Visit to Arnold

Brian Owen visited this morning and we had a good couple of hours play on the computer. I learnt about working offline and synchronise, favourites and history. He still has his own health problems, plus problems with his Mum. He knew all about the Amber Hotel at Higham and suggested it would be nice if he and Jenny and us went into Derbyshire for lunch one day. Yvonne was quite keen on the idea.

We had Paella for lunch and it didn't really agree with Yvonne.

It seemed like a good idea, in view of a lovely blue sky, to go out for a breath of fresh air. We decided to head for Arnold to explore and found this lay-by near Dorkett Head with a footpath fingerpost. I just basically walked into the field and Yvonne shot off to explore the footpath. This view, with the sunlight and dappled shade, appealed to me. To quote Gerard Manley Hopkins - "Glory be to God for dappled things" Not happy with the God bit but I understand where he was coming from. In the field just below the sky-line are what strongly seem like medieval furrows and they were caused by the ploughing method for centuries leaving those shapes. It also had the advantage of allowing the field to drain effectively and provided a dry spot for harvested crops.

Then we went down Arnold for a mooch round the shops and finished up at Joans - armed with 3 Vanilla slices from Birds.

Bad news this morning. Beryl is in Hospital having had a stroke. We don't know the latest position yet. Ray not very well again either.