Last week I had a bit of a whinge about slot deprivation. Although it’s no better this week - Waitrose slots (I really have to concentrate to prevent spellcheck changing that to waitress) are still booked up for months - luckily friends and neighbours are letting us share theirs so we’re not starving yet. And Rosie is coordinating orders for the village for meat and fish from the local butcher and fishmonger which helps sustain them in business as well as keeping food on our table. And the weather continues to be warm and sunny. And we’re fit, well and safe. So we count our blessings.
And continue, in many ways, as normal. All of which gave me the chance to replenish my diminishing firewood supply, thanks to Forestry England, who had just sawn up a local fallen beech. I nabbed the debris, did a bit of chainsawing and log splitting and bingo, logs for the next couple of years. Most enjoyable and very therapeutic.
And we walked to the sea and back. And ambled through the forest, awestruck, as one is every year, by the miracle of fresh leaves and new growth. And came across a field of cowslips. And loitered around the garden bewitched by the freshness of early morning and birdsong.
And then a brother, a parkrun devotee, spoilt it all by asking if I could do 5km in 45 minutes. Of course, I could walk 5km in 45 minutes. So it was out with Rosie’s smartphone that measures steps, distance and flights climbed - and despite mowing the grass earlier in the afternoon (and having done a long dog walk in the morning) - I walked for 45 minutes in sprightly fashion accompanied again by the dogs. Well, according to the magic mobile I took 6364 steps, covered 4.1km and climbed 3 flights. Now something’s wrong here (and this is where you can either concentrate because it’s interesting or else switch off because it’s not…your choice): 4.1km is 2.548 miles which means I walked at 3.397mph. And the average person takes 2000 paces to walk a mile. So theoretically I should only have taken 5096 steps to walk my 2.548 miles. Yet the not-so-smart phone calculated my paces as 6364…1268 more than I needed to walk the 2.548 miles. So either I walked much further than the mobile calculated - a further 1115 yards in fact - or the whole thing was a waste of time. Mind you, as time is not of the essence these days perhaps I’ll have another go tomorrow. Or perhaps not.