Feelgood Friday: an afternoon off

I said I would and I did. Well ok I switched my work laptop off at 13.07, which considering I had had an morning of waiting for things to happen in the office, which then started happening at about 12.50, was good.  It can wait til Monday, I wanted some quality time with Django and myself.

After lunch I piled an exciting, bouncing dog into the back of the car and we went down to clifftop to 'take the air'.  

I used to eschew (what a great word) the clifftop, because they put a neat gravel path along it and it was always full of people walking their dogs along it, very slowly.  A bit like I am now in fact.  But I've come to rather like it, partly because I now have one, easy, polite dog and we don't have to choose walks to avoid other canines; and partly because I'm mellowing and am happy saying 'good morning' to complete strangers.  It is still a good idea to avoid people with picnics though.

So we strolled along, smiling and saying hello to people who were mostly retired (it being 2.30 on a Friday afternoon).   We paused occasionally to watch people walking on the beach or throwing stones for their dogs. There was a solitary man with a metal detector and a spade, I wonder if he'd found any washed-up treasure. We (Ok, I) occasionally stopped for a sit-down on one of the many benches, but I hadn't taken my book as I thought it would be too cold, so didn't sit for long.  

It's a beautiful, sunny day, about 4C but almost windless. I was wrapped up with coat, gloves and hat and as usual when walking Django I had one crutch with me for extra support.  I'm still sure some people look at me and wonder what's wrong with me, since I look normal (well, as normal as someone in a bright red down jacket can look) and don't walk with much limp at all with the crutch.     However, at one point today I had a refreshingly straightforward conversation with an elderly chap who was overtaking me.

"Is he behaving himself today?"  (nodding towards Django)

"Oh yes, he's a good boy."

"Why do you need a crutch?"

"Broken leg."

"Oh dear, recovering I hope?"

"Yes, thanks."

"How did you do that?"

"Car crash."

"Oh. Well as long as it's recovering."

"Yes."

And off he went.