One flower for Friday

Without thinking too much about it, we thought this morning we would go into Penrith to get a bit of shopping and other things.

A very, very bad idea!! 

Not only was there the usual mass of weekenders heading for the Lakes, but it was also Keswick Festival so even more people were heading West. And there were the usual A66 Friday trucks and tractors (they always come out to play on  Fridays, as they know the roads will be busy). And then there was an accident on the M6 which had closed the motorway and meant everyone was trying to get back round the roundabout and through Penrith.

So we inched our way along wondering why we had not gone the back way and maybe why we had come out at all.

But it did give me the chance to photograph something that makes me quite angry. On the left of the picture over the wall is a huge farm and the wide verge that you can see continues for a long way alongside the A66. And it is kept like this all year round. Not a blade of grass is allowed to rear its head before being chopped down - see that very brave and lonely dandelion. On the opposite side of the road a similar verge is full of grasses, flowers and hedgerow. Here there is nothing living, no growth, no insects, nothing. Is this good for the environment? I don't think so. Why do they do it? A narrow strip would do for a footpath, although no one ever walks along there anyway. It can only be that they think it looks neat and tidy. I think it shows a complete lack of understanding of how important wild life is . . . and these are farmers!! Guardians of the countryside!!

It can't be just me, can it. 

When we eventually got to the roundabout, we turned round and came home.