That Friday Feeling

OK: so I mentioned before that I had an idea for a new, semi-regular project for this blog – and here it is.

There was a lot of umm-ing and aah-ing about which day of the week to pick. I considered Monday’s as a cheer-us-up thing, Wednesday’s but dismissed this as the excellent Old Postcard Wednesday (Writerquake) and Wednesday Weekly Cheese (Watercats) already happen on that date, and even considered Thursday on the grounds that no one really knows what Thursdays are there for.

Eventually I decided on Friday’s as it seemed like an ideal time to be looking back on recent events.

So here’s the idea:

Every Friday (pending earthquake, bubonic plague, invasion of killer robots from the future or Penguins taking over the world) I will attempt to post a picture, or clip, of something that I have seen or found in the last seven days: something that most people might have missed or taken for granted in their increasingly hectic lives.

I feel this fits in very nicely with my original concept for this blog – to make use of all the stray ideas and musings that would otherwise continue to drift aimlessly through the stratosphere and to hopefully amuse, entertain and potentially enlighten others.

I will then write a few paragraphs about my experience with the picture and why the thing photographed stood out and what effect it had on my day/week.

So: here’s my first photo and story.

Last Sunday morning I was up early and out on my bike – and for the first few miles I really couldn’t decide where to go. What usually happens is that I decide on a general direction and head that way, then see where my mood takes me from there – following something called Zen Navigation (IE if a road looks interesting or if I have never followed it before I will go that way for as long as possible)

However – I really couldn’t think of a way to head on this occasion: until I remembered that there was a small airport about 8 miles from my house.

I headed towards it through the main roads, knowing that out the back of the airport there was a small village and it was here that I took the first of today’s photos.


The picture above is of an old style country Bus Stop. You don’t see many of them today as there’s a tendency for vandalisation and most have been replaced by Perspex etc – but a few of the old wooden ones still exist on the quieter roads and seem to speak of an older time, when we still used to invest in craftsmanship instead of mass-production. Looking at the stop it’s not clear whether it’s still in use or just exists as a village shelter – but I hope people still use it for all the usual (and unusual) purposes

From there I took a road that I had never followed before and found myself free-wheeling down the hill towards the bridge where this second shot was taken.
As I stopped on the bridge I looked across at the farm house, with the boat on the bank and the tall reeds growing through the water and knew that no one else was going to stop and really look at this view on that day – that no one else could possibly appreciate it in the same way that I did at that moment. That’s the great thing about cycling – when you reach a fantastic view you really feel that you’ve earned it and remember to take the time to enjoy it.

With some regret, and cursing the farm owner for being so lucky as to live in such an ideal place, I carried on: but the memory of that view and those few moments has kept me going all week. It was at that moment that I had the idea for this post and knew that these special moments, good or bad, should be shared so that we can all remember how totally amazing a planet we live on from time to time

Take care and see you again with more That Friday Feeling. In the mean-time any one who wants to see some cutesy photos of my cats can see some on my second blog Houses In Motion http://motionofhouses.blogspot.com/2009/06/lovecats.html