Simply Autumn

I went for a walk this morning, not far just through our little village. Taking the road less travelled I meandered away from the shopping street steering clear of anywhere I might meet anyone, not really in the mood for talking. It is lovely having the sense of belonging in a small community especially being from an old village family but sometimes it is a hindrance when you just need to be alone with your thoughts.

We are blessed with a beautiful park, gifted to the village by the Birkmyre family who I have previously written about in my journal, they were very wealthy industrialists, and saw fit to bequeath what was part of the garden of their home to the villagers for this park which to this day bears their name. As a child I played here very very often, football, rugby or just on the swings and monkey bars which were enough to keep us amused back then.

I found myself sitting looking along the park, one of those morning when you are not sure how you got to where you were and as I sit and write now I cannot actually remember my route. I enjoyed the fresh breeze of an autumn morning, I enjoyed the quiet, only monetarily disturbed by a passing car. I saw a few of the local riders passing on their beautiful horses and they smiled and waved as they recognised me. I enjoyed the sound of the rustle of the fallen leaves, crisp and dry after the few days of fine weather, the beautiful rust colour of the beech leaves vibrant in the morning sun.

I wandered along the grass kicking the leaves like a child as I did. I could feel myself regressing slipping into a happy place, a place where I yearn to be all the time, a place where I never had to see the city, a place where the furthest I had to go was as far as I felt like walking but that is a pipe dream but I know I can come here if only for a moment to escape the ravages of the grind.

This park was also the place of teenage years, learning from each other, growing together, the place we came to bemoan, overbearing parents, school, to share success and failure, love, heartache and heartbreak. This was our place for those early teenage years and then we too passed it to our juniors as our elders had passed it to us, and it was theirs too for those few short years; so it has gone on in our little village. I am sure in a few years it will be the twins place too.

Today is not about the shot, which I hasten to add I do rather like, today was about me, about gaining back a little perspective. Today I made a few decisions, time for a little ""life laundry" time to gently leave behind some of the people in my life that only seem to bring themselves forward when they have a want or a need of my help then disappear just as quickly when it is freely given. Those few close friends I care about, want and need in my life deserve more from me and it is my fervent hope that I can be a better friend to them in the future.

"I may pass this way but once, any good I can do let me do it now"