Woke up yesterday to find storm whatever the latest name is had brought high winds and heavy rain but with a promise that it would be ok in the afternoon. So I set off on my usual Monday walk from Hethersett to Wymondham.
It's only if we experience the less than pleasant things in life that we can appreciate the good things and having an aim shouldn't be easy. My attempt to walk 1,500 miles in 2022 has to be a real challenge, otherwise it's pretty pointless like saying I will get out of bed 365 times during 2022 or go to the library 20 times.
Many years ago I was asked to sponsor somebody who was running a mile. The words "big deal" came to mind. Can't remember whether I sponsored him or not. So yesterday it was a walk of just over seven miles which puts me back on track after only walking a mile on two days last week due to 1/ terrible weather and 2/ having a sore knee.
If you are asking somebody to sponsor you, your task has to be a tough one, otherwise you are simply asking for a donation. So the swirling and chaotic winds and driving rain were the pain and the distance walked the gain.
Walking with Cousin Belinda brought up our usual irrelevant conversation and questions. Yesterday's was a particularly silly one. Are there places you go when you immediately want to go to the loo?
Well the answer in my case is yes. Every time I go to a library I feel the instant need for a poo. Also if I'm driving a long distance I always want to go when I've been driving for an hour or so. I think both are psychological occurrences. I love books and libraries and obviously the peace I feel in them makes me want to go to the small room. On a car journey it's probably the thought that I may be hundreds of miles from the nearest loo.
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They had a free weekend on one of those newspaper archive sites so I had a wander around to see if I could find anything on our village. There were a few court appearances from the Daily Telegraph of years ago and a few hatch, match and dispatch notices with a diamond wedding from the 1930s of a couple who lived in a house a few doors away but who will be long gone.
But I was intrigued by the headline pictured with this blog which said: "Hethersett to Hold Off Invaders." Didn't take me long to work out that this was from the racing pages and the invaders were horses from foreign climes who had come to our shores to take on Hethersett the horse who was described as the best horse in Europe.
I have written at length about Hethersett the horse but just a reminder that it won the classic St Ledger race and was favourite for the Derby when it fell in a pile up, a rare occurrence in flat racing.