Arresting behaviour

This has been a strange day. For a start, I'm clearly recovering from the general effects of this virus, but right now the infection in the tear duct is worse than ever and throbbing insistently. (I'm grateful for FrKenny's input that antibiotics often make things worse before they recover.) I also seem to have done something to a muscle at the back of a shoulder - did I sleep in an odd position? And perhaps it was the lassitude I felt all morning that prevented me from being arrested along with a man who apparently was taken away by the police from outside the Borough Hall for supporting Palestine Action. I'm not sure who it was, but it would be one of those I've joined on more than one occasion, and in view of the huge protest in London today I was of a mind to go down at midday - but felt too rotten to go anywhere, and didn't. As far as I can see, a great many of those being arrested are of my generation ...

My collage, however, relates to the afternoon, when we both felt that we'd go mad if we drooped around any longer. We had intended going into Benmore Gardens, but discovered they're still closed after last week's storm. So instead we walked along the bank of the River Eachaig to where the path joins the Glen Massan road, sheltering under a thick canopy of trees when it rained and enjoying the sun when it came out later.  The first two photos on the bottom line are of interest; the first shows all that is left of the iron bridge that used to cross the Eachaig but which was destroyed by the debris of caravans and boats that were swept down the river from Loch Eck in a storm almost two years ago. Now only the sandstone pillars and steps remain; the cast iron bridge has vanished. The central lower picture is of the old ford; the cobbles appear out of the water on each bank and lead up to the current path, which in turn leads over an iron bridge which is just visible on the left of the photo.

It was all unexpectedly lovely; we extended the walk slightly by going on round the outside of the gardens in the hope of seeing a red squirrel where we used to see them all the time. I was alerted to the scampering shape on a tall tree by the funny throaty noise made by an annoyed squirrel as I passed, but he vanished up the tree and into the branches.

I started watching an Italian detective series on More 4 tonight - I discover I can make out about half of the dialogue (it's very fast and colloquial) but the subtitles are good. And then the News, and the realisation that our legal system is being used to political ends once again. I once told a sheriff that in our local court when I was called as an expert witness in an anti-nuclear protest trial...

But I don't think I feel up to this right now. Keep taking the medicine ...