The UK is currently experiencing a rare phenomenon: we have sunshine and temperatures above 20 °c. I usually don't take the dog 'up the park' especially in winter, as it gets too muddy.
I usually walk Charlie around the town in the morning. He likes it because, if he's lucky, the local butcher gives him some turkey, and we also meet all his regular friends. While heading back home yesterday, we walked past the entrance to our local park. Because we'd set out earlier than usual, I figured I had enough time left before I needed to head to work and could let him walk around the park off the lead.
We're fortunate to have such a large public park; COVID-19 was a blessing in disguise. True, it was used before, but when the Lockdown was invoked and the only way you could (supposedly) get out of the house was for some exercise, the park suddenly saw more visitors than it had ever seen in its entire history, and those Victorians loved a walkabout. Having discovered not only a park but also a fairly good one, the local townspeople have continued to visit it. On weekends, it's fairly busy, which is nice to see.
This morning, after our successful visit the day before, I took Charlie to the park again. Walking through the small wooded avenue is one of Charlie's favourite activities because of all the wildlife that sees it as home. It leads up to what should have been a wildlife pond. The council spent a fortune clearing an area, creating some log seating and digging out a pond. The only problem was that they lined it with the wrong clay and found out it was going to cost an arm and a leg to put it right. So, the project was abandoned, and the site is now overgrown as nature takes back the land.
Walking past this bench is actually a pretty sad event. When we first took Charlie to the park and walked him up the top end, there was a group of old men who would all meet up and hang out on that bench, reminiscing about 'the old days', a bit like a scene from the TV program Last of the Summer Wine. All of them have passed away now. I shall never forget some of the local information they discussed, such as: "Remember when Doctor [Name redacted] threw himself off the top of that tower block?" 😱
My actual name is Pete. This is why I have the username dickturpin
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