Dire straits

Curious start to the day as I came to with my brew in hand, reading the news and listening to some music. 

This is not unusual in of itself, but when ‘Walk of Life’ by Dire Straits came on, I was instantly transported back to my younger days and the house I grew up in. I could picture being in the living room and my Dad’s Brothers in Arms LP lying on top of his Bang & Olufsen turntable and without warning a couple of tears fell.

It has been a while since I’ve seen my immediate family (excl. my children) in the flesh and there were definite pangs there of wanting to be back in Essex and having a drink and hug with them all. There must be many many people and families across the country if not the world feeling the same way about their own families.

With the lockdown measures having been relaxed a little and in need of cheering up, I thought I would seize the opportunity to get the children out of Kendal for the first time in two months and so we headed to one of our favourite haunts: Grange over Sands. I wasn’t entirely what to expect. Had the hoards descended? Was Grange now overrun with outsiders pillaging the local bakery? In short, no. No it was not.

The few people we did encounter as I walked and the children scooted up the prom were very friendly and commenting on the children’s energy (there’s not a right lot of that in Grange), so we continued on our way and found that the five-a-side pitch which requires little touch was taped off, but the skate park which requires almost constant and repeated touch to get up the ramps was open. 

We scooted for a bit – I braved a big ramp – without breaking my neck, had a snack and then headed back to the car before getting back to Kendal to fall back into the usual routine. However, it was a welcome if temporary deviation from the new normal and a little sea air was most welcome.

Stay healthy.