Gwendoline

A rosy-cheeked 87 years young!

The highlight of what has been a pretty gritty day was meeting this utterly delightful lady at lunchtime. I grabbed a candid shot of her amongst a group of women sitting at one of the bus stands, but as I walked by I was quite captivated by her face. I wanted to prove that yesterday wasn't a personality aberration so I went over for a chat and asked if I could take some photos of them, not singling any one out in particular. They were a little shy but Gwendoline, the one I was really after, was very game. She had no inhibition at all. And why should she? She has a wonderful face to match her engaging personality. I really hope that I'm so full of beans at that age. I was charmed. I like to think she was a little bit too! I got a lovely wave as I left.

I've managed to keep the commuting going again, despite the cold and rain. I took the long hard route back tonight, climbing up through East Morton and high above the Aire valley before dropping down to Brunthwaite village and back via Addingham Moorside. I'm definitely getting stronger. It felt good to be working hard on the hills tonight. I feel a lot more in tune with myself now than when I left the office. Exercise is very therapeutic.

Still getting a few more responses to the questionnaire on Wednesday's blip. So far we have only one out and out extrovert respondent. Not hard to guess that this was Katherine Ellis! It would be a rather boring world if it was populated entirely by introverts. It's actually reminded me of something that's always fascinated me, that our complex society only functions at all by virtue of the huge variety of different personality types. This spectrum of types must have existed way before humans started forming complex social and cultural structures, so what drove all that differentiation in the first place. This must have been studied but I've never seen the question answered.

Perhaps that's a good note to end on. I will contemplate that while I take a hot bath. This cycle commuting eats quite a chunk out of my day. Finally, a further big thank you for the fantastic commentary this week. I cherish every word written. You all add so much to my journal and I'm incredibly grateful.