Incredibly, it's the best part of two months since I've gone for a walk. In fact, apart from some golf with my elder son in New England towards the end of May, the only exercise I've taken of any significance was a lengthy walk during that visit - when the conditions at that time meant that I spent over a day recovering from what probably amounted to a minor case of heat exhaustion.
Since returning to the UK, both my better-half and I - although not 'technically' ill - have been suffering from what we have supposed are the effects of insect bites we received before we came home. Even now, we have to apply antiseptic cream to the affected areas from time to time. Anyway, for whatever reason, we have felt quite lethargic - in her case, unusually so; for my part, I'm pretty good at doing nothing if there's nothing to do.
Fortunately, the treadmill I bought a few months ago has helped prevent the joints from seizing up altogether. So, this afternoon, I ventured out for a gentle stroll along some of the local footpaths and bridleways which require the least amount of effort to negotiate.
The first thing I noticed is how quickly the bracken has grown.....
The second thing I noticed was less attractive - and that was the rubbish which had been discarded (almost certainly by bikers).
The third thing which caught my eye was an interesting avenue of trees which had been planted by a comparatively recent arrival to the area. Somewhat cruelly referred to as typically nouveau riche by some of the indigenous population - and in a manner often associated with Premier League footballers - the newcomer bought a rather nice property with a fair bit of land only to raze the house to the ground and replace it with a building some have compared to a supermarket.
In time, although there was already a perfectly adequate entrance, it seemed that the new owner relished the prospect of constructing a rather grand new avenue of trees leading down to what could become an alternative entrance at the other end of the property........
The newly-planted avenue is shown above leading down from the house (part of which can just be seen near the centre of the photo and behind the new trees)........
Viewed from the opposite direction, this photo shows the end of the new row of trees as it headed towards a gate (left of photo) leading into a field which separates the newcomer's property from the road into which he had hoped his avenue would emerge.
Somewhat inconveniently however, the fact that the current owner of the offending field had no intention of selling hadn't been taken into account. So the half-completed avenue of trees now acts as a monument to what some might perceive to be the arrogance of 'new money' to imagine that 'old money' could be bought at any cost.
