After picking up 320 bags of Yorkshire's finest (there was no Barry's or Miles) which at 3 cups a day should keep me going until Chtistmas, we stopped on the way home at a small beauty spot for a pic of the village.
They must be having a littering problem... I'm no prude but the sign just seemed a bit strong... I certainly wouldn't want my daughter using language like that but am I just old fashioned? Only my wife gets away with calling me a tosser!
For lunch I crossed off bacon and sausages (again) from the list. Still no peas though.
I popped over the road after lunch to see the field soon to be turned into a red brick housing estate... this was my skiving off school place 40 years ago... I'd jump over the gate in the morning, hide behind the hedge and wait for me mum to go to work, then I'd go back in the house for the day. Today a few cows had turned up.
How to spend my second and last afternoon in Somerset...
Another walk of course. I told me mum I'd take Bella along the river again. Me mum told me to be careful of the cows as she'd heard they had mobbed a dog walker a few days ago. Don't be ridiculous I say, and besides, the cows were up in the top field.
Strangely enough, as we walked along the river the cows formed a line across the field.
I stood my ground buy the cows kept coming...
No problem I thought... but on they came... the one with the black face in the middle was clearly the ring leader. Bella was absolutely useless... Dan would have been snarling by now and snapping at them, but Belle was behind me making whimpering noises.
When I worked onshore in Namibia I was told to run in zig-zags to the nearest tree if chased by a rhino. I didn't want to over-react in a Somerset field so I just backed away slowly, maintaining eye contact.
The bloody things crowded me all the way to the corner of the field.
This guy leading all the way.
I must admit, I was glad to get through the barbed wire fence. Of course Bella started barking now she felt safe!
So that was that... no walk down down along the river as those cows weren't going away. I went upstream a bit to check out some old (40 year-old) fishing spots.
The river up here was full of trout! I guess the result of no kids fishing any more.
The big one here was maybe 12oz I reckon... I've promised my daughter next summer in the UK (Covid allowing) and catching a few of these trout will be on the list for sure.
But Bella is certainly no trout stalker and was getting bored, so off we left.
On the way home, the obligatory pic for HH's bank... knock yerself out mate!
So my last evening in Somerset... it's impossible to really relax with a 4am start the next day. But what a wonderful country... I only went to pick up a few teabags and came home with a whole selection of ciders. A sedate couple of hours cider tasting was in order! Couldn't do that in Isaan...couldn't even get the teabags to be honest.
And before the sun went down I even sorted out my daughter's present from the UK. My mum has been hassling me to sort out my rock collection, so I reduced it by two. On the right a fossilised echinoid (sea urchin) from the Cretaceous and on the left a piece of ammonite from the Lower Cretaceous chalk marl (the layer below the Upper Cretaceous chalk forming the White Cliffs of Dover). I know this because I collected it from about three miles out under the sea from Dover, when I worked on the Channel Tunnel 30 years ago. What daughter wouldn't be happy with a pressie like that!
The last Somerset sunset... I'm very glad I visited my mum now, as the way things are going the UK will be in lockdown by this time next week. And who knows what will happen over the next few weeks...
Sweden tomorrow, the next stage of my work commute.
I've never spent much time in Sweden before, but I'm hoping to take a load of discreet pics of the famous blonde Swedish totty. This thread needs livening up!