We think about...picnics!

It’s not something you’d think that a video game company would typically think about. Spending time outdoors with other people away from computer games and screens is a distraction and totally discourages sales. Unless, of course, it’s a pitch to sell one of their mobile gaming units or encourage you to play a game on your phone. Or maybe the bright light will make them cower in fear and look forward to returning home to purchase more games. It’s hard to see a screen in broad daylight. The mind can’t focus on purchasing new games when you’re playing new games. Or maybe they’re not addicted and they’re happy that at work outside while you remain indoors enslaved to their products. They could be enslaved themselves. They’d love to go on a picnic; but they’re too busy creating more products for you to buy. Maybe they just want a lunch break.

Robin Wall Art

It’s a nice size that draws a crowd. It’s got a little button that looks like it’s dressed up for a formal event in a waistcoat. It’s a nice thin aluminium that hasn’t split, despite falling off its hook a few times. And being as it’s now over six years  old, the colour’s faded a little but it’s endured a lot of weather. The green might not match the surrounding real green, but the brown is beginning to match the fence paint. The yellow has faded to silver, but it still looks good, undamaged and chipped, and you can still tell what it is. The paint might have faded completely in another six, but the metal will still be there. And I might get creative then and do my own paint job or try to restore it. Or I’ll probably just try and buy another one if the manufacturer’s still trading.

Adaptive Camouflage #sambourne 3

Continuing east, we cross a stile to reach a small road. We turned right and found our next stile on our immediate left to continue east. This put us on a dusty track that passed a large farming structure on our right. The track slowly bore south-east and crossed a ditch before running alongside a brook. The brook carried on underneath the road, and we passed through two gates to join it. Crossing the road, we turned right and continued south passing the driveway on our left alongside a rail next to an open field. Passing a cluster of oak trees, we continued south to a second cluster and passed through a kissing gate on our right. This brought us out to an outside view of this stately home where the gunpowder plot was planned. It’s been one of those dry summers where the colour of the grass matches the building.

Good Morning

It might not be a good one, but with a little knowledge, you can hold onto it for the day and make it a talking point or a conversation starter for strangers and friends that you meet. Hopefully there’ll be  a new fact every day. Use it with caution though. You don’t want to sound like a bit of a know-it-all. I get an update about how difficult it might be to get up in the morning, and I’m compared to someone who has circumnavigated the globe fourteen years ago. That might inspire me to rise. I say it again and I get a brand-new fact which develops into a series of facts that might be hard to remember. I go for a third and it cycles back to the first one. I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow to get new content. At least it’s something to look forward to.

Under the Bridge #sambourne 2

It’s amazing what farmers use for a shelter. It saves them having to build anything themselves. I think it’s some kind of engine. It could be a cherry picker used to maintain the bridge itself. On closer inspection, it looks like a trailer carrying a trolley. I wonder if any liquid drips through, or is the bridge is sufficiently covered with ballast to prevent this06. It looks like there’s been an accident already, and that a fence has had to be built around one of the bridge supports to prevent the farmer from crashing into it again. The farmer might have took it upon himself to do that. It looks like he’s taped off the other side. It could be electrified, or he could just be marking the border of his land. There might be an embankment under the larger arches and that’s why the whole thing is fenced off.

Bagging and Dragging #dream 223

I’m in a shopping centre. I’m on a quest to retrieve our luggage. We’re about to board a plane, but our luggage is being brought in via bus. The only problem is that I can’t find the bus station. I was given directions but I can’t remember what they were. I pass escalators heading up, but I can’t find anywhere that heads down. All I can see are rows of designer stores and restaurants amongst paved slabs and foliage. Eventually, I find the right escalator. It’s dark and cold and I spot the bus straight away. There’s an instant drop in temperature as I descend. A few moments later, I recognise the driver, who’s a large jolly father-type man with a beard who waves me off with my luggage. We’re the last ones to collect our cases. Now to find the other half while wrestling three bags. I’m going to have to head off upstairs again.

Ghost Train #sambourne 1

We’ve left the car on a small road by the village. It’s not obstructing anyone’s drive and people can get by. And there’s less chance of people visiting each other at the moment because of the lockdown. Starting on the green, we headed east on a footpath past a small wooden bus shelter that led down a driveway to a gate. Just before the end of the driveway, we turned left and crossed a style, then turned right to continue east directly across the field. On the south side was this old railway bridge which was part of the line from Redditch to Evesham. There’s a great video  on YouTube which shows pictures of the area then and now as it tracks an old train making its journey. You’d think that the line would run vertically to connect the towns directly, but it’s possible that Sambourne used to have its own station.