Red dirt bricks

Song: Red Dirt Girl https://youtu.be/59LdQJex8DI

These ones were on a demolition heap with a Caterpillar truck on top of them. Clearly whatever they had been part of was no longer there any more. Our local brick is Stonehouse brick, of which our house is made. It's incredibly solid.

Speaking of which, an alert on my phone
( in Spanish!) has just sent me to a Youtube video. That was the first I knew of the earthquakes in Taiwan.My thoughts are with the people. 'Frightening' doesn't begin to describe it.

The sunny weather prompted me to go for a very short walk around the canal and millpond at Fromebridge mill, Stroud. Steve has described the area, so I'll put in a link to his description and superb shot.https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2406883107790651612 I saw fungus on trees, an Italianate bridge, some swans, but in the end I preferred the bricks. Old giving way to the new. There appears to be a sort of Army-style training centre veing built on part of the site. Hope we'll still be able to walk there in tranquility.

Afterwards, I had tea in the garden with my neighbour. Her father, who was a bit of a 'case' like my father, only different, died in 2003. It seems that I have been so busy being poorly (and she was, too) that I hadn't got round to telling her any of the recent revelations. What a relief that she knows most of the back story, so I didn't have to explain. We had a long, long chat and it was most useful, as she's obviously had more time to process than I have. She talked about the repeated occasions of our fathers' leaving silently, by stealth, as Cowardly. I hadn't seen it that way before.

While we were chatting, my colleague Jo came round with a birthday present for tomorrow. She is so kind! Usually I get a card or two on my day (my mother sends a card, but not always on time, cue the violins!) but this year I have a little stash of things waiting to be opened. I think I shall defer the Mexican birth and death certificates order until the day after tomorrow. Doesn't seem right, on one's day of, er, celebration.

After all that excitement I had to go and lie down. I was surprised to find I'd been asleep for a while. Must have been the short stories in the magazine I bought!