Despite the cross daubed on my sister's door - her family's version of the plague is much worse than ours - we dropped by this morning to collect our tiny nephew and niece and take them for a walk so that their mum could put her feet up for a little while.
Both the snuffly tots snoozed in their buggy as we pushed through Chorlton Meadows. It's the first time we've been there since Benji died in September, so it was a nostalgic trundle as we remembered all the wonderful walks we've done across there thanks to him. No walks there since September, I've just not been able to face it without him.
I knew I wanted to go there today and reconnect with the life force in that beautiful place. No meadows walks - and also not a single swim since Salford. My mermaid tail has started to curl a little and I've put on one stone in weight! But maybe now I'm starting to come out of mourning.
As we pushed through all the familiar places I reflected how I've missed these walks as part of my poetry process. I've written a couple since Benji died, but now I realise how important to my writing the daily communing with Nature is.
And then this evening.....
My sister invited us over for a little New Year's Eve cup of cheer and I wanted to buy her a bunch of flowers so we popped to our local Morrisons.
As we stood in the checkout queue..... suddenly I saw a face I recognised.....
Would you Adam and Eve it!! - Martine from Silencing The Bell!!
She moved up to these parts in November with her family - I knew her from her picture on her blog - let's face it, she stood no chance of recognising me! - so I scooted over and introduced myself !
What a serendipitous end to the old year, auspicious start to the new!!
Happy New Year To You - To Us - One And All !!!
