Watery Wednesday

 

It has rained pretty much all of today and this evening, the heaviest down pour coinciding with my walk in Rouken Glen country park. E told me that the car parks were open which I hadn’t expected. I had been planning to walk there, it’s only an hour or so from home, and a bit closer than Linn Park which I explored at the beginning of the lockdown. I had the car on account of the original purpose to revisit Balgray reservoir, this second trip was no less satisfactory than the first – a busy road, limited car parking (St Luke’s probably the best place) and not much to see really. My main issue is that I cannot see a route around the reservoir.

I returned via Rouken Glen parked the car in the smaller of car parks beside the vets and set out to find the pond, and potentially cygnets and perhaps even a waterlily or two. I was well rewarded. Several pairs of swans one of which has 6 cygnets, coots, moorhens and a young bird that I cannot identify – extra blip. The still rain poured straight down, and it was glorious. My new jacket worked well, and I arrived home dry on top, it had been a mistake not to wear waterproof trousers but that seemed a bit of an overkill for such a gentle outing.

I think the birthday gift of the Greek orange pie went down OK, the birthday card certainly did. I wonder if I could photoshop the painting of Islay and use it make other family cards?

A satisfying day, and the possibility of the Scottish tourism industry beginning to open up in mid-July is hugely welcome. I hope they resolve the one, one and a half. Two metre social distancing conundrum – one way or another. The uncertainty must be almost impossible for businesses to plan. And then how does that translate to schools? Extraordinary the extent of the continuum – Belgium at one end where all children are back at school with minimal social distancing and at the other end the Philippines where they have decided not to re-open schools until there is a vaccine, which of course could be years away, or never.