Elevation

I've spent a lot of my exercise time by the river lately and fancied a change of scenery this evening, so I wandered up hill and took a stroll through the wild garlic-covered Serpentine Woods.

It's a nice walk which culminates in this view on your exit from said wood. I'm a sucker for a bench looking out over a beautiful landscape, so I threw caution to the wind, nailed my colours to the cliche mast and snapped the shot you see here.

Photos have formed a big part of my day as I've been sorting through the many hundreds that I took last year with a view to printing out the best ones to put into albums. 

It was quite interesting looking back, as I mainly associate the year that was 2019 with unbridled emotional pain and turmoil, which some of you may have been unlucky enough to read about on here. However, that is not the story that is shown in the photos (which kind of makes sense I guess, as my first instinct at a low point was not to break out the camera to capture the saltiness and light refraction of and through my tears), what the photos show is CLICHE KLAXON; a journey. Yes, I went through the mill a bit, but my photos show all the good stuff that went on too and the people that were there with a brew or a hug or casual verbal abuse. They show the pantomime I was in (which was my youngest children's first time seeing their father in a dress), the play I was in and how much fun it was, the holiday I took on my own, the fishing trip in the melting hot sunshine and all - aside from the holiday - surrounded by some truly lovely friends. 

There is also all the good times with my supportive, understanding and forgiving family in there over the Easter, Summer & Christmas hols. It was also a nice reminder of mine and the children's personal favourite; our October half term holiday at Haggerston Castle - the first time I had ever taken them away on my own.

The common denominators throughout appear to be a year of unbroken sunshine and smiles, which maybe in some respects it was. I constantly refer to 2019 as the year of survival and 2020 of living again, but given where we are at present and today's photo review, I could be forgiven for pausing and reviewing that.

It's important to remember that whilst 2020 has no doubt taken something of a dip over the last couple of months, there is still plenty of it remaining and I am looking forward to looking back over this year's photos in 2021 to see what story they tell.

Stay healthy.