Reflection

I spent my last morning in Cheltenham wandering rather aimlessly around Pitville Park. It hasn't changed much and like much of the rest of this town, it is a place sprinkled with memories: falling off a swing and hurting myself; an adventure playground full of brightly-coloured balls; a sunny afternoon outing with Mum, Dad and Uncle Jay...
I found myself wondering what I have been searching for, coming back here: some hard-to-reach part of myself perhaps.... But I wonder too, whether this might be the last time I come back.
There is an impressively spacious artificial lake in the middle of the park, and just as you might expect, this is a popular hang-out for gangs of local waterbirds: ducks, geese, moorhens with their fire-engine-red beaks (they very nearly made the cut for today's blip), and gulls of course....they swoop squawking over the town day after day, for all the world as though as though the entire place was a trawler full of herring coming into harbour and not miles inland.This particular fellow was bobbing along out on the lake, in a laid-back, pleased-with-himself way, a far-away expression in those dark little eyes...