Danger

I admit to experiencing an extended frisson of unease today. I set off for a nice long walk, the wind a fairly stout northerly but otherwise mildish for the time of year. Earlier the eastern sky had been ablaze, its scarlet lights turning the trees a brilliant amber. You know what they say, Red Sky in the Morning etc, but I planned to stick to the lanes and I was well wrapped up. But I can never resist an unfamiliar footpath, and spotting one on my right after about half an hour I hopped over a stile and set off through a large meadow, diagonally uphill. It was a tough climb, and at the top I rested on another stile and looked around me. OK, I was well off the beaten track, and it suddenly occurred to me that if I had a heart attack now I'd be stuffed. Why hadn't I brought my phone? The next part of the walk was through a very soggy field of winter barley, and soon my wellies were weighed down with clinging mud, the heavy wet variety, yellow sticky clay. On and on I plodded, my enjoyment marred not by the conditions but the thought that had wormed its way into my head of how vulnerable I was, especially given the cold and the short dark days. My sister is always begging me to take the phone with me, but I rarely do.

I got back eventually of course. The walk merged into one of the hikes I used to do with the dog, and despite the now bare wintry scenery I knew exactly where I was. The thing about living alone is that nobody realises you're missing, at least not at once. I'm going to the cinema with a friend tonight, and I daresay she'd have worried if I hadn't turned up. But some days I neither see not speak to anybody. So it has to be the phone then. Resistance is not just foolish, it could be life-threatening.

A bit out of focus

On another note the mysterious tree/shrub in the front garden which I though might have been calycanthus occdentalis is producing masses of delicate pale yellow flowers all along its gaunt stems. It stands at over six feet tall, with summer leaves that are leathery and dark green. The stems seem to have a spicy scent. It's my first December in this house so I've never seen it flower before. But what can it be? Val the gardener was foxed, and so am I.

And now for something completely different. Denise the Usher. Ah!