just another busy day in Milton Keynes

I go out for a bike ride this morning.  My head’s full of rubbish at the moment - so much to do and so much to think about - and there’s nothing like being on the bike to clear it all out.

There are some things I dislike about living in MK, but the bits that do work, work well.  Like the amount of green space that I can cycle through, without bumping into another soul.  Except for a policeman on a bike having a quick break in our Community Orchard*.

I’ve seen him a few times before sitting in the same spot and this time I stop and speak to him.  As I do so, I realise I’m getting old.  Who stops to talk to Officers of the Law these days?

I have a flashback to the last time I saw a policeman on a bike in an orchard.  I must have been about 10 years old and had been scrumping.  Luckily my young legs could outsprint an old Sturmey Archer 3-speed.

I point to the battery on my bike and say “you could do with something like this”.  He look enviously and nods in agreement.   “They’re too expensvive though aren’t they”.  

I look over at his bike.  It’s an old mountain bike that’s clearly seen better days.  His face and general demour suggests that he has too.  He’s not going to catch many villains on that.

We chat for a few more moments and then I leave him sitting in the sun.  It’s just another busy day in Milton Keynes.


*  in case you’re wondering, we have a community orchard planted, by the council - it’s full of apple trees and plum trees - for the benefit of residents.  They even planted blackerry bushes in the hedgerows that surround the orchard.  So every September we help ourselves to free crumbles.