Memory Lapse

Where has the summer gone? Of course, it’s not officially over yet but it barely feels like it started, in North Wales at least. This weekend is supposed to be the highlight, the grand finale, as it were, being August Bank Holiday. The sun is actually shining as I write this.
Stupidly, I forgot all about the break when I arranged to visit Mum in the Midlands today and naturally the roads are hellish as everyone who can heads for the coast, most of them coming here, it seems. Driving bumper to bumper for miles on end, I vowed not to go anywhere other than on foot until Tuesday. Just as well, really.
Somewhere between Nantwich and Chester it came to me in a blinding flash. Wasn’t I supposed to put the car in for it’s MOT this month? Three O’Clock on the Friday afternoon before a Bank Holiday weekend is not a good time to remember that the car will be illegal to drive after midnight.
Fortunately – well, that’s one way of looking at it – I have become a regular at my local garage of late and, well, they’re just really nice guys. They’ve said they’ll fit me in on Tuesday afternoon. Pleading my sick mother’s 80th birthday next week and sobbing down the phone might have helped. Now all that has to happen is for the car to pass…

Wet Woodland Walk

It was the early morning sunshine that beckoned me out. Merely pocketing sunglasses and camera along with 50p for the car park, I headed for the nearby country park. This being August in the UK, it was bucketing down by the time I arrived and the best course of action seemed to be to turn the car right round again. But something made me wait it out.

When the downpour seemed to have lessened, thankfully shrugging on the emergency waterproof coat from the boot of the car, I ventured out into the woods. I’m so glad I did. The thick canopy of leaves protected the footpath from the worst of the wet as the reluctant sun made half-hearted attempts to show itself again, lighting the globules of water on the lush foliage.