Country Walk and some horsing around

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I know.

But dang it, nothing else happens around here.

It's bad enough having to wander around the village like a crazy person, all alone, dogless, only one's femininity preventing the locals from hurrying their small children into the house and calling the police. I still get the looks, mind.

So, this time I took the camera with me. This way, I figured, it would seem like I had a purpose in going for a walk, other than just to walk. I mean, what sane person goes around just walking, with nowhere particular to go, simply for the sake of it, and not even with a dog. It's just not normal.

Even the horses that live in the paddock just outside my house couldn't be arsed with me today.

And no, I don't know their names. I don't speak horse, so even if they told me their names I wouldn't have understood.

The brown one always whinnies quite loudly whenever he's left on his own in the paddock. Just doesn't like being on his own I guess.

The white one is quite laid back.

This is when the horse thought I had a carrot in my hand. He was utterly dejected when he realised that what I held was in fact a camera, and not a very edible one at that.

The white /brown horse was not interested. I offered riches and glory and fame but he was just having none of it. Guess the grass is always greener under one's nose.





The path past the paddock becomes a narrow path enclosed in hedges and not enough light for photography.

Then, out of the village, the pavement disappears and the verge merges with the fields. The fields stretch forever and ever.

Seriously, you can see the end of the world from there, look. And the world is obviously flat. Look!

The clouds made some pretty pictures in the sky. The setting sun helped.

On the other side of the road was another paddock with another horse (white).

If you look really hard through the bushes on the right you can see the horse's head.

Before he trotted off to hide, I've spied this horsey wearing a blue pullover.

Maybe he was just shy or maybe he was embarrased of what his humans made him wear.
 We'll never know.

This is the road. There is a lorry on it. Or a truck. Whatever.

Point is, it almost run me over.

I jumped up like a startled cat and leaped two feet in the air and three feet sideways. One step over and I'd have been in the field, trespassing. Again.

Another footpath. This is where my walk from the other day would have ended up at had I not gone ahead and got myself lost.

I came by to check that it still there and had not been secreted away to another location. Yup. Still there.

The sign says: No Tipping. I like to think of myself as a law abiding person so I didn't leave my spare change.

It was getting dark. It would have been foolish to persist on this walk any further so I decided to turn back.

On the way back I spied another horse (with a rider), a hare (too fast and too far to be caught by camera) and several birds (equally non obliging in terms of posing for the photograph).

Turning into the footpath towards my house I decided to play horse and trotted all the way back. 

I was very much out of breath when I got to my house. Doubled up, I breathed through my mouth, my head turned to my right. The brown horse said: 'You are really unfit, mate.'

'Tell me something I don't know.' I said.

The horse looked down the lane and then at its white and splodgy brown companion before he said:

'Do you have a carrot?'

'No. Well, I do have one in the fridge,' I said, ' but I think it's frowned upon to give other people's horses carrots. Without asking, that is. And I can't ask your owners because they are not here.' I felt that explained my position on this matter quite adequately. I really wanted to give him a carrot, but what would the neighbours think!?

The horse looked at me sadly. 'Life sucks.'

'I know.' I said.