Autumn mist across Northumbrian fields

I was really pleased when I took this photograph of the mist rising across the fields near my parents' house this morning. I thought that I would post it this evening with a simple write-up of the day along the lines of 'We returned home by bus and train and now we are back in Edinburgh'. How wrong I was!

We almost missed the bus to Newcastle because the east end of the village was blocked to incoming traffic due to roadworks. Happily, with the help of some other bus passengers, we found the one bus stop in the village that was operational (two along from our usual one), and caught the bus on time*.

The fun really began when we discovered that the couple who led us to the right bus stop used to live the town where I spent most of childhood. The conversation went along the lines of:

Them: (looking at our suitcases and probably thinking that we were tourists): 'Have you visited the area for the weekend?'
hazelh: 'Yes, spending time with family'
Them: 'Oh, you are from round here?'
hazelh: 'Not exactly. My parents semi-retired here in the late 1980s, and moved up permanently in the early 1990s. I was brought up in S'
Them: 'We retired here after living in S too!'

The conversation of 'Did you know xyz?' 'Oh yes, what happened to him/her/them?' lasted the full journey to Newcastle. We even contacted one of my school friends online so that he could join in the conversation: he last saw our new friends at a funeral in Lancashire in 2001. The couple have met my parents on a few occasions, but had not spoken to them long enough to make the connection to S. My father almost certainly treated their dogs when he was still working. My parents were very entertained to hear about our chance meeting when we phoned them this afternoon.

The train journey from Newcastle was fun too, mainly due to the fabulous autumn weather. The views from the train window were amazing. I have included as an extra one of Berwick-upon-Tweed that I snapped as we crossed the bridge. If you look carefully, you can see Lindisfarne Castle in the distance in this shot.

Anyway, we're back home now, and (amongst other things) the massive suitcase full of apples has been unpacked. I predict the conversion of our kitchen into a chutney factory next weekend.

*I don't what we would have done had we missed the bus because my parents were busy with the palliative care nurses back at the house all morning.

Exercise today: walking (12,063 steps).