Mute Swan at Orton Mere
By the time I’d been to work and hacked away at the keyboard constructing my slideshow for Monday, I was so tired I went to bed instead of blogging. This morning when I got up I had a cooked breakfast provided by Julia and managed to fritter a good deal of the day away watching Murder She Wrote and talking about Julia’s trip to Peterborough yesterday.
Starting from the end of the road we will be living in, she and my sister walked round all the local amenities – chip shop, Chinese takeaway, library, lakes, shops, gyms and bus routes. That is my order, she has a slightly different view of what is important. They walked over 11 miles. She did tell me what it was in steps, but it was a big number and I forgot it. She has a watch that tells her this sort of stuff. I have a watch that tells me approximately what time it is, but I only wear it if I have an appointment.
Orton Mere – Dramatic filter
I always have to issue a warning with Julia and the number of steps she takes, because my sister and Number One Son, when walking with her, always do fewer steps. It’s because she has tiny little legs, and she has to take a lot more steps. When walking with the kids she has been known to break into a trot to keep up.
The facilities. she says, are fine and she is now lot more relaxed about moving.
Meanwhile, after reading the blog back to myself I am worried about my family. Where did all this reliance on watches come from? And why do you need a watch to tell you how far you have walked or whether you slept well the previous night? Admittedly, I measure my walking in very small numbers these days, but I tell the time by how hungry I am and if I don’t yawn I know I slept well. Eventually, I’m convinced, the human race will die out because solar flares knock out the internet and nobody knows what to do without their gadgets.
Edward VII pillar box – Orton Longueville. From the days when we were happy to write a letter and wait, rather than email and then stare at the screen.
I just wrote a post for Wednesday about whether adults should be able to,police their friends cell phone use, with a further question about if we have to just accept tech in our lives…so your post sort of made me think
Julia is dreadful for lingering on her phone after I serve a meal, or for browsing whilst telling me I spend too much time on the computer. However, there is nothing I can say which makes a difference.
I get that
There must be a term for people who are too attached to their phones. Phonophiles is a bit too close to another term that is currently in use.
😉I’ll work on it
You have the media profile to do that – being a New York socialite and all that. Nobody listens to me , not even my wife.
😂
🙂
A good stretch by Julia. Cooked breakfast and fritter work well in a sentence
It is true. I hadn’t noticed.
11 miles is a very good walk. Sounds like you will have what you need there. When is moving day?
We take possession on 14th October if all goes well. Need to do some work, but will be in for Christmas.
“the human race will die out because solar flares knock out the internet and nobody knows what to do without their gadgets.” One of the great comments on our age.
Thank you. It does sometimes worry me. My kids used to check the bus progress on their phones, walk to the stop and, several times, miss the bus because they weren’t prepared]to wait five of ten minutes for a bus. I knew at that point that the world had changed.
That was a good walk. You are bit grudging perhaps on the added interest that a step counter or a bike computer can bring to an outing. I like the list of amenities offered by Peterborough. Especially the three lakes and the steam railway.
Grudging? Me? I can understand it for a bike, or even a hike. But checking every day? Really? There’s a narrow line between that and crossing roads whilst staring at you telephone screen.
I take your point.
And, now I have thought about it, I should become more pleasant and accepting.
On the other hand, old dogs and new tricks and all that . . . 🙂
Impressed by how far Julia walked! Sounds like your new neighborhood will have lots of amenities.
A Country Park with three lakes (though probably just big ponds to an American), a steam railway and all the other stuff. Plus a good road network and lots of shops and places to eat. A museum, a Cathedral, two hospitals. Good road and rail connections (as long as you only want to travel north or south). Not quite as much stuff as Nottingham, but we rarely use all the amenities we have anyway.