Isn't nature beautiful .....

As mentioned previously I have been in Glastonbury for the weekend, as usual my trusty little compact camera was with me. I love photography and I'm always on the look out for that perfect picture moment! I also have a digital SLR that is my pride & joy but not easy to throw in a weekend bag so it was over to the compact!

I forget how beautiful the Somerset levels are as the winter sunshine lights up the flat green moors with the Tor rising in the background


It really was a photographers day with brilliant blue skies, we were actually on the way to see my best friend who lives in town but the call of the levels were too much as I veered out of Glastonbury ... where are you going my hubby asks ..... I just have to take a couple of photos ..... we head onto the levels & turn onto this lovely straight road which runs parallel to the tor!

I'm wandering about in the middle of the road snapping away while my husband worries I may get run over ..... bless him I don't like to point out that these roads are very quiet & I can see for miles!

With my picture taking urge fufilled we continued with our visiting but as we returned & the sky turned a fantastic colour the draw was there again as the levels silhouetted against a beautiful sky!

Beautiful ... nature finishes the day with a final flourish!!!

The Acknowledgment

I’m making a trip south this weekend to Glastonbury in Somerset for a family birthday.

Glastonbury holds a special place in my heart it’s where I spent my formative years, going to school, making friends, falling in love, falling out of love, falling out of the pub …….

I haven’t lived in Glastonbury since 1994 but frequently return to visit family & friends, it’s when I return that I notice the differences between living in a small close knit town & the large industrial Midlands town that I live in now.

The biggest thing is “The acknowledgement” for this I hark back to the first time I took my boyfriend (now Husband) to stay the weekend in Glastonbury. On the Saturday night we take the 15 min stroll into town from my family residence. As we amble up the road we pass 6 or 7 people, couples walking dogs, people carrying home shopping, others maybe just taking in the night air as we pass there’s a cheery “good evening” or “lovely evening” to which I respond accordingly with a big smile as we continue our way. As we reached the top of the road my boyfriend said “Do you know everyone here?” Momentarily I was confused …. “you spoke to everyone we passed!” …… Laughing I explained that it was the norm to acknowledge people regardless of whether you knew them or not & though nothing more of it …..

Some months later I moved to the Midlands to be with my man, it was all rather disorientating but I carried on as usual. One night we were walking into town & we passed lots of people ….. but no-one spoke, I tried a couple of times but was met with startled looks, I tried smiling at a few but again most people looked at me as if I’d lost the plot! My boyfriend gently took me aside & pointed out that people don’t talk to each other here, in fact it was probably better not to make eye contact at all!

How sad I thought to have lost that human contact.

I still find it very hard not to acknowledge passing people 12 years later & I still can’t help smiling at oncoming people and just occasionally … very occasionally I get a smile back … it makes my heart soar …. in my head that smile might have made someone’s day a bit more bearable!

So this weekend I shall be acknowledging my way up the road & enjoying every moment of it ….. if you live somewhere where “the acknowledgement” is the norm treasure it cause that cheery greeting might be making someone’s day!!!