Heatwave

Ruth arrived at 1pm with most of the components of lunch, and it was just as well I had to stop working in the garden then because, when I tried to get up from a kneeling position, I had no legs. The mental prompts I thought I had put in place just don't work. "Get up and stretch at regular intervals," I exhort myself, but do I remember to follow my own urgings? Do I 'eck as like. Anyway, the legs recovered quickly and we sat in the garden relishing the sunshine and the absolute, total absence of noise apart from birdsong. My old friend couldn't live where I do - too isolated - but she loves being here. We couldn't linger though as we had business to attend to in Woodbridge, shoes to return, new ones to buy. That accomplished we parked the car by Melton Station and walked up the river towards town. The tide was out, the curlews calling their watery cry, and we barely passed another person during the best part of two hours. A hand-written sign on the bank beside one of the houseboats promised tea, cakes and lunches, but we were a week early. It was an Easter event only. Shame, as we'd have killed for a cuppa. Hugo enjoyed the freedom off the lead, but even he was wilting when we returned to the car. It had just been too hot - too much too soon. Eventually he and I will acclimatise.

This morning we were at the woodland walk early, but not before a group with their dogs had assembled at the gate. "Which way are you going?" I asked, eyeing the German shepherd and the big hungry-looking lurcher. Once I established their proposed route we took a different one, and met not one single person all the way around. Mornings like this are a tonic for the soul. The day is young but full of promise for what is to come. Already the grass is long, and very wet after a heavy dew. The light filters through the trees, still bare after the winter but beginning to shown green. The long brakes between the woods are bright and inviting, and you could probably walk for three hours without repeating your footsteps. We were back at the car in half an hour, already hot and panting after our exertions. Out of the sun the air is still cool, but this is a day for hats and suncream. And joy.