while mums took the time to chat. I just don't know where the children get their energy from, it's all I can do to walk leave alone run...Oh! To be young again.

Now it was time for Oliver to feed the ducks, so armed with a bag of bread, we headed over to the lake. His little face lit up when he scrunched up the bread and tried to aim the bits at the ducks, though most of it ended up on the ground, so I showed him what to do. Soon there was major quacking with anticipation from those feathered birds, each one desperate to get to the crumbs first. I always love to watch the swans, but fear getting too close as they can also be frightening if they decide to attack, so we held back from them. There's a place further up the lake where the swans are nesting, it's pretty wild and not easy to get to, but we managed to track the nests down, I always consider these birds special, knowing that they stay with their partners for life.

Thank goodness the weather remained cool and the rain held off.

We stayed at the park for about two hours and it was such a relief to get my legs moving again, just hate not having any energy to walk.

As soon as I got home, it was straight onto the computer to write about my trip to the park, I didn't want to forget one moment. Little Oliver will sleep well tonight too.