A WANDER AROUND OLD TOWN

First of all, I apologise for not commenting yesterday, but I was in bed just after 9 o’clock - because I was so tired and I am, at last, beginning to listen to my body;  it’s taken me a long time to do this and I don’t feel guilty, but realise that instead of feeling “burnt out”, it helps me to feel more energised the day after.  

It was a different start to the day, when it was quite cloudy, although after Mr. HCB had watered some of our new plants in the garden before he left to go to cricket, he told me it was very warm and he thought the sun would soon break through.  

With that in mind, I wrote several cards and was then going to walk over to a nearby Post Office to post them, but thought that instead of just doing that I could have a wander in Old Town, go for lunch in Jack’s and get some steps “under my belt” or even “on my Workout app” so that’s what I did.  

I am thrilled to see that I walked over 7,000 steps, which may not seem much to those of you who regularly walk many more, but to someone who only does between 1,000 and 3,000 a day, that is amazing!

I enjoyed my lunch in Jack’s and stuck to my eating plan by having a jacket potato with beans and cheese and then decided that I would wander around a couple of the back streets to see if there was any Street Art, and I was delighted to find quite a lot.  

As I walked along Wood Street, I stopped to take a photograph of The Kings Arms - no apostrophe - and known as The Kings, as I rather liked the sun shining on the front of the building and the clouds in the blue sky above.  A lady walked past me and looked askance at me, so I said that no doubt she was wondering why I was taking a photograph.  I then explained about Blip - of course I did - and said that taking a photograph a day makes me look up and around for something different.  She said that she had lived in Swindon for over 60 years and had never noticed the lovely brickwork and chimneys on this building!  

Almost immediately afterwards, another lady asked me why I was taking a photograph, so I explained about Blip - again - and we then had a lovely conversation about how we often miss things because we are hurrying to get to our destination - I also told her about the Street Art just around the corner in what is known as “Little London” and she said she would look next time she was walking that way.

And then, as I was taking the shot of the great tit on the wall of Willoby’s in Little London, at the bottom right in my collage, another lady came along and we chatted about this particular piece of Street Art.  When I got home, I realised that it depicted a great tit inside a kilner jar - very cleverly done.  The lady told me she worked in the building opposite, so was thrilled that she could see it every day.  She then asked if I had seen the other painting on a wall round the corner, which I hadn’t, so off I went to get a shot of the lady at the top right.

The shot at the bottom left was behind a wire screen because the building was being renovated and the middle right shot was on a garage door just along the road.  

I then walked down through The Lawns Park to collect my eye drops from the pharmacy near our GP Surgery, before walking on down to the main road to catch the bus home.  It was very hot so I was grateful for the gentle breeze.  

What a great day and I feel quite proud of myself for walking so far and, of course, the bonus was all these beautiful paintings - which I hope you will enjoy as much as I did today.  There are many more in our town, so I need to plan a route to take some more, but perhaps not tomorrow!