Hardenhuish Brook (Monday 29th March 2021)

The travel laws that became guidelines from today were no help to me as the diabetic eye screening test in Chippenham involved dilating eye drops that meant not driving a motor vehicle for up to six hours. Instead of a 15 minute drive to the medical centre I left home at 1030 hr and after a walk, a wait, a bus journey (first in well over a year), a half-hour walk and a queue I reached my appointment on time at 1210 hr.
I was out less than 25 minutes later, and as it was a sunny day I strolled back to the town centre and found Hardenhuish Park which led me to this tangle of branches and a fallen tree at Hardenhuish Brook. I followed the rather precarious path that you can see which sloped towards the ravine small drop, and involved clinging to branches to avoid falling in. One branch sprang back into my face and stabbed my eye. At the end of the path, by a bridge that took the brook under the Bristol Road, there was no exit, and I had to backtrack, successfully avoiding falling in again. I got home at 1410 hr. Needless to say I paused at the town bridge in both directions (see Extra) and took several shots of the three cygnets I found there.

L.
31.3.2021 (1845 hr)

Blip #3391 (#3141 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #000
Blips/Extras In 2021 #047/266 + #025/100 Extras
Day #4022 (885 gaps from 26.3.2010)
LOTD #2535 (#2376 + 159 in archived blips)

Taken with Nikon Coolpix P900 (24-2000mm equivalent bridge camera)

Chippenham series
Landscape series
Trees series

A Chippenham Visit, 29 March 2021 (Flickr album of 14 photos)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Ike and Tina Turner - River Deep, Mountain High (recorded 6-7 March 1966, Gold Star Studios, Hollywood CA)
The story of Tina Turner's life from unwanted child to global superstar is retraced vividly in the new documentary film Tina, just broadcast on Sky Documentaries, and it filled in a few gaps for me, her lengthy chapter with Ike Turner being even worse than I ever knew. Musically I preferred her time with the Ike and Turner revue and the Ikettes far more than her later more commercially successful solo years, and used to buy her albums and singles as they came out in the sixties.
As I was also a fan of Phil Spector productions I loved the River Deep Mountain High album, of which this single was arguably his high point.  The American public didn't agree and its failure turned him into a recluse. The song was originally intended for Darlene Love who recorded a number of songs with Spector, including as sometime lead singer of the Crystals. Ike Turner was famously paid to stay away for the session, although he did produce some of the other tracks on the album, mostly remakes of past glories.

One year ago:
Twix 0843 hr BST
I did see Twix outdoors after all, and at the time I thought it was him coming in and stealing Smokey's bikkies from the kitchen, but I now think this was a misidentification and the glimpses I was getting of a fleeing cat were actually of Mrs T, who still visits now, and I think this was the last sighting of Twix. Where are you, Twix?