Walking

Val and I met up for our usual weekly walk this morning. Both of us were pushed for time, so we opted for a brisk circuit around two of the local parks... Weston Park, close to Val's house, and then down to the "Ponderosa", which is just below that.  We finished up with an outdoor coffee and cake, back in Weston Park.  There are plenty of leaves falling, but full autumn colour is still a way off.

I really like the Ponderosa, whose informal name - reportedly devised by local children - has long since been established as its recognised name.  It's a 25 acre space, partly providing a recreation area for people in the nearby blocks of flats and dense terraced streets. There's a little bit of history here:

The Ponderosa

These days there are extensive woodland areas around the edge, as well as a carefully-nurtured community orchard.  As we walked around, we could see various little groups of litter-pickers carefully retrieving rubbish of various kinds.  And there were plenty of other people out enjoying a walk. It felt good.

Turning briefly to the ongoing s**tshow that is our government, I'm relieved to see that at least some Tory MPs are pushing back against the harshest of Truss and Kwarteng's policies on taxes and benefits. But the Wooden Lady continues to spew out cliches and non-answers to questions, and it is deeply depressing.