Darsham Walk

Having missed the nationwide appearance of the Northern Lights in Essex last night (I fell asleep on the sofa at exactly the wrong time), I’m hoping to have a grandstand view tonight from the flat in Buckinghamshire. When I did venture out and saw a faint streak of colour in the sky, it was quickly swamped by a neighbour’s 6 million candela security floodlight switching on across the road. But here I look out over a largely dark valley with few dwellings. The general consensus is that there should be a repeat performance of the Aurora this evening.

It took nearly 2 hours to drive here today. The M25 has one lane closed for most of my route around it, and this will be the case for the next year while they “build more emergency areas”. I didn’t spot even one workman and wheelbarrow along the entire length of it, so there’s not a lot of building going on so far.

To shake off the stiffness from my journey, I had a wander around town in the warm sunshine this afternoon. So much has changed since I moved here three decades ago, not a lot of it for the better to my eyes, but the bijou row of shops along Darsham Walk always looks the same. This little passage leads from the high street to the Town Hall and its car park, and is one of the more picturesque bits that have escaped being demolished in the 60’s and 70’s in favour of bland monstrosities.

Tomorrow, sleeves will be rolled up and the Bucks end of the major clearing exercise will commence.