The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Tuesday 13 November 2007

The Walk That Wasn't

On Sunday we went for a walk! (Yes that did deserve an exclamation mark considering recent performance.)

It wasn’t really worthy of any note at the time as we only had a few short hours to spare, so it was just a very quick jaunt over local fields and the local estate. The only novel feature was that a Nimrod flew over. Being a bit of a strange location to see a low-flying Nimrod, we assumed that it was performing a fly-by at a local Remembrance Day Service (at the Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, perhaps?). Either that or they were just out flying around in unusual areas whilst checking for fuel leaks in the bomb bay…

Once we got home
I finally got around to emailing the local council to try to elicit a name and address for the person to whom I should write about missing stiles, locked gates and the like. I got three emails in return, all giving me different answers, but this is something about which I’m belatedly going to get on my high horse. I’m fed up of having to climb over obstacles on our local Public Rights of Way.

Anyway, that was Sunday. Today, we very nearly went for a slightly more proper walk (only slightly, mind). With four hours of the day free, a plan was formed, a map was printed and out we set early this morning. Alas, the plan didn’t come to fruition.

We were ten minutes away from home (but on a strict deadline for an appointment) when one of us realised that their necessary footwear was still at home. We didn’t have the time to return for it.

I won’t mention any names as to who it was without suitable footwear, but it wasn’t me! (and anyway, being the fashion icon that I am, I’ve almost always got an old-but-serviceable pair of walking shoes on my feet.)

So, the walk didn’t happen.

It wasn’t the end of the world. We had other, far more useful, things with which we were able to fill the day (hanging doors, that sort of thing).

The new plan is to pop out tomorrow instead. Shoes will, of course, be top of the checklist.

2 comments:

  1. your local council will have an official Rights of Way Officer - thats the title you want to ask for on the switchboard

    ReplyDelete
  2. Investigations so far tell me that my local council (i.e. the borough council) does not have such an officer. The county council does. Let's just hope that someone sitting in offices 25 miles away cares about the state of footpaths surrounding this village.

    ReplyDelete