7th October 2023
The sun was shining, and an excellent time to take a walk around the town. Mattock is not a picturesque place, the houses are built with a sandstone that gives everything a yellow tone.
The streets are narrow and busy with traffic.
There was a pathway ahead, an older woman was walking her dog, she had a stick to help her balance, the dog was eager for some exercise. I could see the lady had a ball in her hand and there was an open field ahead.
She moved the ball into her right palm and swung her arm back, both me and the dog expected the ball to hurl towards the field. Then, possibly the worst throw ever, it traveled a few feet into a clump of stingers. The dog looked disappointed, “You must really hate me“ I felt the dog was thinking as he tried to find the ball.
We walked through the cemetery past two Romany graves, highly decorated, but would have more in keeping if there were piles of scrap metal around them. Onward past the church and on to the shopping area. There was a long queue outside a bakery resembling one that you get outside a Russian supermarket. The similarities were, there were very few cakes left in the display cabinets, and it wasn’t even halfway through the day.
Once we were back Nicola helped me to sort through all the clothes I had brought down.
This was the first step in clearing out stuff I no longer needed. On the one hand it was sad to separate the good clothes to donate and the rest to dispose. But it was no time for sentiment this was common sense.
This is just a pin prick of what I have to do this month, but I felt good that it has started.
Another Lifetime to go 