During a pre-work “thinking walk”, last week, I stumbled upon an enormous colony of water lilies growing and thriving in an offshoot of the Rochdale Canal. A beautiful and vibrant contrast with the detritus laden bays which usually assault one’s senses in canal country. Standing on the adjacent bridge, basking in early morning sunlight, I was able to count fifty glorious flowers with petals outstretched to the heavens. It was a delightful beginning to a work-filled day.
The weekend which preceded the discovery of the lilies, I spent driving around the South Downs with two friends as we supported a team of walkers. The Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge truly is epic and, given the characters who formed part of our team, there was always going to be a combination of great good humour and frustrating ineptitude! Bringing each other up to speed with the most recent goings ons in our lives meant that we, the support crew, had a fabulous time! Listening to Skeletal Family and Keith Urban, shopping, chatting about new interests – mine anyway – reminiscing, shopping, not strangling any of the other personnel, shopping and laughing took us from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon in the blink of an eye. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we set ourselves the goal of walking in Trailtrekker 2015. It’s absolutely amazing what good company and a surfeit of gurkhas can do for one’s ambitions!
A revamped shower room further improved the last fortnight, but the piece de resistance is the new stained glass window which was fitted in the drawing room. In common with all the other stained glass in the house, it was created by Paul Bradbury, a fabulous artist who has been commissioned to renew the stained glass at Manchester Victoria Station. He is an absolute genius and I can’t wait for the designs he is creating for my porch. Watch this space!
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing during August, I hope that you too will experience some fabulous and unexpected moments of blessing.
